In the first decade of our independence the “Hartford Wits” made this little provincial capital a brilliant intellectual centre, and an important focus of political influence. The original members of the association or club were, Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, John Trumbull, Joel Barlow, and David Humphreys. We may call it remarkable, because, at that time, when Boston was as barren of literary talent as she has since been prolific, this little town of three thousand inhabitants boasted at least four poets who had gained a national reputation. Hopkins was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1750, was a distinguished physician, and one of the founders of the Connecticut Medical Society. He died in Hartford in 1801, and his grave may be seen in the old Center burying-ground. No edition of his collected poems has ever been published. They consisted in great part of his contributions to the _Anarchiad_, the _Political Greenhouse_, and the _Echo_, which were serial satires in verse by the Hartford Wits. The _Anarchiad_ resembled the _Rolliad_ of Frere and Canning, and with the _Echo_ contained a series of social and political satires. Hartford at this time, became and for twenty years thereafter was, the literary headquarters of the Federalist or Conservative party, which favored a strong, general government, and opposed French democracy. In consequence, as party feeling ran so high, it became a mark for obloquy and vituperation among the Jeffersonians, which gave it an honorable resemblance to Boston in the antislavery times.