acter remains to be mentioned. He was an earnest Christian. I have already said he was a close student of Theology, a firm believer in the truths of Divine Revelation and an habitual reader of the Bible. His confidence in the Divine inspiration of the Bible began in his youth, and gathered strength with his increasing knowledge of what it contains. He was a consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and he carefully trained his children to the reverence and love he had for its liturgy. For many years he was a leading member of Episcopal Conventions, and he made himself greatly useful in them. He was more than a Church member and a Church officer. He carried his religion into his daily life. It was a controlling power in his business, in the formation of his judgments, and in his intercourse with others. It was the basis of his fidelity to his clients, and of his unwillingness to do injustice to opponents. It led to the courtesy of his demeanor, and to his habitual candor. It contributed also to his personal enjoyments. He found great satisfaction in the study of religious books, especially those relating to doctrinal theology. "He loved to bring his reason to the support of his faith and he delighted in the most cogent arguments in support of Christianity." His mind was at all times a reverent one. He discountenanced, systematically, in his household, all conversation and every allusion that looked like irreverence on sacred subjects. More than once he brought the fine powers of his mind to the elucidation of Gospel narrative, and on one occasion he charmed his family and near friends by an essay written in his leisure moments, in support of his own view of a much debated religious question. There dwelt within him habitually a serious conviction of personal responsibility, that led to a high estimate of the value of time, and he was rigid in his self-examination. At one time, near the close of his life, when speaking of his debility, he said, "but I do not think that I have gone back, and I am very thankful for it, because a single step backward would, I think, have finished my sum and it must have been shown as it stood on the slate, right or wrong, to the Great

Master. I hope that what is wrong in the sum may prove to be written on slate, that Mercy may pass her soft and gentle hand over it. But there is something which no touch will remove, because it is not there-THE GOOD I HAVE NOT DONE."

His faith was a support and consolation to him in the times of his great sorrow. It gave him infinite comfort when his son Horace was removed by death. Indeed the strongest bond of union between the father and the son was, at all times, the assurance they felt of their common confidence and trust in the Triune God, and that trust was the father's anchor when the waves of sorrow went over him. It never failed him. His last days were illumined by a calm reliance upon his Redeemer, and by a perfect willingness to meet the final summons whenever it might come. Doubtless he was found watching. The books which he read and actually studied during the months of June and July immediately preceding his death were "The Philosophy of Natural Theology," an Oxford Prize Essay, written by the Rev. William Jackson, in confutation of the scepticism of the present day, and "The Unseen Universe," or "physical speculations on a future state," both of them works of deep-toned piety, as well as of great research. They cannot be read without close attention, and intense thought.

I feel that I ought not to detain you longer, though very much of great interest remains unsaid, After all, Mr. Binney's powers and character are best illustrated by his life. That was singularly consistent and complete. It is safe to say that rarely if ever, has a man lived who had fewer apparent defects. From whatever point of human view he was observed, no flaw or imperfection was visible. In every aspect, he was symmetrical, with no faculty undeveloped or distorted, with not even an excellence overgrown at the expense of any other-throughout both great and good.

Such was Mr. Binney. So during three generations he stood erect and conspicuous among his brethren of the bar, and in this community, a light and an ornament—a strong tower and a ground of trust-a leader and a guide.

A MEMOIR

of

WILLIAM RAWLE, LL.D.

by

T. I. WHARTON

WITH A LETTER FROM

PETER STEPHEN DU PONCEAU

To the Author, containing his recollections of Mr. Rawle's
life and character.

The ancestors of William Rawle came from the county of Cornwall in England.

A manuscript found among his papers contains some account of his progenitors, and some recollections of his own times, which he appears to have written in the year 1824,

The following Memoir was prepared at the request of the Council of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and was read at a meeting held on the 22d day of February, 1837.

I am abundantly sensible of its deficiencies and defects both in substance and manner, and have only to state, in apology, that it was hastily prepared in the scanty intervals of leisure, which the cares and duties of my profession allowed. I should hesitate much about allowing it to go to the press, if it were not for the circumstance of its having been the means of awakening the delightful recollections of my venerable friend, Mr. du Ponceau, which he has favored me with, and which I am authorized to give to the public in company with my own memoir.

T. I. W.

at the suggestion of Mr. Watson, the author of the Annals of Philadelphia; but, unfortunately, the design was soon abandoned, and a few pages of detached memoranda alone remain. From this and other sources the facts contained in the following memoir have been derived.

Francis Rawle, the first of the race who came to America, arrived at Philadelphia in the ship Desire, from Plymouth, on the 23rd of June, 1686, accompanied by his son Francis, and bringing with him five "servants," (so called in a document of the time,) who, I presume, were agricultural laborers. He died on the 23rd of December, 1697.

*

Of his only son Francis, the second, I find the following account in the MS., of which I have spoken. “He was a man of education, though I believe of moderate property. He married the daughter of Robert Turner, a wealthy linen. draper from Dublin, who took up the whole lot from Second Street to the Delaware, between Arch Street and McComb's Alley. * William Penn had that confidence in Robert Turner, that he sent him from England a blank commission for the office of Register General for the probate of Wills, etc., with power, if he did not choose to exercise the office himself, to fill the blank with any other name he pleased. * * Robert Turner accepted the office, and appointed his son-in-law his deputy. Francis Rawle published a book which, as far as I know, was the first original treatise on any general subject that appeared in this province. Religious and political controversy had before this time, alone appeared from the press. The title of this work (I have unfortunately lost the book itself) was, I believe, “Ways and means for the inhabitants on the Delaware to become rich." One day at Dr. Franklin's table at Passy, he asked me if I had a copy of the work; observing that it was the first book that he had ever printed. The greatness of Franklin's mind did not disdain to refer to his early occupations, in the presence of some men of the first rank of that country with whom his table was crowded.

To this account of Francis Rawle it may be added that he was elected a member of assembly for the city of Philadelphia, in the years 1707, 1708 and 1710, and again in 1724, 1725 and 1726. It appears, from the journals, that he took an active part in the business of the house, and was frequently at the head of the most important committees. He died on the 5th of January,11727. I have before me a letter from Thomas Chalkley, an eminent minister among the Society of Friends, addressed to his son William Rawle, dated "Frankfort 6th of the 1st mo.2 1726," in answer to a letter communicating the information of his father's death, in which he bears the strongest testimony to the worth of his friend, in the expressive simplicity of the good old English. "The loss of so good and valuable a neighbor," he writes, "causes our hearts to affect our eyes. I never was in his company but I learned something instructing of him, and was always the better for it. So that I lament my single loss of him as well as the general one. The Almighty Lord sanctify such a great loss to your family (I humbly pray) and bless you his children."

Martha, the wife of Francis Rawle, survived him eighteen years; dying on the 18th day of July, 1745. They had a numerous family, of whom six sons and four daughters survived her.

William, the third son of Francis and Martha Rawle, was the grandfather of our late President. He married on the 29th of August, 1728, Margaret, daughter of Henry Hodge, of Philadelphia, merchant, who died shortly after the birth of their only child. He was a man of parts and education. His library was extensive for those days, especially in classical literature. Many of his Greek and Latin

books were in the possession of his grandson. He died on

the 16th of December, 1741.

Francis, the only child of William Rawle, was born on

He received a liberal education,

the 10th of July, 1729.

I 5th of March, 1727 (N. S.)

2

O. S. The year was 1727.

Frankfort is Frankford, Philadelphia.