monial state, he was not insensible to the charms of the fair sex, or impenetrable to the tender passion. There are frequently impediments (as in this case) to the union of congenial minds, which it is not expedient should meet the eye of the public. He preserved his faculties in full strength to the end; and in the last year of his earthly pilgrimage, it was discovered that he still retained some of the beauties of Virgil in the original. The lines on Hope, written in his 80th year, display the vigour of his intellect at that advanced period. Before I dismiss my opinions respecting this excellent man, I will endeavour to concentrate his virtues, which I shall do by observing, that his piety was without enthusiasm, his charity without ostentation, his humility genuine, bis friendship sincere, his gratitude prominent, his loyalty and patriotism undisputed, and for his impartial administration of justice he might be called an Aristides. He was a blessed peace-maker, like Zacharias and Elizabeth he walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, and like Nathaniel, he was an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile. Indeed he was as the Sun in the moral and intel lectual system of the place of his nativity, . rounded by a constellation of virtues, and shedding his benign influence over the whole population of that ancient borough; for they all, whether great or small, rich or poor, looked up to him, and seemed to borrow lustre from the brilliancy of his declining rays. There were no erratic comet-like movements in his actions, but his life proceeded in one mild and equable tenor, and at length set in a blaze of glory. |