elligence of his
death is communicated, he was truly 'the friend of the farmer--the friend
of humanity.' We have the proceedings of a meeting of the New-York
Agricultural Society, held in the State-House at Albany, on receiving the
intelligence of the death of Mr. GAYLORD. The President, JOHN P. BEEKMAN,
Esq., of Columbia county, passed a high and deserved eulogium upon the
character of the deceased. 'The judgment of every intelligent farmer in
the State,' he observed, 'will respond to the assertion that to no man
whatever, excepting perhaps Judge BUEL, is the agriculture of the State
more indebted than to Mr. GAYLORD. For myself, I can declare in all
sincerity that there is no man whose writings caused within me a greater
desire to be honored with a personal acquaintance. The character of WILLIS
GAYLORD was in all respects what might be expected from his writings;
benevolent, enlightened, elevated; yet plain, practical, unassuming. Every
day of his useful life was marked, not merely by the exercise of his
versatile talents on the multifarious subjects embraced by agriculture and
the domestic arts, but by the acquisition and promulgation of knowledge in
the wide range of science.' He was cordially esteemed by all who knew him;
he had not an enemy in the world. Hon. CALVIN HUBBARD, of the Legislature,
offered resolutions in testimony of the deep regret which the death of Mr.
GAYLORD had created in the public mind, copies of which were ordered to be
transmitted to the relatives of the deceased; after which, as a token of
respect to his memory, the meeting was adjourned. 'A scholar, a gentleman,
a christian, a friend of man, Mr. GAYLORD lived universally beloved, and
died universally lamented.' . . . IT has been assumed lately by certain of
the political and financial enemies of the late NICHOLAS BIDDLE, Esq.,--an
accomplished gentleman and scholar, whose pen has often entertained and
instructed the readers of this Magazine--that he had little power of
style, and that his intellectual role was a limited one. Nothing could be
farther from the truth. That point however we are not now to discuss. We
merely wish to ask the reader's attention to the subjoined remarks of Mr.
BIDDLE upon the besetting sin of our American style, oral as well as
written: 'A crude abundance is the disease of our American style. On the
commonest topic of business, a speech swells into a declamation--an
official statement grows to a dissertation. A disco