Page:A Biographical Sketch (of B. S. Barton) - William P. C. Barton.djvu/7

Rh troubles and of pain, has left—is likely to be immediately filled by any remaining sojourner in the temple he so long inhabited, and of which he was one of the most distinguished ornaments.

Not, gentlemen, that I would hazard the vain, the empty, nay, the untrue assertion, that science has no votaries left in this country,—but, that her genius and talents exist at this epoch of our history, in the younger portion of our scientifick population, is a position I feel neither the fear of contradiction in advancing, nor the apprehension of disappointment, in cherishing with the warmest enthusiasm.

Standing, as I do, in the near relationship of a nephew, to the late professor Barton, I cannot be insensible of my being placed in a situation of considerable delicacy. Yet, being honoured by your invitation, gentlemen, to render the homage of this respectable society, to the genius and talents of one of its most conspicuous and eminent members, whose loss we have so recently had occasion to deplore, I enter upon the duty assigned to me, with the less diffidence. In undertaking this task, however, I feel myself agitated by mingled emotions of sorrow and complacency; as friends of science, you, gentlemen, will more especially participate in those regrets, which the community in general ever suffers, from a privation of the usefulness and example of an eminent citizen; while good and enlightened men universally, derive a pleasing gratification from recognising merit, and doing honour to the memory of departed worth. Death extinguishes that spirit of jealousy and envy, which too often assails the fair fame of eminent men, during their lives, and thus affords an opportunity to all—even to the invidious themselves—to contemplate the character of a great man dispassionately, and to form a just estimate of its value. On such occasions, the great body of society possesses an interest in having the deserts of such of its members as have distinguished themselves by eminent attainments, and useful pursuits, duly appreciated:—literary and professional men, and the votaries of science, are more particularly interested in commemorating, with suitable demonstrations of honour and respect, the names of those, who, by their learning, their abilities, and their zealous exertions, have contributed largely to augment the mass of useful knowledge, and, consequently, to confer proportionable benefits upon mankind.