ir entire surface. Many of them,
especially that of the pious and renowned JONATHAN EDWARDS, who
left his New England home only to find a grave in New Jersey, having
died a month after his removal to Princeton, have been most shamefully
mutilated by relic-hunters and curiosity-mongers; innumerable pieces
having been chipped off the edges of the slabs, until even the
inscriptions have been encroached upon. To prevent, if possible, further
mutilation, the following unique and elaborate, but eloquent notice,
enclosed in an iron frame, has been placed over the graves of these
reverend fathers. It was written by Professor, now Dr. Giger, of the
college.

Keep your sacrilegious hands off these venerable stones! Parian
marble, wrought with consummate skill, could not replace them.
Connected with these homely monuments are historical associations
that ought not to be forgotten. The scarcity of better materials,
the rudeness of monumental sculpture, the poverty of the country,
the early struggles and pecuniary embarrassments of the colony, at
the period when these monuments were erected, as well as the
self-denial and hardships and labors of the distinguished men who
gave fame and usefulness to Nassau Hall, are indicated by these
rough stones. Nothing modern, nothing polished or magnificent,
could suggest the early history of New Jersey. Spare what remains
of these broken memorials. Thoughtless young man! why do you break
and deface these old monuments? A few fragments carried in your
pocket, or placed in your cabinet, will not impart to you the
activity and energy of Burr, or the profound and logical intellect
of Edwards, or the eloquence of Davies, or the piety and triumphant
death of Finley, or the poetical wisdom, the power of governing and
inspiring youth, the love of knowledge, and the stern, unflinching
patriotism of Witherspoon. If you admire and reverence the
character of these great and good men, read their works imitate
their example; and forbear, we beseech you, to add to the shameful
mutilation of the frail memorials intended to protect their bones
from insult.

But there is a strange and startling incongruity observable in this
enclosure. At the foot of the grave where rest the remains of the
venerable Aaron Burr, first president of the College of New Jersey,
stands a tall white marble monument of mo