Yet this awakening did not
seem to him right in all its parts. He determined, therefore, to have
a free and full conversation with Dr. Witherspoon, the then president
of the college, on the subject. The result of that conversation in
some measure tranquillized young Burr. The Rev. Dr. assured him that
it was not true and rational religion, but fanaticism, that was
operating upon his friends.
Among the papers preserved by Colonel Burr are the originals of a
number of essays or orations, written and read by him, in conformity
with the regulations of the college, while yet a student. They are
without dates; but, as he graduated in 1772, they must have been
composed when he was of an age between thirteen and sixteen. A few of
them are here inserted, as exhibiting his manner of writing, and the
maturity and tone of his mind. The opinions which he formed, while yet
in college, as to public speaking and the selection of language, he
appears never to have changed. The style which he then recommended
seems ever after to have been his model.
* * * * *
_Read in College, by Aaron Burr.--On Style._
"I have often observed, that it is very common for those who are
ambitious of excelling in composition, to study swelling words,
pompous epithets, and laboured periods. This is often practised,
especially by young writers. It is, however, generally condemned as a
fault, and sometimes too by those who practise it themselves.
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