Page:A memoir of Lewis David von Schweinitz.djvu/28

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LEWIS D. VON SCHWEINITZ.
19

In person, Mr. Schweinitz was of the middle stature, of full and robust habits, a florid and healthful countenance. The print accompanying this paper is from a miniature, taken some years before his decease, atod is consequently more youthful than the appearance with which our memories are now impressed, but is regarded by his family as having been a very correct likeness at the time it was taken. We have space but for a few words in regard to his social habits.

The colloquial powers of Mr. S. were of a high order. Humour, wit, anecdote and repartee were always at his command. In the multiplied relations with society he had contracted that ease of intercourse which tends so essentially to conciliate the kind affections.

Hence, though always listened to with profound respect when in the discharge of professional duties, whether as a teacher or a clergyman, yet the sphere of his greatest usefulness was the social circle, and the familiar intercourse which he maintained with the people of his own persuasion. In the exchange of thought, the imparting of sympathy, and the expression of fraternal feeling, so habitually cherished by the class of society with which it was his fortune to be connected, and in the deep sense of responsibility under which he appears to have constantly acted, we find the immutable guarantees for that uprightness and the best explanation of that social influence which characterized our departed friend.

The literary attainments of Mr. Schweinitz were those belonging to the scholar and the gentleman. He was acquainted with the Greek and spoke and wrote the