_A Memoir of the Reverend John H. Rice, D.D. First Professor of
Christian Theology in Union Theological Seminary, Virginia. By William
Maxwell. Philadelphia: Published by J. Whetham._
This Memoir will be received and read with pleasure generally: and
among those who have been so fortunate as to have seen and heard Dr.
Rice, it will be perused with the deepest interest and gratification.
We believe there are very many, in Virginia especially, who will be
able to identify the letters of this divine, contained in the present
volume, with the voice, the manner, and personal appearance of the man
himself--and upon all such Mr. Maxwell has conferred an obligation of
no common kind. The greater portion of the work consists of these
letters, and they are valuable in every respect. Many of them are, as
Mr. M. himself expresses it, entirely _narrative_, and give the most
authentic and minute accounts of the various movements of the writer
at different periods of his life, particularly after his removal to
Richmond, and during his labors in establishing the Union Theological
Seminary. Others again are _pastoral_, and addressed to different
members of his Church. Some are merely ordinary letters of friendship.
All, however, are full of thought, and give evidence of an elevated, a
healthy, cheerful, powerful, and well regulated mind.
In availing himself of the assistance afforded by these letters, Mr.
Maxwell has never anticipated their contents--thus avoiding much
useless repetition, and suffering the subject of the Memoir to tell,
in a great measure, his own story in his own words. The work is
well--indeed even beautifully _gotten up_--is embellished with an
admirably finished head of Mr. Rice, engraved by J. Sartain, from a
painting by W. J. Hubard--and is, in every respect, an acceptable and
valuable publication. Among the letters in the volume is one from John
Randolph of Roanoke, and several from Wm. Wirt. We select one of these
latter, being well assured that it will be read with that deep
interest which is attached to every thing emanating from the same pen.