possession of the office which had been recently | vacated by the death of the other. There being but two lawyers in this place he had the satisfaction of being engaged on one side or other of every case, thus obtaining an opportunity of exercising his faculties which had been denied in Baltimore. The business was not so great as to deprive him of ample leisure for reviewing his studies, and going through a course of historical reading, revising Gibbon, Robertson, Hume, and other classical English writers. He had made some progress in Italian and German, to which he regularly devoted a portion of his time. With the French literature he was familiar. A year was thus passed here to advantage, when he received a letter from a friend in New Orleans who had been appointed sheriff, and who promised a very tempting opening there in the profession.

In the spring of 1810, Mr. Brackenridge took his departure from Pittsburgh for Upper Louisiana, being desirous of visiting the scenes of his infancy, to which his recollections fondly clung. He was most kindly received at St. Genevieve by the family in which he had lived; and it happening to be the court week became engaged in several important cases. From this place he went to St. Louis and followed the spring circuit, but without changing his ultimate determination of going to the south. After the courts were over, instead of taking an office he set to work to collect materials for an account of the country. These formed a series of essays published in the only newspaper of the country, and which were afterwards used as the groundwork of his volume on Louisiana, a work spoken of in high terms when published in Pittsburgh in 1812, two years afterwards. He availed himself, while at St. Louis, of the opportunity of improving himself in the Spanish language under an excellent teacher, aud afterwards made himself master of it in Louisiana. Being addicted to no vices and few pleasures, he found abundance of time to apply to study.

In the autumn of 1811, Mr. Brackenridge descended the river to New Orleans in what was called a keel-boat, steam not being then in use. It was not more than a month or two after his arrival until he was appointed Deputy-AttorneyGeneral for the territory of Orleans, afterwards State of Louisiana. When the constitution went into operation the next year he received the appointment of District Judge, although not more than twenty-three years of age. It became necessary to turn his attention to the Spanish law, the Siete Partidas, and to the Code Civil, &c., all based on the Roman civil law. Here a wide field opened before him, to which he devoted himself for two or three years with great earnestness; at the same time giving a large portion of his attention to Spanish literature, for which he enjoyed the best opportunities. He acquired the language so as to speak and write it with fluency. During the latter part of the war of 1812 he corresponded with the general government, and gave important information as to the designs of the enemy and the condition of the country for defence. In 1814, in the month of September, he left Louisiana on a visit to Washington on an invitation to engage in a diplomatic capacity, but was taken ill in Kentucky, and did not reach the seat of government until after peace had been proclaimed. His re

ception by Mr. Madison was kind, and he was introduced by him to Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, to whom he communicated his intentions in his favor. In Mr. Monroe he afterwards found, on all occasions, a warm and ardent friend. In the meantime he took up his residence at Baltimore. At the instance of a bookseller he wrote a popular history of the incidents of the late war, which still holds its place after passing through many editions. It was translated into French and Italian by distinguished authors.

66

The question of the acknowledgment of the independence of the South American republics being the order of the day, Mr. Brackenridge, in conjunction with Mr. Clay, took an active part in their favor; he made numerous translations of South American papers, and wrote for the newspapers on the subject. But his principal production was a pamphlet of a hundred pages, being in the form of a letter by an American," "addressed to Mr. Monroe, then President of the United State. This pamphlet was immediately republished in England in the "Pamphleteer;" and it being supposed to express the views of the American government, the Spanish minister, the Duke de San Carlos, employed a writer to prepare a reply. This pamphlot of Mr. Brackenridge was translated into French by the Abbé du Pradt, afterwards Archbishop of Malines, who passed a high encomium on the production.

About the same period a very elaborate dissertation appeared from his pen in Walsh's Register in support of the views of the administration on the subject of the "boundaries of Louisiana" as described in the treaty of cession by France and Spain. It was regarded as a conclusive argument on the American side of the question.

The government in 1817 having determined to send Commissioners to the South American republics as a preliminary step to their recognition, Mr. Brackenridge received the appointment of Secretary. The commission sailed in the Congress Frigate in December, and after visiting Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and the island of Margaritta, returned to New York in 1818. Mr. Brackenridge availed himself of every opportunity to collect information, and in the course of the year published his Voyage to South America in two volumes octavo, and an improved edition in London the year after. This work was declared by Humboldt to contain "an extraordinary mass of information, and to be replete with philosophic views."

This experience of diplomacy satisfied him; he found that it was very uncertain as a pursuit in this country, there being no diplomatic corps where promotion might follow merit, as in the army or navy. He, therefore, determined to pursue his profession, and took an office and made some successful efforts at the bar, by which he obtained reputation but no regular business; this could only have been the result of time where the prac tice was already monopolized. Popularity, however, had been obtained; he was twice elected to represent the city in the state legislature: but this only rendered mere professional success more distant. His speech in favor of the liberty of conscience, in the debate on what was called "the Jew Bill," which was published, added to his reputation. At the same time he published an

elaborate argument on the powers of the Court of Equity, to compel a witness to disclose facts on a bill of discovery to be used in another state, there being no means to coerce his testimony. This case has been since provided for by an express act of Congress. The want of success in obtaining clients began to render him impatient, and he thought of the new countries to the west and south, which offered a more immediate prospect of occupation. About this time the treaty of cession of Florida was negotiated, presenting a new opening where the course would be clear to him. On consulting with Mr. Monroe and Mr. Adams he received assurances from those gentlemen that he would be remembered in the organization of the territorial government. He accordingly proceeded to St. Louis in the fall of 1820, with the intention of going to Florida in the spring, at which time the American government would take possession of the new acquisition.

In April, 1821, he took passage in a steamboat for New Orleans, and on his way overtook General Jackson, who had been appointed Commissioner to take possession of Florida, and afterwards to act as governor. The boat in which he had taken passage having been disabled, he and his suite were transferred to the one which had overtaken it. The General sent for Mr. Brackenridge and requested him to join his military and diplomatic family in the capacity of a volunteer, his services as a civilian, and his knowledge of the French and Spanish languages, being a desideratum in this party. He accordingly accompanied the general to Pensacola, and rendered him valuable assistance as secretary, negotiator, and counsellor. That the General was well satisfied with these services will appear from the following letter, written from the first stage after his departure from Florida.

MANUELS, October 8, 1821.

DEAR SIR,-I had a great desire to have had a few minutes' private conversation with you before I left Pensacola, but this, from the business with which I was surrounded, was prevented me.

I had a wish personally to say to you, the gratitude I feel for the aid I have received from you in the organization and administration of the government, and to know if there was anything in which I could render you any service. As you have made Pensacola your residence you can render much good to the public and to yourself in a public capacity. And as far as my influence will extend it will afford me much pleasure in using it in your behalf. I therefore will be grateful to receive a letter from you addressed to me at Nashville, Tennessee, stating whether you would prefer a seat in the judiciary or any other office in the Floridas that would enable you to do the duties and pursue the practice of the law. It will afford me great pleasure to forward to Dr. Bronaugh letters in your behalf to obtain such appointment as may be most agreeable to you. I therefore request you to write to me on this subject.

Having left the administration of the government in charge of Colonel Walton, for whom I have formed a friendship, my dear sir, permit me to ask of you your aid to him and his situation, a responsible one, and I have a great desire that he may administer the government satisfactorily to the nation and with credit to himself.

Accept, my dear sir, a tender of my sincere regard and unfeigned friendship. Yours, ANDREW JACKSON.

In May, 1821, Mr. Brackenridge received the appointment of United States Judge for the Western District of Florida, which office he continued to fill for more than ten years to the general satisfaction. In 1832 General Jackson superseded all the judges of the territories on the plan of making room for political partisans. Mr. Brackenridge having married a lady of Philadelphia, in whose right he held a valuable tract of land on the Pennsylvania Canal near Pittsburgh, removed to that place, where he now resides. He became an active politician, made speeches, and published pamphlets and articles for the reviews and newspapers. In 1834 he published the first volume of his Recollections of Persons and Places in the West, the remainder being still in manuscript. His publications of speeches, addresses, &c., are numerous, but not collected into volumes. Among his unpublished works are a History of the Western Insurrection, one of the most important episodes in our national history.

At the election of General Harrison in 1840 he obtained a seat in Congress, and the year following was appointed a Commissioner under the Mexican treaty, in conjunction with Governor Marcy of New York. With this exception, and the service of one session in the state legislature in 1844, he has remained in private life, but still devoted to letters. In 1847 he published a series of letters in favor of the cause of the nation in the Mexican war. His works are very numerous, and as various as numerous, and exhibit an unusual scope of knowledge on every subject. The essay on Trusts and Trustees is a work which displays legal research and acumen, although, like "Jones on Bailment," intended to illustrate a particular case. His Eulogy on Jefferson and Adams, delivered at Pensacola in August, 1820, was highly eulogized at the time by William Wirt. The continuation of the "Recollections" would form a most valuable addition to our contemporary history, as few persons have had better opportunities of seeing and observing, or a more intimate acquaintance with the prominent actors on the scene in his day, and few writers, we may add, are better qualified to convey their impressions in a full, minute, and agreeable manner. Mr. Brackenridge apparently writes with ease to himself, and certainly with pleasure to his readers.

ST. GENEVIEVE ON THE MISSISSIPPI AT THE CLOSE OF THE LAST CENTURY.*

My guardian carried me directly to the house of M. Bauvais, a respectable and comparatively wealthy inhabitant of the village, and then took his departure the same evening. Not a soul in the village, except the curate, understood a word of English, and I was possessed of but two French words, oui and non. I sallied into the street, or rather highway, for the houses were far apart, a large space being occupied for yards and gardens by each. I soon found a crowd of boys nt play; curiosity drew them around me, and many questions were put by them, which I answered alternately, with the aid of the before mentioned monosyllables, "Where have you come from?" "Yes." "What is your name?" "No." To the honour of these boys be it spoken, or rather to the honour of their parents who had taught them true politeness-instead of turning me into ridicule,

From Recollections of the West.

as soon as they discovered I was a strange boy, they vied with each other in showing me every act of kindness.

M. Bauvais was a tall, dry, old French Canadian, dressed in the costume of the place: that is, with a blue cotton handkerchief on his head, one corner thereof descending behind and partly covering the eel-skin which bound his hair; a check shirt; coarse linen pantaloons on his hips; and the Indian sandal or moccasin, the only covering to the feet worn here by both sexes. He was a man of a grave and serious aspect, entirely unlike the gay Frenchmen we are accustomed to see; and this seriousness was not a little heightened by the fixed rigidity of the maxillary muscles, occasioned by having his pipe continually in his mouth, except while in bed, or at mass, or during meals. Let it not be supposed that I mean to speak disrespectfully, or with levity, of a most estimable man; my object in describing him is to give an idea of many other fathers of families of the village. Madame Bauvais was a large fat lady, with an open cheerful countenance, and an expression of kindness and affection to her numerous offspring, and to all others excepting her coloured domestics, towards whom she was rigid and severe. She was, notwithstanding, a most pious and excellent woman, and, as a French wife ought to be, completely mistress of the family. Her eldest daughter was an interesting young woman; two others were nearly grown, and all were handsome. I will trespass a little on the patience of the reader, to give some account of the place where I was domiciled; that is, of the house in which I lived, and of the village in which it was situated.

The house of M. Bauvais was a long, low building, with a porch or shed in front, and another in the rear; the chimney occupied the centre, dividing the house into two parts, with each a fire-place. One of these served for dining-room, parlor, and principal bed-chamber; the other was the kitchen; and each had a small room taken off at the end for private chambers or cabinets. There was no loft or garret, a pair of stairs being a rare thing in the village. The furniture, excepting the beds and the looking-glass, was of the most common kind, consisting of an armoire, a rough table or two, and some coarse chairs. The yard was inclosed with cedar pickets, eight or ten inches in diameter, and six feet high, placed upright, sharpened at the top, in the manner of a stockade fort. In front, the yard was narrow, but in the rear quite spacious, and containing the barn and stables, the negro quarters, and all the necessary offices of a farm yard. Beyond this, there was a spacious garden inclosed with pickets, in the same manner with the yard. It was, indeed, a garden-in which the greatest variety, and the finest vegetables were cultivated, intermingled with flowers and shrubs: on one side of it there was a small orchard containing a variety of the choicest fruits. The substantial and permanent character of these inclosures is in singular contrast with the slight and temporary fences and palings of the Americans. The house was a ponderous wooden frame, which, instead of being weather-boarded, was filled in with clay, and then whitewashed. As to the living, the table was provided in a very different manner from that of the generality of Americans. With the poorest French peasant, cookery is an art well understood. They make great use of vegetables, and prepared in a manner to be wholesome and palatable. Instead of roast and fried, they had soups and fricassees, and gumbos (a dish supposed to be derived from the Africans), and a variety of other dishes. Tea was not used at meals, and coffee for breakfast was the privilege of M. Bauvais only.

From the description of this house, some idea may be formed of the rest of the village. The pursuits of the inhabitants were chiefly agricultural, although all were more or less engaged in traffic for peltries with the Indians, or in working the lead mines in the interior. But few of them were mechanics, and there were but two or three small shops, which retailed a few groceries. Poultry and lead constituted almost the only circulating medium. All politics, or discussions of the affairs of government, were entirely unknown: the commandant took care of all that sort of thing. But instead of them, the processions and ceremonies of the church, and the public balls, furnished ample matter for occupation and amusement. Their agriculture was carried on in a field of several thousand acres, in the fertile river bottom of the Mississippi, inclosed at the common expense, and divided into lots, separated by some natural or permanent boundary. Horses or cattle, depastured, were tethered with long ropes, or the grass was cut and carried to them in their stalls. It was a pleasing sight, to mark the rural population going and returning morning and evening, to and from the field, with their working cattle, carts, old-fashioned wheel ploughs, and other implements of husbandry. Whatever they may have gained in some respects, I question very much whether the change of government has contributed to increase their happiness. About a quarter of a mile off, there was a village of Kickapoo Indians, who lived on the most friendly terms with the white people. The boys often intermingled with those of the white village, and practised shooting with the bow and arrow; an accomplishment which I acquired with the rest, together with a little smattering of the Indian language, which I forgot on leaving the place.

Such were the place, and the kind of people, where, and among whom, I was about to pass some of the most important years of my life, and which would naturally extend a lasting influence over me. A little difficulty occurred very soon after my arrival, which gave some uneasiness to Madame Bauvais. She felt some repugnance at putting a little heretic into the same bed with her own children. This was soon set right by the good curate, Père St. Pierre, who made a Christian of me, M. and Madame Bauvais becoming my sponsors, by which a relationship was established almost as strong as that formed by the ties of consanguinity. Ever after this, they permitted me to address them by the endearing names of father and mother; and more affectionate, careful, and anxious parents I could not have had. It was such as even to excite a kind of jealousy among some of their own children. They were strict and exemplary Catholics; so, indeed, were most of the inhabitants of the village. Madame Bauvais caused me every night to kneel by her side, to say my pater noster and credo, and then whispered those gentle admonitions which sink deep into the heart. To the good seed thus early sown, I may ascribe any growth of virtue, in a soil that might otherwise have produced only noxious weeds.

NOTICES OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER JUDGE H. H. BRACKENRIDGE.*

My father undertook to instruct me in the Latin and Greek. He was himself a most finished classical scholar, having been a tutor at Princeton, and afterwards the principal of an academy on the eastern shore of Maryland; and he was as proud of the suc cess in life of his pupils, and took as much credit to himself for it, as Porson. He considered the classics all in all, and thought no person could be esteemed a

From Recollections of the West.

scholar without them. According to his estimate, even Franklin had no higher claim than that of a strong-minded imperfectly educated man, who would have been much greater if he had been bred at a college, which I think very questionable. We are apt to overrate the importance of those pursuits in which we excel, or to which we have devoted much of our time and application. This I think was the case with him, and he was inclined to place too high a value on the talents of those who were critically versed in the masterpieces of Greece and Rome.

But in my opinion, by far the most valuable portion of my education consisted in his conversation, or rather lectures, for he spoke to me always as to a man. He was near fifty years of age, and had been a remarkable student from his childhood, and was surpassed by few in the depth and variety of his attainments. He appeared to live more in the world of books than of men, and yet his natural genius was of such high order, that it is questionable whether he would not have been greater by depending more on his native resources. His conversation abounded with wit and eloquence, and original views on every subject. The advantages derived from constant association with such a man can be imagined, but can scarcely be appreciated. Although there is no royal road to science, yet the road may be shortened, and rendered more accessible, by the assistance of such a teacher. I had all the benefit of his matured intellect, and highly refined ideas upon a thousand subjects.

At this time my father was unhappily plunged so deep in party politics, that he almost lost sight of

me.

Federalism and democracy were then at their height. He was a supporter of Jefferson and M'Kean, an enthusiast in the cause of France, and, from his high temperament, incapable of pursuing anything in moderation. He was also involved in a personal difference with the presiding judge of the court in which he practised, and fearful that he might be provoked to do something which might be taken advantage of, he resolved to retire from practice. He wrote with the pungency and force of a Junius, and spoke with the inspired eloquence of a Henry; it is, therefore, not to be wondered at, that he soon became a formidable politician. He purchased types and press, and set up a young man as editor of a paper, which he previously named the "Tree of Liberty," with a motto from Scripture" And the leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nation." At this period, with very few exceptions, the professional men, persons of wealth and education, and those in public offices, were on the federal side; and such was the violence of party dissensions, that it put a stop to all the pleasures of social intercourse; party differences and personal animosity almost signified the same thing. He wrote a number of things, sometimes in prose sometimes in verse, which I read with great delight and often committed to memory, being of course a violent democrat as well as himself. The great majority, both in town and country, was then on the federal side; but fifty republicans could be mustered in Pittsburgh, and not all these were entitled to put a ticket into the ballot-box. The success in the elections of M'Kean and Jefferson Eoon effected a numerical change: according to the usual course of things, the strongest side is apt to grow still stronger on that account; and the rising party is apt to continue to rise, as revolutions never go backwards.

*

I now became a student in earnest, devoting at least thirteen or fourteen hours out of the twenty

four to my books, under the instruction of my father, when he was permitted by the duties of his circuit to remain at home. All my wants were kindly attended to by my step-mother, leaving me nothing to think of but my books. Our house was but little resorted to, except by literary men; in fact books and reading formed the occupation of its inmates. My little sister read the newspapers at three years old, my youngest brother was learning his Latin and French at six or seven, and the elder at fourteen was translating Longinus, and the two works of Xenophon-the Anabasis and Cyropedia, into literal Engfish, line for line, and word for word, and then putting it into idiomatic English, writing sentence by sentence, under the direction of my father, who considered this, with his lectures and instructions, a practical course of rhetoric. As to himself he never dined out or invited to dinner, and was unwilling to see company until after tea; when persons dropped in to hear his conversation, in which none excelled him, although during the day it was difficult to get him to say a word except on business. It was indeed a treat to hear him speak when he chose to unbend. He was an improvisateur of the first order. I have heard him relate a story, when the illusion was so perfect, that the hearer would suppose there were half a dozen characters on the stage. Jeffrey, in one of the numbers of the Edinburgh Review, says that Matthews was inferior to him in relating a story. He was entirely different; there was no buffoonery or broad humour, either in the choice of his subject or in his manner. Compared to the stories of Matthews, it was genteel comedy or tragedy compared to broad farce. He generally walked about, and seemed to require this, in order to give full play to his powers. It is remarkable, that what he said on the bench while seated, had nothing of his usual eloquence; and when he was eloquent there, which was but seldom, he rose upon his feet.

He frequently dictated to me, sometimes chapters for "Modern Chivalry," sometimes essays for various newspapers, chiefly on European polities, with which he was singularly conversant. It was difficult to keep pace with him. He directed the punctuation of every sentence as he went along. He had been in this habit for a great many years. His hand-writing had become so bad, that it was almost impossible for any one to decipher it; so much so that a trick was once played upon him by a gentleman, who sent back one of his letters which he could not read, first tearing off the signature and putting his own in the place of it; my father attempted in vain to make out the scrawl! He would have been an over match for Napoleon in bad handwriting. He often dictated his verse as well as his prose. I remember when a small boy, having committed to memory some lines on General Wayne, which were composed in bed, and dictated in the morning to one of the students. They were the first lines of poetry I ever committed. No one was ever more careless in preserving his compositions. He troubled himself as little about them as he did for the fugitive effusions of his discourse. He once dictated to me a Pindaric ode on hearing the report of the death of Governor M'Kean,

which turned out to be false.

The lines on Wayne have been much admired: as they will occupy but little space I will transcribe them. Some of the thoughts are like Byron's Indeed I have often thought there was a remarkable resemblance in some of the features of their minds, and modes of thinking on a variety of subjects. It is curious that they both chose the same subject for a poem, and a very out of the way subject it wasthe judgment upon poor George the Third in the other world! The lines on Wayne are as follows:

The birth of some great men, or death, Gives a celebrity to spots of earth;

We say that Montcalm fell on Abraham's plain;
That Butler presses the Miami bank;

And that the promontory of Sigeum
Has Achilles's tomb.

Presq Isle saw Wayne expire.

The traveller shall see his monument;
At least his grave. For this,
Corroding jealousy will not detract;
But allow a mound-

Some little swelling of the earth,
To mark the interment of his bones.
Brave, honest soldier, sleep-
And let the dews weep o'er thee,
And gales shall sigh across the lake;
Till man shall recognise thy worth,
And coming to the place will ask,
"Is this where Wayne is buried ?"

ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.*

ADAMS and JEFFERSON are gone-Let us mourn the sad reality of their loss-let us rejoice in the glory of their departure-let us condole with that solitary and venerable man, the companion of their glory, CARROLL, the model of the accomplished gentleman, the scholar, and the patriot. Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, have passed to another, and a happier existence, but their names will be associated here, as the FOUNDERS OF A MIGHTY REPUBLIC. Washington, by the suffrage of all posterity, and of the universe, has been assigned the first place; not because he wielded the sword, and crowned the great work with success, but because his virtues as a citizen, his abilities as a statesman, his authority as a magistrate, his godlike purity and disinterestedness as a patriot, placed him beyond the reach of envy, of rivalry, of competition. Nor should we conclude, that because Adams and Jefferson have not been seen at the head of legions, they were destitute of the courage and capacity for command; such minds cannot be allied to fear, and those who ruled the destinies of nations might have commanded armies.

We may seek in vain through the whole range of history, for a parallel to the lives and deaths of Adams and Jefferson. It would have been remarked as extraordinary, if any one of our revolutionary worthies had departed amid the glory of this anniversary; still more if that one had been instrumental in bringing about the great event; but when it shall be told, that both the author and the advocate of the declaration, so pregnant with the fate of unborn millions, departed on that day, after having lived the exact period of half a century from its date, it will require all the weight of cotemporary evidence, to place it on the records of history, and all the faith of posterity to give it credit. natural that the minds of both should linger upon that most brilliant moment of their lives, and that it should be the last spot of earthly vision to fade from their view; but that a secret sympathy should exist between their kindred spirits, calling them to wing their flight to the regions of immortality at the sa:ne moment, is a circumstance at which we must pause, and adore the inscrutable designs of Provi

dence.

It was

To their children, for we may now call them our fathers, it is a pleasing reflection, that if ever for a moment, the warm and sincere friendship, which had commenced with the morning of our liberties, had been clouded by the demon of party long before the close of their lives, it had been renewed into the most generous ardor, beyond the power of malevolence. In the lives of these great men, the historian will delight to trace the numerous points of coincidence. They were both educated in the profession of the law, a profession, which, in a free country, in

The conclusion of the author's "Eulogy," 1826. VOL. 1.-43

a government of laws, and not of men, when liberally pursued, deserves to be considered as the guardian of its liberties. Before our revolutionary contest, they had both been engaged in preparing the minds of their countrymen for the separation, and with Franklin, were probably among the first to foresee its necessity, and pursue a systematic plan for its accomplishment. As members of the first congress, the one from the principal colony of the north, the other of the south, they took the lead in bringing forward and sustaining the important measure; they displayed at the same time those characteristics, which, according to the author of Anacharsis, constitute true courage-they knew their danger, feared it, yet encountered it with unshaken firmness. To both were confided the most important trusts abroad; first, to negotiate peace and amity with the nations of Europe, and next, as the first representatives of our government, at the two principal courts; Jefferson to that of Paris, and Adams to that of London. They both filled in succession the second station in the government; and were both afterwards elevated to the first. For many years after their retirement, they were both the objects of peculiar veneration to their countrymen. They saw, in the simple retirement of private citizens, those distinguished men, who had been the chief magistrates of a great people, and who had filled a station more dignified than that of kings. In their great age, we are reminded of the celebrated philosophers of Greece; and much is to be ascribed to the power of that intellect, which they preserved unimpaired, so highly cultivated, so habitually exercised; whose embalming influence almost controlled and retarded the decay of nature. The closing scene of their lives rendered the coincidence almost perfect. But the doom of man is inevitable. If virtues, and talents, and good services could secure immortality on earth, our WASHINGTON had still lived. Let us not then repine at the unvarying laws of nature, and of nature's God, which have created the vicissitudes of day and night, the changes of the seasons, and have appointed a time for every living thing to die. Under the guidance of hope and faith, let us keep in view the celestial light, which, if steadily pursued, will conduct us safely through this vale of trouble and disappointment, to the regions of happiness and immortality, where we shall meet again with those whom we esteemed, and loved, and venerated on earth. O illustrious names of WASHINGTON, FRANKLIN, JEFFERSON, ADAMS! delightful to every American ear-dear to humanity-ever living in the remembrance of posterity! Cities may disappear-empires may fall-monuments may be crumbled into dust-but unless the light of civilization and science shall be extinguished by an eternal night of barbarism, your fame and your honors shall endure FOR EVER.

FRANCIS GLASS.

THE author of the Vita Washingtonii is known to us only from the few facts presented in the pleasant English preface to the work by the editor, Mr. J. N. Reynolds,* from which we find that the author was educated in Philadelphia, became a teacher in the interior of Pennsylvania, where he formed an unhappy marriage, and his means not suflicing for the maintenance of a rapidly increasing family, he removed in 1817 or

*Mr. Reynolds is the author of a "Voyage of the United States' Frigate Potomac, 1831-1834," published at New York in 1885. He was a prominent advocate of the Exploring Expedition to the Pacific and South Seas, on which subject he published an address in 1586; he has also contributed several spirited nautical sketches to the Knickerbocker Magazine.