Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

" ' He
mtUin=W^oltoU
wore a suit of scarlet broadcloth. The coat was made long, with wide
skirts, and trimmed down the whole length in front with gilt buttons, and broad gilt
vellum button-holes, two or three inches in length. The cuffs were large and deep,
reaching nearl)- to the elbows, and were ornamented, like the sides of the coat, as
were also the pocket-lids, with gilt vellum button-holes and buttons. The waistcoat
had skirts, and was richly embroidered. Ruffles at the bosom, and over the hands,
were of lace. He had a flowing wig, and a three-cornered hat with a cockade ;
rode slow and stately a large black horse whose tail swept the ground.' "
and
" In raising the men for the campaigns of the subsequent years, the
expeditions against Nova Scotia, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niagara and
Quebec, for which Connecticut provided more than her quota of troops,
the influence of her former chief magistrate was efficiently exerted."
Gov. Wolcott has told us of his slowness, as a boy, in the acquisition
of learning. When at last his natural powers were awakened, he was
'"unalterably determined not to remain in a state of ignorance; he borrowed
such books as he could get, and read with attention ; and, having a retentive memory
and solid natural judgment, what he read he retained, digested and made his own.
He got an acquaintance with men of the best abilities of his time, and by an indefat-
igable industry and application got acquainted with most branches of literature; for
he was an exact chronologer, well acquainted with history, ecclesiastical and civil,
and geography, both ancient and modern, and with the Newtonian philosophy, and
most of the curious discoveries of the moderns.
"'He had a taste for the £en£s Lettres ; and some poetical pieces he has left
behind, to show that, had his Genious been well cultivated, he might have made a
considerable figure among the Sons of the Muses.
" ' But the law and arts of government were his favorite study. . .
" ' His body was strong and well proportioned ; his countenance and deportment
peculiarly adapted to command reverence and esteem ;
his wit ready and uncommonly
bright ; his method of reasoning (free from sophistry) was clear, nervous and manly,
as became a generous inquirer after truth, and not a noisy wrangler for victory only.
. . . He was a true friend to regular and firm government, and was an equal enemy
to tyranny on the one hand, and licentiousness on the other. .
" ' He
. .
was a wise legislator and an able statesman. While he was a judge he held
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