A FUNERAL ORATION ON THE DEATH OF MR. ELIZUR BELDEN, OF WETHERSFIELD. A SENIOR SOPHISTER, IN YALE-COLLEGE: WHO DIED APRIL 8TH, 1786, AETAT. 23. DELIVERED IN THE COLLEGE-CHAPEL, JUNE 8TH, 1786. BY...FELLOW-STUDENT OF THE DECEASED.
New Haven: Daniel Bowen. 1786. 22pp, lacking the final blank. Bound in modern marbled boards and half leather, with gilt-lettered title stamped on front cover. Very Good. "Amelia Stiles' Book" inscribed at base of page 22. Amelia was President Ezra Stiles' daughter.
Hitchcock dedicates his scarce Oration to the parents of Belden, Colonel John Belden and his wife. Hitchcock's deceased classmate "was entirely deprived of sight" as a child "for three or four years." His recovery was "in a manner which borders on the miraculous." He suffered frequent illness, and "Misfortune seems to have seized on him as her own." Hitchcock concludes with a poem, evidently composed by him for the occasion.
Evans 19714. Trumbull 833. NAIP w020356 [8]. Item #20121
Price: $350.00