ies at Home. Among the worthies
whom we honor in remembrance I must not omit to mention Rev. Charles T.
Brooks, the beloved pastor of the Unitarian church. Mr. Brooks was a
scholar of no mean pretensions, and a man of most delightful presence.
He had come to Newport immediately after graduating at Harvard Divinity
School, and here he remained, faithfully at work, until the close of his
pastoral labors, a period of forty years. He was remarkably youthful in
aspect, and retained to the last the bloom and bright smile of his
boyhood. His sermons were full of thought and of human interest; but
while bestowing much care upon them, he found time to give to the world
a metrical translation of Goethe's "Faust" and an English version of the
"Titan" of Jean Paul Richter.

Professor Davidson's lecture on Aristotle touched so deeply the chords
of thought as to impel some of us to pursue the topic further. Dear
Charles Brooks invited an adjourned meeting of the club to be held in
his library. At this several learned men were present. Professor Boyesen
spoke to us of the study of Aristotle in Germany; Professor Botta of its
treatment in the universities of Italy. The laity asked many questions,
and the fine library of our host afforded the books of reference needed
for their enlightenment.

The club proceedings here enumerated cover a period of more than thirty
years. The world around us meanwhile had reached the height of
fashionable success. An entertainment, magnificent for those days, was
given, which was said to have cost ten thousand dollars. Samuel Powel
prophesied that a collapse must follow such extravagance. A change
certainly did follow. The old, friendly Newport gradually disappeared.
The place was given over to the splendid festivities of fashion, which
is "nothing if not fashionable." Under this influence it still abides.
The four-in-hand is its climax. Dances can be enjoyed only by those who
can begin them at eleven o'clock at night, and end in the small hours of
the morning. If one attends a party, one sees the hall as full of
lackeys as would be displayed at a London entertainment in high life.
They are English lackeys, too, and their masters and mistresses affect
as much of the Anglican mode of doing things as Americans can fairly
master. The place has all its old beauty, with many modern improvements
of convenience; but its exquisite social atmosphere, half rustic, half
cosmopolitan, and wholly free, is found no l