mined by a lantern, so that the stars and stripes were there to cheer his sleepless hours at night, as long as he lived. He said it comforted him to see it there, and see the flag too.

It is very strange that a man of Webster's legal ability and sturdy common sense, should have left the making of his last will and testament until these days of physical weakness, but he did.

When he began to dictate his will, he said to the man who wrote it, that he had always liked the old fashion of commencing such instruments with religious expressions and with a recognition of one's dependence upon God. "Follow the old forms, "said he, "and do not let me go out of the world without acknowledging my Maker."

When the will was finished, he asked whether Mrs. Webster and his son Fletcher had seen it, and whether they approved it? They both assured him that they fully assented to it. Then said he, "Let me sign it now." And affixing his signature, strongly and clearly written, he said, "Thank God for strength to do a sensible act." Then immediately and with great solemnity, he raised both hands and added, "Oh God! I thank thee for all thy mercies."

After a time, he began to repeat the Lord's Prayer, but after the first sentence he began to feel faint, when he called out: “Hold me up, I do not wish to pray in a fainting voice." Having been elevated on the pillows he reverently repeated the whole prayer, then ended his devotions with words of praise, and expressions of "Peace on earth and good will to men."

Saturday, but the Deed has never come Ed
hand Iduppore it was sent to Marchfied, & was
Is long in gelling then, on amount of the interruption
of the modes of conveyame. that I missed it
It had not arrived on friday night, at 10 clock

I me look advantage of the temporary cessation
the Storm, & came up
Saturday. The

I forwarded. If I can find any body here, whiche

1

Reduced Fac-Simile of a Letter Written by Webster to

Mr. A. M. Blatchford, April 21, 1851.

On the evening of October 23 he fell asleep, profoundly grateful for the good he had been permitted to do, and with a sublime faith in the future life.

The whole country felt the shock, when it was said that he was dead. People remembered his splendid public service and the majesty of his personal presence, and they felt that one of the pillars of the State had fallen.

In his will he had said, "I wish to be buried without the least show or ostentation, but in a manner respectful to my neighbors, whose kindness has contributed so much to the happiness of me and mine, and for whose prosperity, I offer sincere prayers to God." Therefore the funeral arrangements were simple, although the President of the United States sent an agent of the State Department to propose a public funeral, and to take charge of it in the name, and with the resources of the government. The public feeling throughout the country was in full sympathy with the desire of the Chief Magistrate, but when Mr. Webster's wishes became known, all his friends felt that the most appropriate funeral honors which could be paid him were those which he himself had desired. On Friday, October 29th, 1852, there was a fervent religious service in his own home, and the gates of his spacious lawn were thrown open.

The casket was placed upon a mound of flowers, and the multitude swept through the grounds, passing by the majestic form, and looking reverently upon the familiar features. There were ten thousand people who came to Marshfield on that beautiful autumn day. when the maples were scarlet in the woods, and the Indian summer

had thrown her mantle of golden haze over land and sea. The wealth and intellect of America were represented there, but there were also the servants and humbler friends of him whom they mourned. One unknown man, in rustic garb bent for a moment over the casket and said pathetically: "The world without you, Daniel Webster will be lonesome."

The fame of an author is comparatively safe because his work is placed in permanent form. But the eloquence of the orator is a thing of the hour. He sways his audience very much as he wills, but the people pass away from his influence and often even forget the mighty impulse which has stirred them.

There are however at least four of the world's orators, whose speeches have attained a place among he great classics.

Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke and Webster will be remembered in the world of letters as long as force, polish, and eloquence are counted as necessary features of literature. When compared with the masterpieces of his predecessors, Webster's speeches stand the test. We need not fear that American oratory will fall below the earlier standards.

The temporary excitement of the times had passed, and his work receives its full quota of appreciation at the hands of the generations of critics who come after him.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

(1782-1852)

BY G. MERCER ADAM*

F great American statesmen, diplomats, and jurists who have not filled the Presidential chair (how many and distinguished is the number!)-men of the high stamp of Franklin, Patrick Henry, Jay, Hamilton, Clay, Calhoun, Marshall, Everett, Choate, Seward, and Sumner-not the least eminent among them must be named Daniel Webster, long the idol of his country and the most eloquent and renowned representative of the Massachusetts bar. His public career dates from the era of the War of 1812 to within ten years of the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion—a period of marvellous material development, as well as thronged with incident, political and social, in every feature of the national life. In the Senate, as well as in political assemblies, few men of the time had greater influence than he, or more powerfully thrilled a popular audience by his magnificent presence and persuasive, convincing speech. In spite of a towering though vain ambition, and marked moral failings, well-nigh irreconcilable in one who had such clearness of mental vision, and so wonderful a power of impressing his hearers with the justice and soundness of his utterances on almost all moral, legal, and con

*Historian, Biographer, and Essayist, Author of a "Précis of English History," a ⚫ Continuation of Grecian History," etc., and for many years Editor of Self-Culture Magazine.-The Publishers.