FRANCIS HOPKINSON, born in Philadelphia, Pa., September 21, 1737,
died there May 9, 1791, was the son of Thomas Hopkinson. Francis was
educated at the College of Philadelphia, studied law under Benjamin
Chew, and was admitted to the bar in 1761. His career belongs to the
public history of the making of the United States. To enumerate his
works and honors would transcend the scope of this book. He was a
member of the Continental Congress in 1776, signed the Declaration of
Independence, and was the first head of the treasury department of
the new government. The first powerful satire of the British in
Revolution, _The Battle of the Kegs_, was from his pen. A ripe
scholar and a prolific writer of prose and verse in both humorous and
earnest methods, skilled in music and in polite conversation, he was
one of the most brilliant of the group of early jurists and writers
of our country. He was United States District Judge of Pennsylvania
at the time of his death. The authorship of the two anonymous college
dialogues cited below is positively given to him in the Brinley
Catalogue (New York, March, 1880), in view of which, and of the not
less important fact that Thomas Hopkinson died in 1751, I think,
notwithstanding the statement made by a contemporary newspaper, that
the Dialogue of the 1776 commencement was his work. Of that occasion
Sanderson's _Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of
Independence_ says in the memoir of Francis Hopkinson: "Among the
records of a public commencement of that institution [the College of
Philadelphia], held on the twentieth of May, 1766, the board of
trustees, comprising the governor, chief justice and most
distinguished men of the province, passed the following resolution:
'After the business of the commencement was finished, it was resolved
that as Francis Hopkinson (who was the first scholar entered in this
seminary at its opening and likewise one of the first who received a
degree in it) was about to embark for England and has always done
honor to the place of his education by his abilities and good morals,
as well as rendered it many substantial services on all public
occasions, the thanks of this institution ought to be delivered to
him in the most affectionate manner.'"
AN EXERCISE CONTAINING A DIALOGUE AND ODE SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
HIS LATE GRACIOUS MAJESTY, GEORGE II. Performed at the Public
Commencement in the College of Philadelphia, May 23, 1761. The
Ode Written and set to music by Francis Hopkinson. Philadelphia:
W. Dunlap, 1761. 4to, pp. 8.
AN EXERCISE, CONTAINING A DIALOGUE AND ODE ON THE ACCESSION OF HIS
PRESENT GRACIOUS MAJESTY, GEORGE III. Performed at the Public
Commencement in the College of Philadelphia, May 18th, 1762.
Philadelphia: Printed by W. Dunlap, 1762. 4to, pp. 8.
DIALOGUE [in verse] FOR THE COMMENCEMENT in the College of
Philadelphia, May 30th, 1765. 8vo, pp. 4.