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tained of that event, we may judge from his known regard for social order and well-regulated liberty. He must have perceived, that the original projectors, if their intentious were just or patriotic, were precipitate and violent in their reforms; and that their successors, aiming at inordinate power, had no sense of humanity or of justice, no regard for the true honor of their country, or the welfare and happiness of the people.

He died in the spring of the year 1807, leaving a name (if not of the first celebrity, yet) of considerable eminence in the annals of literature. His perception was acute, and his mind vigorous. Not content with a hasty or superficial observation of the characters of men and the affairs of states, he examined them with a philosophic spirit and a discerning eye. He could ably speculate on the different modes of government, develope the disguised views of princes and ministers, and detect the arts and intrigues of demagogues and pseudo-patriots. He could perceive the defects of the boasted constitutions of the ancient republics, and the advantages of a limited monarchy, like that of Great- Britain. He could appreciate the blessings of regular government, free, on the one hand, from despotism, and on the other, from licentiousness; and he was as sensible of the value of true liberty, as of the necessity of legal restraint and subordination.

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He had the art of pleasing in conversation, though graces did not appear in his manners or deportment. He had a turn for pleasantry and humor; and has been compared with Burke for the variety of his allusions, and the felicity of his illustrations. His general tem

per has been praised; but his spirit was considered by many as too high for his fortune: yet, in one respect, his mind assimilated to the occasional penury under which he labored; for, in his mode of living he could imitate the temperance and self-denial of a philosopher.

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