For a time he preached occasionally as a dissenting minister, and in 1774, at the suggestion of Franklin, came to America. He soon became known as a writer of uncommon force and logic and an opponent of slavery. His celebrated pamphlet, " Common Sense," in which he advocated the independence of the colonies, was published in January, 1776, and had an extraordinary influence in disseminating republican ideas. His subsequent publications were of inestimable benefit to the patriotic cause. He was outlawed in England for his celebrated " Rights of Man," which appeared in 1791, in answer to Burke's " Reflectionson the French Revolution," and in September, 1792, was elected a member of the French National Convention. In consequence of his outspoken opposition to the execution of Louis XVI., he narrowly escaped being put to death during the Reign of Ter-

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ror. His remains were taken to England in 1819 by William Cobbett. A monument was erected to his memory in 1839, near his original burial-place in New Rochelle.

The literary reputation of John Jay is chiefly that which attaches to his political character, but he is pre-eminently worthy of being ranked among the literary men whom old Westchester has either produced or nurtured. Of Huguenot descent and a native of New York City, born December 12, 1745, he graduated at Columbia College and was a delegate to the First Revolutionary Congress at the age of twenty-eight, three years later chief justice of his State, and subsequently minister to Spain and negotiator of the peace with Great Britain, Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the United States and Governor of New York. Notwithstanding these various trusts, he was enabled to spend nearly thirty years of retirement in pleasant country life at Bedford, Westchester County, where he died on the 17th of May,