Excerpt from An Address Delivered at Amherst, Before the Members of the Social Union, 7 July, 1875 In contrast with this brilliant development of intel lectual activity, what had we at the same period to_ present? Benjamin Franklin was pretty much the embodiment of the whole stock of original genius. A small class of graduates from the colleges North and South, educated to the higher professions, some of whom became eloquent divines and others grew into statesmen; a youth, here and there, producing a spirited occasional ode, these embraced pretty much all the original enlightenment of the generation. I had nearly forgotten to remind you of the solitary muse of African origin whose scattered leaves of in spirationvvere deemed of merit sufficient to justify the collection of them into a printed book graced by the patronage and subscription of the father of his country, the illustrious Washington. Alas for the American genius of that day! I wonder how many of you, my young friends, ever saw or heard of the book of poems by Phillis Wheatley?

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.