Personal memories, social, political, and literary, with sketches of many noted people, 1803-1843

Front matter

ImSHELD'S -

'ERSONALJViEMORIE'

The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.

Contents

CHAPTEE I.

My Father — Appointed Surveyor-General by Jefferson — Marietta in 1803 — Society — Madame Blennerhasset — Her Lament — Pioneer Survey of Indiana — Wild Animals of Ohio — Prevalence of Intemperance and Infidelity 1—17

Chapter II

Voyage down the Ohio — The "Ark" — "Keelboat" — Arrival at Cincinnati — General Findley — Fort Washington — -Indian Lookout — Ludlow Station — Little Turtle; his Appearance, Character, and Death — Israel Ludlow — Sarah Bella Ludlow — John Mansfield 18-30

Chapter III

First Observatory at Ludlow Station — Public Surveys — Society in the Country — War of 1812 — Volunteer Companies — Captain Mansfield — General Totten — Traveling in 1809 — First. View of a Steamboat — Log School House — The Hunters — Earthquakes of 1812 31-47

Chapter IV

Journey to the East — The Wagoners— The Women of Stonington — Capture of the Macedonian — New Haven — Bishop — Dr. Dwight — Noah Webster — Captain Powell — Libraries — My Studies — West Point — No Text-Books— Cheshire Teaching- Governor Foote 48-63

Princeton— College Life — Professors — Lindsley — Greene — Miller — Alexander — Hodge — My Classmates — Senator Pearce — Professor Dod; Richardson — The Philosophy of Ideas; Witherspoon— Chesterfield 92-103

Chapter VIII

Again at "West Point — Reading, History, and International Law — A Party — Distinguished Visitors — De Witt Clinton — Dr. Mitchell — Eliza Leslie — Mrs. Emma Willard — Percival the Poet — Female Education — Sally Pierce — Nathaniel Carter — Colonel Stone — Percival at Midnight 104-121

Chapter IX

Litchfield — Law School — Noted Men — Judge Reeve — Judge Gould — Anecdotes — Uriah Tracey — John Pierpoink— The Wolcotts — The Demings — Col. Tallmadge — Talk with Governor Wolcott — Connecticut Politics — The Seymours — Dr. Sheldon —Mode of Life— Dr. Beecher 122-140

CHAPTER X, Return to Cincinnati — Voyage Down the Ohio — Judge Baldwin — Judge Torrence — My Case — Nicholas Longworth — Martin Baum — Peyton Symmes — -Dr. Wilson — Father Burke — Churches in Cincinnati — Bishop Fenwick — Aydelotte — Johnson—Jacob Burnet, his Useful Life — David K. Este — Nathaniel Wright— Gazley— William Lytle— Robert Lytle 141-166

CHAPTER XL v

Dr. Daniel Drake, his Genius and Character— Dr. Goforth— Cin.

cinnati in 1805— Medical Practice; Drake founds the Ohio

Medical College ; is turned out by his Colleagues ; " Horace

in Cincinnati; " Drake's Monody on the Death of his Wife—

Contents. vii

Moses Dawson — Charles Hammond, Editor and Lawyer — States Eights in Ohio — Literary Institutions — Hiram Powers- Poets— W. L\. Gallagher 167-184

CHAPTER XII. V

Society in Cincinnati — Parties — Theaters — Actors — Prevalent /

Diseases — Taking the Census — Mechanics — Strange Imposition

—General Eoss 185-201

CHAPTER XIII.

The Presidency — Candidates in 1824 — John Quincy Adams — Clay's Vote for Adams — Speech at Mack's Tavern — Henry Clay and his Character 202-218

CHAPTER XIV.

Thomas Corwin ; his Genius, Career, Eloquence, and Character — Jackson ; his Canvass for the Presidency — " Truth's Advocate" — Burr and Jackson 219-235

CHAPTER XV.

Nullification— Calhoun's Theory — Hamilton's Speech — South Carolina Volunteers — Curious Incidents in South Carolina — Webster's Speech — Jackson's Position — The Proclamation — ■ The Tariff — The Compromise — Failure of Oratory — Success of the Republic 236-253

CHAPTEE XVI.

The Cholera — Its Advent, Progress, and Mortality — Dr. Drake's (/ Literary Parties — General King — Mrs. King (Mrs. Peters) — Catharine Beecher — Harriet Beecher (Mrs. Stowe) — Professor Stowe — Judge Hall — Mrs. Caroline Hentze — College of Teachers — Albert Pickett — Joshua Wilson — Alexander Kinmont — James Perkins — Dr. Beecher — Alexander Campbell — Thomas L. Grimke 254-276

CHAPTEE XVII.

Ormsby Mitchell— The Political Grammar— Dr. Lyman Beecher — John Quincy Adams — Abolition— Eight of Petition— Bank of the United States— Removal of the Deposits— Storer and Lytle— Cincinnati College— Dr. McGuffey — Charles Telford— Cincinnati Chronicle— Benjamin Drake— Myself. 277-295 viii Contents.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Southern Eailroad — My Article and Speech — Public Meeting in Cincinnati — Drake — J. S. Williams — Judge Hall — General Harrison — Knoxville Convention — Ohio Delegates — Scenery on the Tennessee River — Cincinnati Mob — Court-house Meeting — Commercial Crisis of 1837 — First Observatory at Ludlow Station— Mitchell's Observatory 296-310

CHAPTER XIX.

Political Campaign of 1840 — Van Buren — Washington Scandal — Break between Calhoun and Jackson — Van Buren's Success — Nomination of Harrison — Log Cabins and Hard Cider — Glee Songs — Defeat of Van Buren — Salt River — Lamentations 311-328

CHAPTER XX.

The Newspaper Press — Its Origin, Character, and Purposes — The English Press — Public Writers — The " Morning Chronicle " — Fox and Sheridan — " Public Advertiser" — Junius — The American Press — Freneau — Duane — Ritchie — Robert Walsh — " Evening Post" — Coleman — " National Intelligencer " — Gales — "New York Times" — Henry J. Raymond — Horace Greeley and Socialism — What'should be the Tone and Character of a Newspaper 329-348

PERSONAL MEMORIES.

By E. D. MANSFIELD.

My Father — Appointed Surveyor- General by Jefferson — Marietta in 1803 — Society — Madam. Blennerhassel — Her Lament — Pioneer Survey of Indiana — Wild Animals of Ohio — Prevalence of Intemperance and Infidelity.

The reader of "Personal Memories" must desire to know something of the writer, and of his qualifications to interest the public.

My father's family came from Exeter, in England, lauded at Boston in 1634, and were among the first settlers in New Haven, in 1639. They were upright, intelligent people, who, with their descendants, have continued from that time to this — a period of two hundred and forty years — without reproach; always in respectable situations, and some of them in public lite. My father, Jared Mansfield, was, all his life, a teacher, a professor, and a man of science. He began his life as a teacher in New Haven, where he taught a mathematical school, and afterward taught at the " Friends' Academy," in Philadephia, where he was during the great yellow-fever season, and went from there to West Point, where he taught in the Military Academy, in 1802-3 and in 1814-28. In the mean-

Personal Memories.

time, however, he was nine years in the State of Ohio, holding the position of Surveyor-General of the United States. The manner of his appointment, and the work he performed, will illustrate his character and introduce a small, but interesting chapter of events.

"While teaching, at New Haven, he had several pupils who afterward became famous, or rather distinguished men. Two of these were Abraham and Henry Baldwin. The first was afterward United States Senator from Georgia, and the second, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. These boys, as may be inferred, had decided talents, but were full of mischief. One day they played a bad trick upon my father, their teacher, and he whipped them very severely. Their father complained, and the case came before a magistrate ; but my father was acquitted. It may be thought that the boys would have become my father's enemies. Not so; they were of a generous temperament, and knew their conduct had been wrong ; this they acknowledged, and they became my father's fast friends. Judge Henry Baldwin told me that nothing had ever done him so much good as that whipping; and the brothers were warm in their friendship to my father, both in word and act.

"While teaching, in New Haven, he published a book entitled "Essays on Mathematics." It was an original work, aud but a few copies were sold; for there were but few men in the. country who could understand it. The book, however, established his reputation as a man of science, and greatly influenced his after life. Abraham Baldwin was, at that time, Senator from Georgia, and brought this book to the

Personal Memories.

notice of Mr. Jefferson, who was fond of science and scientific men. The consequence was, that my father became a captain of engineers, appointed by Mr. Jefferson, with a view to his becoming one of the professors at the West Point Military Academy, then established by law. Accordingly, he and Captain Barron, also of the engineers, were ordered to West Point, and became the first teachers of the West Point cadets in 1802. He was there about a year, when he received a new appointment, to a new and more arduous field in the West.

Mr. Jefferson had been but a short time in office, when he became annoyed by the fact that the public surveys were going wrong, for the want of establishing meridian lines ; for the accuracy of the surveys depended upon establishing meridian lines with base lines at right angles to them. The surveyors of that time, including General Rufus Putnam, then Surveyor-General, could not do this. Mr. Jefferson wanted a man who could perform this work well, necessarily, therefore, a scientific man. This came to the ears of Mr. Baldwin, who strongly recommended my father, as being, in fact, the most scientific man of the country. My father did not quite like the idea of such a work, for he was a scholar and mathematician, fond of a quiet and retired life.

He foresaw, clearly, that going to Ohio, then' a frontier State, largely inhabited by-Indians and wolves, to engage in public business involving large responsibilities, would necessarily give him more or less of trouble and vexation. He was, however, induced to go, under conditions which, I think, were never granted to any other officer. It was agreed that while he was

Personal Memories.

engaged in the public service in the West, his commission in the engineer corps should go on, and he be entitled to promotion, although he received but, one salary, that of Surveyor-General. In accordance with this agreement, he received two promotions while in Ohio, and his professorship at West Point was (on the recommendation of President Madison), subsequently, by law, conformed to the agreement, with the rank and emoluments of lieutenant-colonel.

I mention this, to show the confidence that Presidents Jefferson and Madison had in him, and the respect which, in those clays, was paid to men of science. Alas.! that it should not be so now. I do not think my country has, on the the whole, gone backward ; but it is in vain to say, that worth, virtue, or talent can any longer expect either the reward or recognition which they received at the hands of the early administration of the government. In these days office is the reward of partisan services. It is true, that occasionally a literary man is appointed to office ; but I do not remember a single man of science, who, in the last twenty years, has received office at the hands of the government, as a reward or recognition of his distinction as a man of science. Irving, Bancroft, Motley, Bayard Taylor, and Lowell have been appointed to foreign missions, probably from their distinction as literary men ; but where is there a man of science who has received from the government any recognition of his services? Professors Henry, Agassiz, and others have been distinguished in public service, but never at the hands of the government.

My father, so far as I know, was the only man ap-

Personal Memories.

pointed to an important public office solely on the ground of his scientific attainments. This was due to Mr. Jefferson, who, if not himself a man of science, was really a friend of science.

My father's removal to the West, which took place in 1803, required in those days a long journey, much time, and a good deal of trouble. The reader will understand that there were then no public conveyances west of the Allegheny. Whoever went to Ohio from the East had to provide his own carriage, and take care of his own baggage. At that time there was really but one highway from the East to the West, and that was the great Pennsylvania joute from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. It professed to be a turnpike, but was really only a passable road, and oii the mountains narrow and dangerous. It was chiefly traversed by the wagoners who carried goods from Philadelphia to the West. A private carriage and driver, such as my father had to have, was the abhorrence of the wagoners, who considered it simply an evidence of aristocracy. They threatened, and often actually endangered, private carriages. My mother used to relate her fears and anxieties on that journey, and, as contrasted with the mode of traveling at the present day, that journey was really dangerous. Arrived at Marietta, Ohio, my father established his office there for the next two years. At first, some trouble arose -from differences of political opinions at Marietta. Political excitement at the election of Jefferson had been very high, perhaps never more so. General Rufus Putnam, my father's predecessor as Surveyor-General, had been a Revolutionary officer and a Federalist, while my father was a Republican

(now called Democrat), and supposed to be a partisan of Jefferson. This political breeze, however, soon passed over. The people of Marietta were, in general, intelligent, upright people, and my father not one to quarrel without cause. The Putnams were polite, and my parents passed two years at Marietta pleasantly and happily. I, who was but a little child of three or four years of age, was utterly oblivious to what might go on in Marietta society.

Two things, however, impressed themselves upon me. They must have occurred in the summer' and spring of 1805. The first was what was called " The Great Flood." There is a good deal said, every little while, about extraordinary cold, heat, or high water, but all these things have occurred before, and nothing of natural phenomena has happened in the last half century which has not happened before. The impression on my mind is that of the river Ohio rising so high as to flood the lower part of Marietta. We lived some distance from the Ohio, but on the lower plain, so that the water came up into our yard, and it seems to me I can still recall the wood and chips floating in the yard. However, all memories of such early years are indistinct, and can only be relied on for general impressions. My mother insisted that she could remember Colonel Sabin riding through the streets of New Haven with a drawn sword, crying, "Turn out! Turn out!" on the invasion of the British Tories under Tryon and Arnold. This was in 1779, and she was only three years old. It is said that old people decay in the memory of recent events, but my mother had no loss of memory. It was the same to her whether the event was a year or seventy years

Personal Memories.

old. As I was four years old at the time of the Marietta flood, it is probable that my impressions of it are correct.

The other event which impressed itself upon my mind was the vision of a very interesting and very remarkable woman. One day, and it seems to have been a bright summer morning a lady and a little boy called upon my mother. I played with the boy, and it is probable this circumstance which impressed it on my mind, for the boy was handsomely dressed, and had a fine little sword hanging by his side. The lady, as it seems to me, was handsome and bright, laughing and talking with my mother. That lady soon became historical — her life a romance, and her name a theme of poetry, and a subject of eloquence. It was Madame Blennerhasset. Although the main facts in her history are known, perhaps a brief account of her may interest the reader. Blennerhasset was an Irishman, of good family and education, but of fanciful and visionary ideas. His wife was an accomplished lady of high family. From some idea of adventure or romance, Blennerhasset moved to Ohio, and bought and improved what is known as Blennerhasset's Island. It is about twelve miles below Marietta, and is held by a patent received by Patrick Henry. There he built an elegant house, had a fine library, a philosophical apparatus, and a beautiful garden. Of these nothiug now remains. Blennerhasset was one of the victims of Aaron Burr — became involved in his wild schemes, was driven from the island, which was left in ruins, the house burned, and the garden destroyed. The Virginia militia, who came in from Wood county with lofty patriotism on their tongues,

Personal Memories.

were alike indifferent to beauty or to culture. The public history of Blennerhasset and Burr is well known, but that of Margaret Blennerhasset is more interesting than either. It is seventy years since Wirt, in the trial of Burr, uttered his beautiful and poetic description of Madam Blennerhasset and the island she admired. Poetic as it was, it did less than justice to the woman. An intelligent lady who was intimate with her,, and afterward visited the courts of England and France, said she had never beheld one who was Mrs. Blennerhasset's equal in beauty, dignity of manners, elegance of dress, and all that was lovely in the person of woman. With all this she was as domestic in her habits, as well acquainted with housewifery, the art of sewing, as charitable to the poor, as ambitious for her husband, as though she were not the "Queen of the Fairy Isle." She was as strong and active in body as she was graceful. She could leap a five-rail fence, walk ten miles at a stretch, and ride a horse with the boldest dragoon. She frequently rode from the island to Marietta, exhibiting her skill in horsemanship and elegance of dress. Robed in scarlet broadcloth, with a white beaver hat, on a spirited horse, she might be seen dashing through the dark woods, reminding one of the flight and gay plumage of some tropical bird; but, like the happiness of Eden, all this was to have a sudden and disastrous end. The " Queen of the Fairy Isle " was destined to a fate more severe than if her lot had been cast in the rudest log cabin. Associated with the schemes of Burr, Blennerhasset was compelled to fly. The Virginia militia ravaged his beautiful home, and the island returned to the barbarism from which it had emerged. Mrs. Blennerhasset accompanied her husband to Natchez, where they lived for a time, and thence to Montreal. After her husband's death she returned to England, but came back finally to New York, having declined gradually from splendid fortune to pinching want. While on the St. Lawrence she wrote the "Lament to the Fairy Isle." The following are two stanzas :

" The stranger that descends Ohio's stream,

Charmed with the beauteous prospects that arise, Marks the soft isles that 'neath the glistening beam Dance in the wave and mingle in the skies — Sees also one, that now in ruin lies, Which erst, like Fairy Queen, towered o'er the rest, In every native charm by culture dressed.

" There rose the seat, where once, in pride of life, My eye could mark the Queen of rivers flow; In summer's calmness, or in winter's strife,

Swollen with rains, or battling with the snow — Never again my heart such joy will know. Havoc and ruin, and rampant war have passed Over that isle with their destroying blast."

The end of this accomplished woman none can think of without a sigh. Reduced to absolute want in New York, she died and was buried by a benevolent society of Irish women—

" By foreign hands, thy humble grave adorned, By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned."

During my father's residence at Marietta, there appeared in the Marietta paper a series of articles in favor of the schemes of Burr, and indirectly a separation of the Western and Eastern states. These articles were censured by another series, signed " Eegulus," which denounced the idea of separating the states, and supported the Union and the administration of Jefferson. At the time, and to this day, the writer was, and is, unknown. They are mentioned in Hildreth's " Pioneer History," as by an unknown author. They were, in fact, written by my father, and made a strong impression at the time. For an account of the society and people at Marietta, I am indebted to my mother, of whom, I will here make such mention as is proper. Her maiden name was Phipps, and my grandfather Phipps came from Falmouth, Maine, to IsTew Haven, Connecticut. He had the distinction — for in a historical sense, such it was — of being an officer in the first naval squadron ever fitted out by the United States. He sailed under Commodore Hopkins, who captured the island of New Providence in the Bahamas from the British; he remained in the navy during his life and was a remarkable man ; he was a strict disciplinarian and a pious Christian. Once, when commanding the frigate Essex, he heard the sailors swearing; he called the men up and said : " Men ! there must be no swearing on board this ship ; I do all the swearing." For some years after the Revolution, the Government having no employment for him, he commanded a merchant ship trading with Holland and Ireland. In his voyages from Ireland, he brought from Londonderry and Belfast a large number of Irish emigrants, among the first who came to this country.

Of my mother's early education, I never could learn that she had had more than that of the common schools, at that time common enough. I have heard her say, that, when a child, her teacher was Mrs. Henry Mansfield, the mother of General Joseph

Mansfield, killed at Antietam. My mother, probably got no other education, in the popular sense, than reading, writing, and, perhaps, geography. But — was that all? If it were, it was pretty good proof that more than that was not necessary to make a very intelligent person ; for there were few people so well qualified, either for the duties of life, society, church, or state. The truth was, however, that my mother was brought up in a very religious family, and therefore had all the knowledge that the Bible and the church can give, and that is not a little. In the next place, she had a strong literary taste, read all the English classics, with the popular literature of the times, and remembered what she read. Her husband being a man of letters and of science, she was always in the best society and acquainted with many distinguished literary and scientific people. This social education is, perhaps, the best, and, with her naturally • strong mind, made my mother a superior woman. She needed none of the forms of schools, nor any fashionable accomplishments, to place her in the first rank of educated society. What others had of music, dancing, languages, or dress, she more than supplied with the flow of her full, cheerful, and brilliant mind. Gentlemen and ladies, young and old people, officers and scholars were glad to visit Mrs. Mansfield, lingering in her society until late hours and parting with regret, from what was indeed a " feast of reason and flow of soul." She had strong views of politics, and was a great patriot ; for this, she had, in her experience, good reason.

When Arnold and Tryon captured New Haven, in the Revolution, my mother's family suffered ; some of them fled to the country, and others remained. It was then that her great uncle, Benjamin English, when over eighty years of age, was stabbed in his chair and killed by a Hessian soldier. That incident never faded from my mother's memory j and a warmer patriot or a greater enemy to the English government, than my mother, never lived. Here let me say, that I am indebted for my political opinions to two persons, except so far as they have been modified by my studies and experience. These persons were my mother and Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut. Of the latter I shall speak again. The reader may ask if I got no opinions from my father. Some, certainly; but not of that positive character and influence which marked my mother's principles and views, lie was a philosopher, a student of science, and a teacher ; his mind was cool and philosophical, while my mother's was positive, direct, and earnest. She believed in the triumph of Christianity; in the success of the American Republic, the overthrow of the British Government, and the downfall of all oppression. She was lion-hearted, and would have died a martyr to her opinions had it been necessary. Such was my mother, and from her I derived most of my information about the early society of Marietta and Cincinnati. Among her friends in Marietta were the Putnams, the Meigs' family, the Greenes, the Backus' family, and the Stones. Some of these families seem to have disappeared ; but some have left descendants. Here let me remark on the society of the past generation, as compared with ihe present. There is always in the present time, a disposition to exaggerate either its merits or its faults.' Those who take a hopeful view of things, and wonder at onr inventions and discoveries, think that society is advancing and we are going straight into the milleniura. On the other hand, those who look upon the state of society to-day, especially if they are not entirely satisfied with their own condition, are apt to charge society with degeneracy. They see crimes and corruptions, and assert that society is growing worse. Let me here assure the reader that this is not true, and that while we have all reason to lament the weakness of human nature, it is not true that society is declining. !N~o fact is more easily demonstrated than that the society of educated people — and they govern all others — is in a much better condition now than it was in the days succeeding the Revolution. The principles and ideas that caused the French Revolution, at one time, brought Atheism and Free Thinkers into power in France, and largely penetrated American society.

Skepticism, or, as it was called, Free Thinking, was fashionable ; it was aided and strengthened by some of the most eminent -men of the times. Jefferson, Burr, Pierrepont, Edwards, of Connecticut, and many men of the same kind, were not only skeptics, but scoffers at Christianity. Their party came into power, and gave a sort of official prestige to irreligion. But this was not all; a large number of the revolutionary army were licentious men. Of this cla-s were Burr, Hamilton, and others of the same stripe. Hamilton was not so unprincipled a man as Burr, but belonged to the same general caste of society. No one can deny this, for he published enough about himself to prove it. Dueling, drinking, licentiousness, were not regarded by the better class of society as the unpardonable sins which they are now regarded. At that time, wine, spirits, and cordials were offered to guests at all hours of the day, and not to offer them was considered a want of hospitality. The consequence was that intemperance, in good society, was more common than now, but probably not more so among the great masses of the people. Intemperance is now chiefly the vice of laboring men, but then it pervaded all classes of society. Judge Burnet, in his "Notes on the Northwest," says, that of nine lawyers coteraporary with himself, in Cincinnati, all but one died drunkards. We see, then, that, with a large measure of infidelity, licentiousness, and intemperance among the higher classes, society was not really in so good a state as it is now. At Marietta, were several men of superior intellects, who were infidels, and others who were intemperate. And yet this pioneer town was probably one of the best examples of the society of pioneer times.

I have said that my father was appointed to establish the meridian lines. At that time but a part of Ohio had been surveyed, and he made Marietta his headquarters.

In the rapid progress of migration to the "West, hia surveys also were soon necessary in Western Ohio and in Indiana. Indiana was then an unbroken wilderness, although the French had established the post of Vincennes. This was one of a line of posts which they established from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, with a view to holding all the valley of the Mississippi. There may have been a settlement at Jefl'ersonville, opposite Louisville, but except these there was not a white settlement in Indiana. It became necessary to extend the surveyed lines through that state, then only a part of the Great Northwest Territory. For this .purpose, my father, in 1805, in the month of October, undertook a surveying expedition in Indiana. As it was necessary to live in the wilderness, preparations for so doing were made. The surveying party consisted of my father, three or four surveyors, two regular hunters, and several pack-horses. The business of the hunters was to procure game and bring it into the camp at night. Flour, coft'ee, salt, and sugar were carried on pack-horses, but for all meat the party depended on the hunters. They went out early in the morning for game and returned only at night. As the surveying party moved only in a straight line, and the distance made in the day was known, it was e'asy for the hunters to join the others in camp. It was in this expedition that some of those incidents occurred that illustrate the life of a woodsman. One day the hunters had been unfortunate, and got no game, but brought in a large rattlesnake, which they cut into slices and broiled on the coals. My father did not try that kind of steak, but the hunters insisted the flesh was sweet and good. On another day a hunter was looking into a cave in the rocks and found two panther's cubs, he put them in a bag, and afterward exhibited them in New Orleans. Here let me say that posterity will never know the kinds and numbers of wild animals which once lived on the plains of the Ohio. Some are already exterminated, east of the Mississippi, and can only be found on the mountains of the West. A citizen of these days will probably be astonished to hear that the buffalo was once common in Ohio, and roamed even on the banks of the Muskingum; but such was the fact. A large part of