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History of the University of Pennsylvania.

their defence against the foreign foe; in striving with the outstretched olive branch to prevent the mother country forcing a rupture with her transatlantic children, and when disappointed in that, holding with his masterly diplomatic skill foreign nations to their pledged alliance with us; and under all circumstances, in adversity as well as in prosperity, under bodily ailments as well as with full physical health, pursuing with calmness and an even tenor almost superhuman the paths of usefulness and duty which he made, or which were laid upon him by a constituency not always grateful, in private and public life equally faithful to the ends in view and the interests confided to him. Such a man it is well to hold up to the view of those who may in the coming years seek their learning on his foundations as an example of a manly and rightful ambition, of rare diligence and thrift, and of a true catholic spirit and abounding industry. He fulfilled the unconscious prediction of his worthy father, who commended to him the saying of the Wise Man, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men."