William E. Barton

“ I assure you, notwithstanding, I am no misanthrope; but think good society one of the greatest blessings of life. Whatever is said of original sin, the depravity of our nature, and our propensity to all evil; though men are said to be wolves to men; yet, think, I can see abundance of goodness in human nature, with which I am enamoured. I would sooner give up my interest in a future state, than be divested of humanity;—I mean, that good-will which I have to the species, although one half of them are said to be fools, and almost the other half knaves. ”

“ Rittenhouse had the good fortune to live in an age when virtue and talents were honoured; when abilities to serve the country, and an honest attachment to its best interests, were the surest passports to the public confidence and esteem. In the latter years of his life, it was a source of great gratification to him to know that his country was prosperous; it being then in the full enjoyment of all the arts of peace, and other blessings of a well-ordered society. He was greatly respected and esteemed by his illustrious compatriot, Washington ”

“ But when I consider, that luxury and her constant follower tyranny, who have long since laid in the dust, never to rise again, the glories of Asia, are now advancing like a torrent irresistible, whose weight no human force can stem, and have nearly completed their conquest of Europe; luxury and tyranny, who by a vile affectation of virtues they know not, pretend at first to be the patrons of science and philosophy, but at length fail not effectually to destroy them ”

“ He laid the foundation of what little prosperity in life I now, or may in future, enjoy: and if it shall ever be my fortune, either by my labours or my zeal, to advance the progress of science, or to reflect any honour upon my country, I should be the most ungrateful of men, if I did not acknowledge, and wish it to be known, that it was David Rittenhouse who enabled me to be useful. ”

“ These are a few of the many things that are still left to the industry of the ingenious in this science.
But if all higher and more sublime discoveries are not reserved for us in a future and more perfect state; if Astronomy shall again break those limits that now seem to confine it, and expatiate freely in the superior celestial fields; what amazing discoveries may yet be made amongst the fixed stars! That grand phænomenon the Milky-Way seems to be the clue that will one day guide us. ”

“ In our own country, the sage Franklin abounded in anecdote and humour, and thought it not unwise to recreate his mind, at times, with the game of chess: the conversation of Judge Hopkinson was replete with sprightly wit, and he admired well written novels of no immoral tendency; as did also the late Judge Wilson: the illustrious Washington, in his earlier years, enjoyed the pleasures of the festive board, in the society of men of understanding and worth: and no man delighted more in cheerful conversation, and in reading works of fancy and taste, than the philosophic Rittenhouse. ”

“ I must confess that I am not one of those sanguine spirits who seem to think, that when the withered hand of death hath drawn up the curtain of eternity, almost all distance between the creature and creator, between finite and infinite, will be annihilated. Every enlargement of our faculties, every new happiness conferred upon us, every step we advance towards the perfection of the divinity, will very probably render us more and more sensible of his inexhaustible stores of communicable bliss, and of his inaccessible perfections. ”

“ Rittenhouse never attempted to amuse the world with any hypothetical system of philosophy, or with opinions, merely speculative, on any subject. The great objects of his pursuits, through life, were Certainty and Truth: hence, he never advanced an opinion, concerning any thing whatever, which he did not consider as being either susceptible of verification by experiment and the evidence of our senses, or, where the nature of the subject did not admit of such proof, capable of being tested by the soundest principles of human reason. ”

“ And I trust there will not be wanting men of genius, to arise in this new world, whose talents may be particularly adapted to astronomical enquiries. Indeed I am persuaded that nature is by no means so nigardly in producing them, as we are apt to imagine. Some are never tempted forth from obscurity, some are untimely snatched away by death, a striking instance whereof we have in Horrox; and many are accidentally led to other pursuits. ”

“ The impossibility of conveying to the mind of any one, even the most intelligent and skilful, by means of either any delineation upon paper in the nature of a diagram, or by words, an adequate idea of so complex and multiform a machine as the one now about to be described, will instantly be conceived. Indeed no description, alone, can render the nature of its construction, and the many curious and useful purposes it is capable of answering, perfectly intelligible to the most scientific Astronomer. ”

“ He then adds:—“We may now, therefore, take a nearer view of nature in her glory, and contemplate her in a most entertaining manner: and withal, more zealously than ever, pay our worship and veneration to the Creator and Lord of the Universe; which is the principal advantage of philosophy. He must be blind who, from the most excellent and most wise structure of the creatures, does not presently see the infinite wisdom and goodness of their Creator: and he must be mad, who will not own those attributes.” ”

“ Let a hope be still cherished, that notwithstanding the tumult, the folly, and the distractions, which at the present day pervade a large portion of the civilized world, the period is not remote, when tranquillity, good sense and order, shall resume their blest dominion over the conduct of the too many now infatuated nations of the earth.—Let a belief be yet encouraged, that under the guidance of a benign Providence, not only the rising generation will be found zealous to emulate the fair fame of a Franklin and a Rittenhouse ”

“ While, therefore, the mind may view, with a sort of admiration, the achievements of a magnanimous soldier, it turns with indignation from the atrocities of a military tyrant: and at the same time that it may be induced to contemplate even with complacency, at the first view, the plausible, yet groundless speculations of ingenious theorists, in matters of science,—still the fallacy of their systems, when developed by experience, strips them of all their tinseled glare of merit. ”

“ That a mind so formed as that of our young philosopher—situated in life as he was—should have impelled him to assume the business of clock-making, can not be a matter of surprize: this occupation, connected with that of a mathematical instrument maker, is such as may be well supposed to have presented itself to his youthful ingenuity; being in accordance with the philosophical bent of his genius in his early years, while yet untutored in science and unknown to the world.
The great utility of the common clock, in measuring time, is universally known. ”

“ Let the sceptical writers forbear to lavish encomiums on their cobweb Philosophy, liable to be broken by the smallest incident in nature. They tell us it is of great service to mankind, in banishing bigotry and superstition from amongst us. Is not this effectually done by Astronomy? The direct tendency of this science is to dilate the heart with universal benevolence, and to enlarge its views. But then it does this without propagating a single point of doctrine contrary to common sense, or the most cultivated reason. It flatters no fashionable princely vice, or national depravity. ”

“ We will hope that their statesmen are patriots, and that their kings, if that order of beings has found admittance there, have the feelings of humanity.—Happy people! and perhaps more happy still, that all communication with us is denied. We have neither corrupted you with our vices, nor injured you by violence. None of your sons and daughters, degraded from their native dignity, have been doomed to endless slavery by us in America, merely because their bodies may be disposed to reflect or absorb the rays of light, in a way different from ours. ”

“ Although he had just entered on the threshold of the world, this excellent young man exhibited many proofs of extraordinary attainments in literature and science, as well as of a superior genius. He appeared to have inherited from his maternal grandfather, congenial talents. In his life, his amiable disposition endeared him to all who had an opportunity of knowing his virtues: in his death, not only have his relatives and friends experienced an afflicting bereavement, but his country has sustained the loss of a citizen of great promise. ”

“ These fixed laws of nature, so necessary for us, is an irresistible argument that the world is the work of a wise and benevolent Being. The laws of nature are the laws of God; and how far soever we may be able to trace up causes, they must terminate in his will. We see nothing in the heavens which argues imperfection; the whole creation is stamped with the marks of Divinity.”— [See A Complete System of Astronomy; by the Rev. S. Vince, A. M. F. R. S. &c. printed at Cambridge, in 1799—vol. ii. p. 290, 291.] ”

“ Whatever other purposes this great law may answer, it will produce an amazing change in the appearance of the heavens; and so contribute to that endless variety which obtains throughout the works of Nature. The seven stars that now adorn our winter skies, will take their turn to shine in summer. Sirius, that now shines with unrivalled lustre, amongst the gems of heaven, will sink below our horizon, and rise no more for very many ages! Orion too, will disappear, and no longer afford our posterity a glimpse of glories beyond the skies! ”

“ In Physics, Newton was his favourite author. Of HIM he ever spoke with a species of respect bordering upon veneration. He considered him as one of those few great leaders in science whose discoveries and services can never be forgotten: whose fame, instead of diminishing, is destined to be augmented, with the progress of time. I had many opportunities of being witness to the exalted opinion which he entertained of the immortal British philosopher. ”

“ Much of the glory of a nation results from the renown of illustrious men, among its citizens: a country which has produced many great men, may justly pride itself on the fame which those individuals had acquired. The community to which we belong is entitled to such services as we can render to it: these the patriot will cheerfully bestow; and, in promoting the honour and prosperity of his country, a large portion of the lustre which the exertion of his talents shall have shed upon it, are again reflected on himself. ”

“ Though I have been aware of the authority our cause would acquire with the world from its being known that Yourself and Doctor Franklin were zealous friends to it, and am myself duly impressed with a sense of the arduousness of government, and the obligation those are under who are able to conduct it; yet I am also satisfied there is an order of geniuses above that obligation, and therefore exempted from it. Nobody can conceive that nature ever intended to throw away a Newton upon the occupations of a crown. ”