Those who knew him best, and especially in the army, will believe, that if occasions had called him forth, he was qualified, beyond any man of the age, to display the talents of a great general.

The most substantial glory of a country, is in its 'virtuous great men: its prosperity will depend on its docility to learn from their examples; and that nation is fated to ignominy and servitude, for which such men have lived in vain.

CHARACTER OF FISHER AMES.

This gentleman possessed a mind of high order, in some particulars of the highest, and a just claim to be classed with the men of genius, that quality which it is so much more easy to discern than to define; that quality, without which, judgment is cold and knowledge inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates. We observe in Mr. Ames a liberal portion of all the faculties and qualities that enter into this character, understanding, memory, imag ination, invention, sensibility, ardor.

As a speaker and as a writer he had the power to enlighten and persuade, to move, to please, to charm, to astonish. He united those decorations that belong to fine talents, to that penetration and judgment that designate an acute and solid mind. He had the ability of investigation, and, where it was necessary, did investigate with patient attention, going through a series of observation and deduction, and tracing the links which connect one truth with another. When the result of his researches was exhibited in discourse, the steps of a logical process were in some measure concealed by the coloring of rhetoric. Minute calculations and dry details were employments, however, the least adapted to his peculiar construction of mind. It was easy and delightful for him to illustrate by a picture, but painful and laborious to prove by a diagram, It was the prerogative of his mind to discern by a glance, so rapid as to seem intuition, those truths which

common capacities struggle hard to apprehend; and it was the part of his eloquence to display, expand, and enforce them.

His imagination was a distinguishing feature of his mind. Prolific, grand, sportive, original, it gave him the command of nature and art, and enabled him to vary the disposition and the dress of his ideas without end. Now it assembled most pleasing images, adorned with all that is soft and beautiful; and now rose in the storm, wielding the elements and flashing with the most awful splendors.

Very few men have produced more original combinations. He presented resemblances and contrasts which none saw before, but alt admitted to be just and striking. In delicate and powerful wit he was preeminent. He did not systematically study the exterior graces of speaking, but his attitude was erect and easy, his gestures manly and forcible, his intonations varied and expressive, his articulation distinct, and his whole manner animated and natural. His written compositions, it will be perceived, have that glow and vivacity which belonged to his speeches.

All the other efforts of his mind, however, were probably exceeded by his powers in conversation, He appeared among his friends with an illuminated face, and with peculiar amenity and captivating kindness, displayed all the playful felicity of his wit, the force of his intellect, and the fertility of his imagination. In his manners he was easy, affable, cordial, inviting confidence, yet inspiring respect. He had that refined spirit of society, which observes the forms of a real, but not studied politeness, and paid a most delicate regard to the propriety of conversation and behavior.

In public speaking, he trusted much to excitement, and did little more in his closet than draw the outlines of his speech and reflect on it, till he had received deeply the impressions he intended to make; depending for the turns and figures of language, illustrations and modes of appeal to the passions, on his imagina. tion and feelings at the time. This excitement continued, when the cause had ceased to operate.

After

debate his mind was agitated, like the ocean after a storm, and his nerves were like the shrouds of a ship, torn by the tempest.

He brought his mind much in contact with the minds of others, ever pleased to converse on subjects of public interest, and seizing every hint that might be useful to him in writing for the instruction of his fellow-citizens. He justly thought that persons below him in capacity might have good ideas, which he might employ in the correction and improvement of his own. His attention was always awake to grasp the materials that came to him from every source. constant labor was going on in his mind.

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It is happy for mankind, when those who engage admiration deserve esteem; for vice and folly derive a pernicious influence from an alliance with qualities that naturally command applause In the character of Mr. Ames, the circle of the virtues seemed to be complete, and each virtue in its proper place.

The exercise of his talents and accomplishments was guided and exalted by a sublime morality and the spirit of rational piety, was modelled by much good taste, and prompted by an ardent heart.

The objects of religion presented themselves with a strong interest to his mind. The relation of the world to its author, and of this life to a retributory scene in another, could not be contemplated by him without the greatest solemnity. The religious sense was, in his view, essential in the constitution of man. He placed a full reliance on the divine origin of christianity. If there was ever a time in his life, when the light of revelation shone dimly upon his understanding, he did not rashly close his mind against clearer vision; for he was more fearful of mistakes to the disadvantage of a system, which he saw to be excellent and benign, than of prepossessions in its favor. He felt it his duty and interest to inquire, and discovered on the side of faith a fulness of evidence little short of demonstration. In regard to articles of belief, his conviction was confined to those leading principles, about which christians have little diversity of opinion. Subtle

questions of theology, from various causes often agitated, but never determined, he neither pretended nor desired to investigate, satisfied that they related to points uncertain or unimportant but he loved to view religion on the practical side, as designed to operate by a few simple and grand truths on the affections, actions and habits of men.

CHARACTER OF JOHN MARSHAL.

The Chief Justice of the United States, is in his person, tall, meagre, emaciated; his muscles relaxed, and his joints so loosely connected, as not only to disqualify him, apparently, for any vigorous exertion of body, but to destroy every thing like elegance and harmony in his air and movement. Indeed in his whole appearance, and demeanor; dress, attitude, gesture; sitting, standing, or walking; he is as far removed from the idolized graces of Lord Chesterfield, as any other gentleman on earth. To continue the portrait-his head and face are small in proportion to his height; his complexion swarthy; the muscles of his face, being relaxed, give him the appearance of a man of fifty years of age, nor can he be much younger; his countenance has a faithful expression of great good humor and hilarity; while his black eyes, that unerring index, possess an irradiating spirit, which proclaims the imperial powers of the mind' that sits enthroned within.

This extraordinary man, without the aid of fancy, without the advantages of person, voice, attitude, gesture, or any of the ornaments of an orator, deserves to be considered as one of the most eloquent men in the world; if eloquence may be said to consist in the power of seizing the attention with irresistible force, and never permitting it to elude the grasp, until the hearer has received the conviction which the speaker intends. As to his person, it has already been described. His voice is dry and hard; his attitude, in his most effective orations, was often extremely awkward, as

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it was not unusual for him to stand with his left foot in advance; while all his gesture proceeded from his right arm, and consisted merely in a vehement, perpendicular swing of it, from about the elevation of his head, to the bar behind which he was accustomed to stand. As to fancy, if she holds a seat in his mind at all, which is very much doubted, his gigantic genius tramples with disdain, on all her flower-deckt plats and blooming parterres. How then, it will be asked with a look of incredulous curiosity, how is it possi ble, that such a man can hold the attention of an audience enchained, through a speech of even ordinary length? The explanation is easy.

He possesses one original, and, almost supernatural faculty the faculty of developing a subject by a single glance of his mind, and detecting at once, the very point on which every controversy depends. No, matter what the question; though ten times more knotty than "the gnarled oak," the lightning of heav en is not more rapid, not more resistless, than his as tonishing penetration. Nor does the exercise of it seem to cost him an effort. On the contrary it is as easy as vision. I am persuaded that his eyes cannot fly over a landscape, and take in its various objects with more promptitude and facility, than his mind embraces and analyzes the most complex subject.Possessing this intellectual elevation, which enables him to look down and comprehend the whole ground at once, he determines immediately, and without diffi culty, on which side the question may be most advan. tageously approached and assailed. In a bad cause his art consists in laying his premises so remotely from the point directly in debate, or else in terms so general and so specious, that the hearer, seeing no consequence which can be drawn from them, is just as willing to admit them as not; but, his premises once admitted, the demonstration, however distant, follows as certainly, as cogently, as inevitably, as any demonstration in Euclid. All his eloquence consists in the apparently deep self conviction, and emphatic earnestness of his manner; the correspone