39
own, whom he particularly recommended to his
acquaintance, as possessing endowments of mind
greatly superior to the common standard of man-
kind. One of these was Francis Hopkins, who
afterwards highly distinguished himself in the
early proceedings of the Congress of the United
States. Thomas Godfrey, the second, died
after having given the most promising indi-
cations of an elegant genius for pathetic and
descriptive poetry. He was an apprentice to
a watchmaker, and had secretly written a
poem, which he published anonymously in the
Philadelphia newspaper, under the title of the
'4 Temple of Fame." The attention which it
attracted, and the encomiums which the Provost
in particular bestowed on it, induced West, who
was in the Poet's confidence, tovmention to him
who
W35
the
author.
The
information
excited
the
alert
benevolence
of
Smith's
ch-a racter,
and
he
lost
I10
time
until
he
had
procured
the
lease of Godfrey from his indenture, and Pa re-
spectable employment for him in the government
of the state; but this he did not live long to
enjoy: being sent on some public business to Ca-
rolina, he fell a victim to the" climate.