History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 33

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 780


USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. > Part 33


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11


360


3,105


78,054


...


...


Edinburgh


12


1


500


4


50


376


7


383


273


10G


19


12


3,440


100,333


Greenfield


9.34


713


9


722


86-


201


22


22


870


7,230


490,967


6


1


...


lladley


274


239


239


117


25


6


G


412


2,350


70,450


...


...


Moreau


12


>16


730


6,250


295,008


...


...


...


631


13


644


652


178


10


12


Northumberl.und


122


49€


...


414


27


441


G77


158


12


12


9:20


3.450


506,885


Saratoga ..


12


1472


1199


50


1249


381


7


1


1


12


2,375


26,750


1,080,151


Saratoga Springs.


7


3083


202


2046


14


2060


1510


16.39


1


14


33,975


36,300


2,645,534


Wilton


10


390


329


10


339


210


50


10


10


410


2,900


302,314


...


Total


159


9122


12


290


6737


150


6893


5289


$22801


107


14


2


|123


$41,143


$96,185 $5,780,970


-


-


-


No. 16 .- CENSUS OF 1875-WIIERE BORN, IN CERTAIN SELECTED COUNTIES, STATES, AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES.


BORN IN THE UNITED STATES.


BORN IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.


INHABITANTS


BORN IN THE STATE.


BORN IN


BORN IN


OF


SARATOGA COUNTY.


Other


shire.


Other


setts.


Countries.


Counties.


Massachu-


joining.


Scotland.


England.


The German


Empire.


Total.


Ireland.


Canada.


Other States.


Pennsylvania.


New Hamp-


Connectiont.


Vermont.


Rhode Island.


New Jersey.


Total.


Maine.


Counties ad-


Saratoga.


Total.


General Total.


Ballston.


1.932


1,633


1,541.


1.105


247


99


I


20


10


19


5


21


299


50


16


215


5


...


Charlton


1,580


1.411


1,360


992


280


2


2


7


3


1


5


5


21


175


1


27


63


69


12


Clifton Park


2.493


2.230


2,158


1,544


152


...


3


14


9


6


8


4


28


15


66


115


1.659


1.531


1,444


1.135


211


98


5


34


14


3


11


3


13


128


44


14


15


49


3


3


Corinth


Dav.


1,199


1,143|


1.085


921


130


28


2


5


9


...


9


6


...


1


56


21


1


...


34


...


Edinburgh


1.481


1,448


1,354


1,036


239


1


34


17.


21


6


8


1


2


12


33


14


2


15


Galway.


1,941


1,585


1,168


289


131


16


16


2


16


4


4


12


281


17


5G


86


81


19


22


...


Greenfield


2.690


2.438


2.29 1


1,784


260


7


52


31


13


13


9


34


232


14


37


37


131


3


10


Hadl-v


1,063


949


628


190


111


36


1


3


114


3


1


05


1


...


12


...


...


Half-Moon.


5,176


2,750


2,624


1,894


546


184


4


34


28


5


10


8


33


4:26


25


60


25


300


9


Malta


1.214


1,075


1,040


880


98


62


11


8


1.39


31


1


95


9


1


...


-1


Milion


5,349


4,399


3,987


2,996


615


37G


11


9


107


123


4


23


24


56


950


152


178


86


486


34


14


51 -1


Morean


2,315


1,993


1,877


1,121


G34


122


S


47


26


42


8


322


78


21


3


207


9


4


Northumberland.


1,622


1,481


1,416


1,090


254


72


1


2


16


141


25


18


13


74


4


:


Providence.


1 132


1,063


1,011


808


161


42


1


3


14


14


1


3


5


69


2G


10


32.


...


1


Saratoga.


4,500


3,601


3,373


2,402


793


178


3


12


60


60


24


16


4


40


908


74


71


10


721


28


4


Saratoga Springs


10,736


8,604


7,437


5,074


1412


95.


21


382


107


16


122


49


48


256


2132


182


220


183 1441


49


57


Stillwater


3,434


2.895


2,771


1,076


57G


219


10


38


25


12


10


6


19


5.39


33


6:2


16


412


10


G


Waterford


4,386


3,197


2,945;


1,781


883


281



10


5.3


38


28


19


11


54


1189


279


191


40


608


48


29


Wilton


1,218


1,155


1,104


775


251


78


1


23


10


G


5


1


5


G3


4


20


10


28


...


1


Total


55,137 46,676 43,289 31,200


8523


3566


87


177 1027


675 101


351


173


143


653


8461 1020 1149


663 5196 250 183


-


No. 17 .- CENSUS OF 1875-CIVIL OR CONJUGAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.


Married, whose husbands


Single.


Married.


Willowed.


Divorced.


or wires do not appear in


the returns in the same


How Intermarried.


families with themselves.


Native.


Foreign


Native.


Foreign


Foreign


Foreign


Native


Foreign


Born.


Born.


Native.


Born.


Native. 1


Born.


Native.


Foreign.


Husband Husband.


SARATOGA COUNTY.


Wife.


Wife.


Wife,


Wife.


Female.


To Foreign


To Native


To Foreign


To Native


Male.


Female.


Male.


Male.


Female.


Female.


Female.


Female.


Female.


Male.


Male.


Female.


Male.


Małe.


Female.


Female.


Male.


Male.


Male.


Ballston


493


475


35


39


284 297


98


89


17


67


14


24


5


1


275


7


17


....


....


6


11


50


Charlton.


487


3.85


15


26 22%


236


G2


56


21


53


7


I


3


1


222


...


...


580


41


427


440


97


34


86



1


5


410


10


25


Clifton Park.


660


...


434


391


32


10


318!


328


43


31


20


39


7


1


9


8


1


303


6


17 :


25


10


Corinthi


Day


371


276


20


224


220


18


13


21


21


4


1


1


3


3


1


1


220


1


6


1I


Edinburgh


397


357


10


5


309


324


11


4


18


1


5


13


302


2


Galway


470


495


31


20


291


29


102


92


36


71


10


17


4


2


1


269


15


21


76


....


Greenfield,


703


678


21


476


473


87


88|


36


91


5


1


13


1


441


21


19


GG


....


...


14


30


Hadley


347


270


21


7


156


161


45


7


1


G


1


1


146


4


14


Half-Moon.


840


779


40


39


485


510


160


137


44


91


24


1


16


3


4


156


13


37


120


Malta.


312


285


16


208


2209


56


51


17


41


3


6


3


3


1


1


195


11


44


....


7


G


Milton.


1,330


1,317


129


115


731


739


312


299


71


203


28


G7


G


25


20


6


G


659


47


60


24G


... +


91


Moreau


68


580


51


25


319


325


116


108


26


61


G


16


1


5


4


1


297


17


24


...


Northumberland.


405


14


16


289


297


59


50


28


44


8


6


1


7


13


1


1


275


10


12


39


417


g


16


Providence.


301


14


2


222


225


28


20


2.2


31


1


1


10


7


3


1


209


3


Saratoga ...


1.311


1,153


134


188


584


596


255


256


42


114


16


59


11


19


5


35


215


1


10


542.


31


....


Saratoga Springs.


2,505


2,602


346


346 1436 1507


633


593


109


428


165


6


11


1


39


59


4


15


1323


125


504


144


Stillwater.


934


888


65


65


471


490


180


170


27


84


17


32


1


12


1]


4


5


4:38


41


Waterford


1,059


1,029


17:3


184


458


477


378


357


39


134


27


69


1


1


21


24


10


5


1 389


48


64


304


Wilton.


329


283


G


6


242


242


25


20


38


1


1


8


5


227


7


10


15


22


Total


14,181 13,480 1218 1139 8158 8402 2767 2552 656 1747 230 548


18


25


3


214


237


16


52


7595 349


570 2151


-


-


--


-


137


HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


CHAPTER XXVII.


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


REUBEN HYDE WALWORTHI.


AMONG the many distinguished jurists who graced the bench of the State of New York, during the palmy days of its rapidly increasing jurisprudence, no name became more like a household word on the lips of every lawyer in the land than that of Chancellor Walworth.


Reuben Hyde Walworth was born on the 26th day of October, 1788, in Bozrah, Conn. He was the third son of Benjamin Walworth, the American branch of the Wal- worth family tracing its origin to the historic Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London, who slew the rebel Watt Tyler in the reign of Richard LI. In 1671, William Walworth, the ancestor of Benjamin Walworth, came from the city of London and settled on Fisher's island, afterwards re- moving to New London.


In the early part of the Revolutionary war, Benjamin Walworth, the chancellor's father, was quartermaster of Colonel Nicholl's New York Regiment in the service of the United States, and was acting adjutant-general of his regi- ment at the battle of White Plains.


When the chancellor was four years of age his parents removed to Hoosick, N. Y., where he was occupied with the labors of the farm, receiving such education as was then afforded by the excellent common schools of the period, together with much private instruction in his father's family. At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of law, and at twenty was admitted to practice in the county court, and two years later in the Supreme Court of the State. He settled at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., in January, 1810, and in 1811 was appointed master in chancery and one of the county judges. In the War of 1812 he was an officer of volunteers, and at the siege of Plattsburg in 1814, was acting adjutant-general of the United States forces, on the staff of Major-General Mooers, taking an important part in the battle. He was a member of Congress from 182t to 1823, being appointed in the latter year one of the circuit judges of the State, by Governor Joseph C. Yates. This office he held for five years, in which he was noted for his prompt and fearless administration of the law both in the civil and eriminal branches of his court.


In 1828, Judge Walworth was appointed chancellor of the State of New York. This office he held for twenty years, and until the new constitution of 1848 abolished the court of chancery. In the office of chancellor he greatly distinguished himself. His decisions as chancellor are eon- tained in eleven volumes of' Paige's Reports and three of Barbour's Reports. The most of his opinions delivered in the court for the correction of errors, of which, as chancellor, he was the principu executive officer, were published in Wendell's Reports, twenty-six volumes; Hill's Reports, seven volumes, and iu the five volumes of Dino's Reports.


The year he was appointed circuit judge, 1823, he re- moved, in October, to Saratoga Springs. He purchased at that time of Judge Walton, its first occupant and builder, what has since been known as the Walworth place of Pine Grove. In these carly days it was much more secluded a 18


place than it now is, and was exceedingly beautiful. The railroad had not then marred its proportions, and a de- lightful wood, which bounded it on the rear, extended up westward beyond Matilda street, and to the Waterbury orchard and farm. Almost the entire block opposite was then used as a publie park, and was the favorite resort for both the villagers and summer guests, which was known as Pine Grove, and was traversed by fine walks. It inclosed a ten-pin alley, which was much resorted to. Swings hung down between the tall pines in almost constant motion. In this grove the Indians sometimes encamped, offering for sale their manufactured wares, and shooting with bows and arrows to show their matchless skill in archery. And here, too, the militia sometimes met on training days.


In 1828 he removed to Albany. In that city he first occupied a house in Park Place, near the academy, and af- terwards one on Washington avenue, the present residence of Judge Amasa J. Parker. In 1833, tiring of his city residence, he returned to his former home in Pine Grove, in Saratoga Springs, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 28th day of November, 1866.


Chancellor Walworth, before his death, had long been identified with the leading religious benevolent movements of the day. He was for many years president of the American Temperance Union, vice-president of the Tract Society and of the American Bible Society, and one of the corporate members of the American board of missionaries for foreign missions.


Chancellor Walworth may justly be regarded as the great artisan of our equity laws. In some sense he was the Bentham of America, without the bold speculations and fantastical theory which, to a certain extent, characterized the great English jurist. What Bentham did in removing the defects in English jurisprudence, Walworth did, in reno- vating and simplifying the equity laws of the United States. Before his day the court of chancery in this State was a tri- bunal of very illy defined powers and uncertain jurisdiction, in a measure subservient to the English court of chancery in its procedure.


Chancellor Walworth abolished much of that stolidity, many of those prolix and bewildering formalities which had their origin in the rising Mediaval Ages, and reduced the practice of his eourt to certain standing rules, which he prepared with great industry. These rules greatly im- proved the old state of equity, and though he has been charged with thus blocking the court of chancery with expensive machinery, it cannot be gainsaid that with Chancellor Walworth equity was the sole spirit of law, creating positive and defining rational law, flexible in its nature and suited to the fortunes, cares, and reciprocal complications of men .*


While residing at. Plattsburg, he married his first wife, whose maiden name was Maria Ketchum Avery. She was a lady of singular sweetness and benevolence of char- acter. With her husband at the time of their marriage she united herself to the communion of the Presby- terian church, to which she always remained devotedly attached. She was gentle and pliable except where con-


# Sce Reminiscences of Saratoga, by William L. Stone.


138


HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


science was concerned, when she was as immovable as a rock. With unbounded love for little children, she de- lighted to minister to their wants. Among the poor aud sick she was a constant daily visitor. Not an urchin in the village, however ragged, whether white or black. but knew her like a book, and felt truly at home with her. By all classes. whether old or young, she was greatly be- loved. She died at Pine Grove on the 24th day of April, 1847. As a Christian, wife, mother, friend, and neighbor, she was a model in every relation of life. In the locality where she so long lived, loved, and was beloved in turn, her memory is still tenderly cherished.


By his first wife Chancellor Walworth had six children, of whom the four ellest are still living. His daughters were Sarah, now Mrs. Davison; Mary, now Mrs. Jenkins; Eliza, now Mrs. Barkus; and one deceased. His sons were Rev. Clarence Walworth and Mansfield Tracy Wal- worth.


On the 16th of April, 1841, Chancellor Walworth again married. His second wife was Sarah Ellen, daughter of Ilorace Smith, of Locust Grove, and widow of Colonel John J. Hardin. She brought with her to Saratoga three young children of her first marriage, two boys and a daughter, who is the present Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth, who, with her family of children, two sons and three daughters, still occupies the family mansion. The eldest. daughter, Miss Nellie Hardin Walworth, at sixteen became the anthor of a work of much merit, entitled " An Old World as Seen through Young Eyes." The chancellor's second marriage, like his first, was eminently a happy one. The new wife was sweet and loving in her temper, and a woman of high refinement and culture. She brought with her to Pine Grove a style of southern hospitality which accorded well with her husband's disposition and station in life. It was her pleasure to keep open house, and many more familiar faces passed in and out than ever thought to ring the bell or wait in the parlors. She survived her hus- band only ten years, dying in the month of April, 1874.


Few men have been more extensively known throughout the country than Chancellor Walworth. Perhaps no man indeed ever so well remembered his friends. He seemed never to forget faces or names. After retiring from office, the study of genealogy became his peculiar hobby, and his chief relaxation and enjoyment. The result was the pub- lication of a volume entitled the " Hyde Genealogy," being that of his mother's family. It contains fourteen hundred and forty-six pages, in two large octavo volumes, and it is said to be the largest account of a single family ever pub- lished. His body was interred in his family plot in Green- wich cemetery. This plot bad long been an object of his special care and interest. It was his custom for many years to go there on every Sunday morning before service, and when flowers were in bloom, to carry thither bouquets which he had gathered in his garden. His body now lies beside that of the wife of his youth, among the graves that he had so well cherished, and beneath the soil upon which he had so often scattered the roses of spring-time. The family mansion is still standing in the old grove, very little altered in external appearance since the day when the chancellor first came to the Springs. And now neither


stranger nor villager ever sees him at work in his garden, or romping with his grandchildren under the pines. The magnet that drew thither so many feet is no longer there. The last of the chancellors of the State of New York is gathered to his rest.


ESEK COWEN.


Upon the pages of the ten thousand volumes of legal lore which crowd the book-shelves of the lawyers of the New World and the Old, the name of Esek Cowen has long been the synonym for patient research and the most profound erndition.


Esek Cowen's father, Joseph Cowen, was the son of John Cowen, a Senteh emigrant, who settled in Scituate, Mass., in 1656. Esek was born in Rhode Island, Feb. 24. 1784. His father removed, with his family. to Greenfield, this county, about 1793. A few years later he removed to Hartford, Washington county, where, during his early years, Esck labored upon his father's farm. The only educational advantages he ever enjoyed was six months' attendance in a neighborhood school. While pursuing his labors upon his father's farm he always had a book by his side, and while tending the lime-kiln would often read all night by its Inrid fires. Thus, by persevering industry, he mastered classical and English literature.


At an early age he turned his attention to the law. When but sixteen he entered the office of Roger Skinner, at Sandy Hill, continuing his studies later with Zebulon Shepherd. In 1810 he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court, and began the practice of his chosen pro- fession with Gardner Stowe, in Northumberland, in this county. Subsequently he formed a law copartnership with Wissell Gansevoort .* In 1812 he removed to Saratoga Springs. He rose rapidly in the legal ranks. In May, 1824, he was appointed " reporter in the Supreme Court and court of errors," holding the position until 1828, when he was appointed circuit judge by Governor Pitcher. Ilis reports, embracing nine volumes, are justly prized by the profession. In 1835 he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy occasioned by the with- drawal of Judge Savage. Mr. Cowen continued in that office until his decease. In his early life he held the office of justice of the peace, and in 1821-1822 served as super- visor of Saratoga Springs.


Previous to his elevation to the bench (1817) he formed a law copartnership with Judge William L. F. Warren, who had formerly been a student in his office. This part- nership continued until 1824. Subsequently he was asso- ciated for some years with Judiah Ellsworth.


Besides his " Reports," the other works of his pen, which remain as a monument of his industry and genius, were a " Treatise on the Practice in Justices' Courts" and " Cowen and Hills' Notes on Phillips' Evidence," the latter of which represents eleven years' labor, and was published in 1839 in four volumes. In the writing and compilation of the " Notes" he was assisted by Nicholas Hill, one of the most able lawyers the State ever produced. In these works were written those learned opinions which have since ren- dered Judge Cowen's name illustrious.


# Bench and Bar of Saratoga County, p. 268.


139


IHISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


After removing to Saratoga Springs he built the " stone honse" on Congress street, which was for many years his residence.


In 1811 he married a daughter of Sidney Berry. Their children were Susan Berry, Sidney Joseph, and Patrick Henry. Colonel Berry was the first surrogate of Saratoga County, and served as a colonel in the Continental army during the Revolution. "It was he who was detailed to receive, on the 30th of September, 1776, the messenger sent by Lord IFowe to invite Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Mr. Luttrage to a conference on Staten Island." *


Judge Cowen was emphatically a self-made man. With an extremely limited common-school education, by his own efforts, stimulated by his energy and ambition, he rose to eminence. As a writer he was plain but accurate; as a judge, " prompt, acute, learned. and upright." But it was as a jurist that he was best known. Of his opinions, which so eminently distinguished him as a jurist, it has been said that " in their depth and breadth of research, and their strength and reason of bearing, they are not excelled by those of any judge in England or America." " llis opu- lent mind. his love of research, caused him to trace every legal opinion to its fountain-head, to discover every varia- tion between apparently analogous precedents. . . . Like Lord Mansfield, to whom he has frequently been compared, he was accustomed, in the preparation of his opinions, to a liberal expenditure of mental capital,-an excess of in- tellectual labor which renders them the triumph of a great genius, impelled by an unprecedented industry."


Judge Cowen's most marked traits of character were those naturally resultant from his indomitable energy and remark- able powers of endurance. Possessed of a splendid consti- tution, " his athletic frame and fine muscular development" were often remarked. His physical powers were enhanced by his abstemious habits, the rule of his life from a youth. He was one of the founders of the first temperance society in the United States,-that established at Northumberland in 1812. Ife was noted for his quickness of penetration, his force and originality of thought. Socially he was cheer- ful, often jocose. Intensely practical, he was not lacking in fine sensibility, or noble and generous actions. Material aid and kindly advice were never refused when needed, as many whom he started on the road to fame and fortune bear witness. The late Gideon M. Davison, on the occasion of his death, says, " He was my early friend and benefactor,- the one who, when I needed aid, kindly took me by the hand and led me through various trials, the one, in fact, who laid the foundation of all I have of earthly posses- sions." He stood ever ready to aid all meritorious enter- prises ; he gave the money (Dr. Clarke giving the land, and Judge Walton the timber) for the erection of Bethesda Episcopal chapel. ITis house, too, was the abode of kindly hospitality, where his genial manners, love of music, and rare poetic taste made him a delightful companion. He greatly delighted to hear and to sing certain plaintive Scotch ballads, among which " Bonny Doon" and " High- land Mary" were favorites.


Judge Cowen is described as having been tall,-over six


* Reminiscenees of Saratoga, p. 360.


---


feet high,-commanding of presence and bearing, but withal simple and unassuming in manner. His death occurred in the city of Albany, Feb. 11, 1844, at the age of sixty. His funeral was attended in the hall of the capitol by the clergy of the city, the governor, State officials, both houses of the Legislature, judges, members of the bar, and a vast voncourse of citizens. The procession accompanied the remains as far as the Patroon's on the route to Saratoga Springs, where, on the 15th, the last obsequies were per- formed. t


JOHN WILLARD.


The village of Saratoga Springs seems to have been for many years the headquarters of legal learning, from the fact that so many eminent jurists made it their home. Promi- nent among these was the Ilon. John Willard, who, as a circuit judge and vice-chancellor of the Supreme Court under the old constitution, and justice of the Supreme Court under the new constitution, adorned the offices which he filled, and was a shining example of candor and integrity, joined with great learning and ability.


Judge Willard was born at Guilford, Connecticut, on the 20th day of May, 1792, and descended directly from two of the noble band of Puritans who in 1639 planted that town. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1813, and while there was associated with the late Silas Wright and Samuel Nelson, and evinced at that time the same patriotic solicitude for the welfare of his country while en- gaged in a foreign war that he afterwards exhibited when it was rent with the civil strife caused by the Rebellion. He was a nephew, by marriage, of the late Mrs. Emma Willard, the pioneer of female education in this country, and during his college life he was an inmate of her family. She always entertained a high regard for him, and in her later years was glad to renew the intimacy of earlier days. Ile was admitted to practice as an attorney of the Supreme Court in 1817, under the chief-justiceship of Smith Thomp- son, and entered upon the practice of the law in Salem, Washington county. Bringing to the profession of his choice a well-stored and disciplined mind, he soon attained, by his untiring industry, and without any adventitious aid, an enviable eminence in his profession. He was for many years first judge of the common pleas, and surrogate of Washington county, until, in 1836, on the elevation of Esek Cowen to the bench of the Supreme Court, he was appointed circuit judge and vice-chancellor of the Fourth Judicial district, filling that office until the new organiza- tion of the judiciary under the constitution of 1846, when he was elected one of the justices of the Supreme Court. The latter office he held until 1854; and, under the regu- lations of our judicial system, was a member of the court of appeals during the last year of his term of service. The rapidity and ability with which he discharged his judicial duties ; his uniform courtesy and kindness to the profes- sion, and, above all, the pureness and integrity of his character as a judge and as a man, commanded universal respeet and esteem, and won for him many flattering testimonials of regard from the bar in the different coun- ties of the district.


+ Stone's Remiscences of Saratoga and Ballston.


140


HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


After his retirement from the beneh he was engaged for some years in the preparation of several legal treatises, which are valuable contributions to our jurisprudence, and not less distinguished for felicity and perspicuity of style than accurate and profound legal research and learning.


As a politician he was attached to the Democratic party, and strong and decided in his political opinions ; but upon the breaking out of the Rebellion he sunk the partisan in the patriot, and took early and strong grounds in favor of a united support to our government in its struggle with treason.


In 1861 he was the candidate of the Union convention for senator, and subsequently endorsed by all other parties, he was elected without opposition. While in the Senate he uniformly acted with the Union Demoerats and Repub- licans, and his opinion on all questions before that body was received with great respect. By his efforts the confu- sion in the laws respecting murder and the rights of mar- ried women was removed, and simple and sensible statutes passed in relation thereto.




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