Fisher Ames was the youngest of a family consisting of live children. lie was Lord on the Uth of April 1758,10 the old parish of Dedham, a pleasant country town, situated in the county of Norfolk, about nine miles from the city of Boston. Descended from one of the oldest families in the state of Massachusetts, he was, in the $it•it..tcht sense of the word, an American. In this respect, his blood was as true from foreign admixture, as Ins spirit was from foreign partialities. Although by far the most able and eminent of his line, he was not the only one of them that aspired to and attained distinction in letters. His father, a man of uncommon wit, acuteness, and worth, was a practitioner of medicine, high in reputa tion. In addition to the extent oI Ins professional attain ments, lie was well versed in natural philosophy, ;Astro nomy, and mathematics. Ile died in July 1764, when the subject of this article had but little more than com pleted the sixth year of his age. lie also numbered in the line of his ancestry, the rev. William Ames, who flourished about the beginning of the seventeenth cen tury, and was the author of a very able work, denomina ted Medulla Theologix, and several smaller tracts in po lemical divinity. That celebrated English divine, unable to brook the spirit of intolerance by which he was assail ed, under the authority of Christ's College in Cambridge, emigrated to the States of Friesland, where lie was af terwards chosen a professor in their University. lie was an active member in the synod of Dort, in the year 1618. That he might be still farther removed from that most galling of tyrannies, which interferes with the rights of conscience and the forms of devotion, he had made de finitive arrangements for emigrating to New England, but was prevented by death in the month of November 1635. We mention these facts to show, that the family of Ames had been long distinguished by their love of freedom.
On the death of young Ames's father, his mother was left with a family, in straitened circumstances, to strug gle with the difficulties incident to her situation. As it inspired, however, with a presentiment of the future destinies of her son, she determined to bestow on him a liberal education. She accomplished her task, lived to rejoice in his prosperity and eminence, to witness the manifestations of his filial piety, and to weep alas ! over his untimely grave.
In a notice like the present, much that is important must be necessarily omitted. It is scarcely allowable therefore, to exhibit even a transient view of the scin tillations of genius in the morning of life, when they are so completely lost in the lustre of its meridian. Were such a step admissible, it would be easy to show the early and rapid development of the faculties of Mr Ames—that he surpassed, in vigour and activity of in tellect, the companions of his childhood, no less than the associates of his riper years.
At the age of six, he commenced the study of the Latin language. Here, the incompetency of teachers, and the frequent interruptions he experienced in his scholastic pursuits, were serious barriers in the way of his improve ment. The energy of his own mind, however, aided by
a degree of industry exemplary for his years, supplied the want of every thing else, and hurried him along in the road to knowledge. In the spring of 1770, his twelfth 'tear being just completed, he was received as a student Into liar, a rd Peeparatory to his admission, he was examined by one of the ablest scholars oldie country, who had long been a teacher of the learned languages. )11 this occasion, such was the readiness and accuracy he manifested, and such his acquaintance with the prin i iples of language, even at so early a period, that his acTlircnients excited admiration and applause. From that time, he was considered as a youth of tcry dis tinguished promise.
During the years that are spent in college, the cha racter usually begins to unfold itself. To young Ames, this development was highly honourable. Persevering in his studies, conciliating in his manners, gentlemanly in his deportment, and amiable in his disposition, he was equally the ornament and delight of the institution. From his strict subordination to discipline, the correctness of his general conduct, and his distinguished attainments in learning, he became and continued a favourite with his teachers ; while his associates were charmed with the affability of his manners and the brilliancy of his parts.
Among the subordinate institutions of the college, calculated to minister to the improvement of the youth, was a society recently' established for the cultivation of elocution. In this young Ames discovered an object capa ble of awakening all his ambition ; for even now, he covet ed fame, and was warmly enamoured of the glory of elo quence. In the declamations which he practised under this establishment, he was early distinguished by the proprie ty, energy, and elegance of his delivery. In specimens of lofty and impassioned eloquence, in particular, his man ner was peculiarly forcible and impressive. From the apt ness of his genius for oratory, and the assiduity with which he devoted himself to its cultivation, he might soon be said to stand alone in the society. Discouraged and humbled by the acknowledged superiority of a youth so far behind most of them in point of years, his fellow students were at length induced to yield him the palm without competition. His orations, though mostly select ed, were occasionally the productions of his own pen. In these instances he manifested a capacity for the style and manner of the orator. Although he never offered him self a candidate for" wreaths of rich Parnassian growth," the invocation of the muse of poetry was sometimes the employment of his leisure hours. Even at this early period, his compositions exhibited something of the same stamp and character which marked them so strong ly in after life. They were figurative and sententious, highly animated, and rich in ornament.