than he; although fully aware, from the increasing attention with which he was received, whether by the crew, or by his fellow passengers, that he had become an object of admiration, if not of esteem, to all who were collected around him; not seldom however-even while his society was sought for, and his noble conduct lauded, on all sides-did he feel that he could almost envy some nameless victim, who had then passed through the valley of death to that common asylum, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." His soul was shaken, and his dauntless resolution almost gave way, when he bethought him of the pleasures through which he had run so rashly,—and of the toils and trials which lay before him;-the ills of pinching penury-"the cold world's cruel scorn"-the uncompanioned hearth-the deserted bed of sickness-all shapes and fantasies of coming evil thronged upon his brain, and damped his blighted spirit. As the voyage drew towards its termination, this morbid temperament even increased ;-he dreaded the rupture of the temporary intimacies he had contracted, and he could not brook the idea of being again cast forth on the wide universe alone and friendless ;---and perhaps his was the only pulse that did not throb the quicker, either through joy or expectation, when the cry of "land" was heard from the topmast head, and the highlands of Neversink were seen to raise their swelling mounds, glittering in the snowy garb of winter, from the dark bosom of the deep. W.

NIL DESPERANDUM.

TRULY has it been said by the bard oF ALL TIMES, that
There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune,

It

and perhaps this belief has never been more strongly borne out, than in the personage whose name follows. John Scott, together with his brother William, was educated in the free-school of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in England. They were both children in the middle class of society. Both were articled to attorneys, and both, at the expiration of these articles, resolved to push their fortune at her great mart, London. John, with whom only we have now to do, went through his term, and got admitted to the bar. But when this was done, poor John could not get a client. Unfortunate young man, his family connexions were few, humble, and far away. was true, that he had studied deeply and effectually the profession which he had taken up;-it was true, that his companions in private society admired the wit, as much as the knowledge, of honest Jack Scott. In the clubs, in the debating room, in all those places where "small artillery" is practised, Scott invariably bore the palm away, and yet he continued to remain,- -a briefless barrister. In vain he was seen daily in Westminster Hall, with wig of snowy whiteness, gown of ample flow, and purple bag, in which, briefly to speak, briefs there were none at all. A motion of course produced him now and then a half guinea, but even these were like angel-visits, "few and far between ;" and though they brought him the small piece of gold, they brought him not honor nor distinction.

As time wore away, so also wore the patience of poor Scott. A fine flow of spirits had long sustained him, but gradually he was becoming attenuated VOL. 1.

31

in frame, and melancholy in countenance. Some demon whispered him, that he had mistaken the road to fortune, and suggested that he had better retreat in time, and endeavor to patch up his hopes by another course of life. He wrestled with the spirit, however, for a time, still hoping with each day that something might turn up, to draw him from his obscurity ;— for be it observed, that Mr. Scott was aware, and justly aware, that he had within him matter for higher observation than hitherto had fallen upon him. The office of reporter to a daily paper, the contribution of an article occasionally for a magazine, and the few motions above alluded to, in the courts, enabled him to keep the wolf from the door, and to pay his expenses in going on the circuit twice a-year, where the pleasure of seeing one or two mammoth leaders carry away all the practice, and the opportunity of studying human nature in the best school—that of litigation-were his sole rewards; for it must be remarked, that though a young man may, in Westminster Hall, have an opportunity of startling the public ear, by some unexpected and powerful remark, yet on circuit the juniors are puppets in the hands of the leaders; who take especial care not to hazard their popularity, by allowing the young men to exhibit too much.

Such continued to be the life and sufferings of John Scott; his energies cramped, his spirits bowed down, his labors those of drudgery, slavery, and obscurity, which last, by the way, was "th' unkindest cut of all." It was no longer a reckoning of months, they had stretched themselves into years, and Mr. Scott still continued a briefless barrister, a reporter, writer, wit, and we had almost said—a broken-hearted man. His elasticity of spirit began now to fail him. He thought seriously of giving up the law, and of trying his fortune in commercial or some other speculation. The thought of this however, the reflection of the time which he had expended in intense study, the lore which he felt conscious he had treasured up,—the many whom his own heart told him were far inferior to himself in talents, and who, nevertheless, were rolling in affluence, all added gall to bitterness, and great was the difficulty with which he arrived at the conclusion, that all this must be abandoned, if he wished to emerge from the obscurity in which he was plunged.

In fact, he proceeded to pack up his personals, and pay his little accounts; he negociated with an eminent bookseller to take his small but valuable collection, and even took his passage in a vessel which was proceeding to Newcastle-his native place.

At this very juncture, dame fortune was preparing for him an important change. The celebrated Lord George Gordon was about to take his trial, and the gentleman who was retained as junior counsel being unexpectedly prevented from performing his duty, the brief and the opening of the cause was by happy chance given to Mr. Scott. It was a god-send. He made himself master of his subject-he was favored with an opportunity which enabled him to electrify the court. All eyes were turned upon the hitherto unknown young man. Briefs were from this time poured in upon him. He daily rose in popular opinion, and in that of "the powers that be." He gradually became Solicitor and Attorney General. He rose to the rank of Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, which office he retained for more than a quarter of a century; and the obscure John Scott, without a farthing, was merged in the Earl of Eldon, the possessor of £50,000 in annual receipt-the friend of kings and princes-the leader of a powerful party in the state.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE.

A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod

An honest man's the noblest work of God.

POPE.

THIS sentiment is trite, no doubt, but it is applicable;—so much so, that it is hardly possible to cast a glance over the life of the illustrious man, whose name graces the head of this paper, without being struck with the appositeness of the remark; and indeed it would require no very great stretch of the imagination to suppose that he had squared his conduct by the belief in the opinion here expressed, for all who know Lafayette are aware that neither his talents as a scholar, his prowess as a warrior, nor his sagacity as a counsellor, has given him half the inward satisfaction that he has derived from the conviction of being upright in his motives and liberal in his principles. It is delightful to the soul to turn away from the ambition, the chicanery-miscalled policy-the bustle and turmoil of the multitude, to contemplate a character made up of all the finest and most amiable of the moral elements, actively and constantly employed in the melioration of the human condition, from motives in which self has no share,-which has its reward in viewing the beneficial effects of its exertions, and in the approbation of conscience.

America, with all the faults that her enemies have attributed to her, has not the crime of ingratitude among the number. She is at all times aware of the seasonable services of such men as her own Washington, and of his illustrious friend Lafayette. She never ceases to honor their memories, and takes every opportunity of giving such substantial marks of her esteem as she is able. This she does also in the way most grateful, we may suppose, to the shades of the mighty dead, and to the independent feelings of their distinguished survivors.-She adopts their suggestions and maxims as the rules of her public administration, and she holds up to her children their bright examples, to the end that they may be incited to follow in such steps.-The good, the brave, the generous Lafayette should ever live in the heart of every son of the Union, in hardly less estimation than our great political father and defender. Alike were their motives of action-libertythe one for home and native land, the other through love of the whole human race, and through the desire of aiding all to obtain the rights of humanity, and of national equality.

Little or nothing can be added to what is already known of Lafayette, in this country, where his every action and thought is viewed with the approving eye of gratitude and esteem, but it is a duty to keep up, from time to time, the attention and recollection, by calling forward bygone scenes, which, though they may remain vivid enough in the memories of those who co-operated in the heart-stirring deeds, yet are liable to lose their impress in the minds of those who know them only by description. Human nature is so constituted, that in all save such matters as affect our personal interests directly, we are apt to let the remembrance first mellow, and then die away;---and however we may regret the failing, we cannot do away with the effects, except by renewing occasionally the incidents, which should never lose their place in national history.

M. P. Gilbert Motier Lafayette, the friend of liberty and equality all over the world, was nevertheless descended of a family highly aristocratical, and which took rank, both from its antiquity and titles, with the first under the ancien regime of France. He was born at Chauvaniac, in Auvergne, September 6th, 1757, and is a posthumous son. His father held the rank of Marquis, which title descended in due succession to the illustrious hero of our sketch, and his mother was a scion from a noble stock, being descended from the house of Lusignan. Besides the adventitious honors of noble birth and ancient descent, the two families from whom he sprung could lay claim to the more sterling honor of having given statesmen and warriors to their country, many of whom had fallen gloriously in the field, and some, not less gloriously, had worn out their existence in the senate. Among the former were his own father and his uncle, the former of whom was killed in the battle of Minden, leaving a young widow pregnant with our present subject, and the latter some time previously, whilst a young man, in the wars of Italy.

In addition to these losses, the young Marquis was deprived of his mother whilst he was yet very young, and accordingly he fell much under his own guardianship and direction at a very early period; being of ardent temperament, and of noble and expanded feelings, it is less a wonder that they early took the bias which has produced such distinguished and honorable results for mankind;-but the same ardor of feeling also produced the emotion of love in the bosom of the future hero, and at the early age of sixteen we find him married to one still younger than himself, but in whom, as their after history informs us, he found a congeniality of soul, which fitted her to perform duties of such difficulty and danger, as justly to place her in as elevated a position among the female spirits of the age, as her excellent husband has maintained through life among MEN.-She was a daughter of the house of Noailles, always memorable in the annals of France, and her father, the Duc d'Ayen, was a nobleman of considerable influence at the French court, where, however, the young Lafayette declined to accept any office. The early bent of his mind, in fact, was hostile to the system of government then pursued, and the commotions which began to make themselves heard from the new world to the old, soon attracted his attention, and aroused in him the desire of contributing to the development of his favorite principle.

Steadfastly and anxiously did he watch the progress of the insurgents, as they were then called; and, as if to put beyond a doubt the purity of the principles which actuated him to step forward in defence of the great cause of American independence, he chose the very period when our credit was at its lowest ebb, our cause in the most drooping state, our hopes alone sustaining us against all moral and physical probabilities.—It was then, at the early age of twenty, that Lafayette addressed the American commissioners at Paris, with the spirit and determination which has ever been so dear to the American heart, so grateful in the remembrance of the American nation."Until now," said he, "I have only wished well to your cause, henceforth I will support it."—And finding that the resources of the commissioners would not enable them to procure a ship for himself and his companions, he purchased and freighted one himself, and sailed with a little band of heroes to the land which he believed to be chosen for the abode of freedom.

Need it be said that he was received with open arms? Yet though the supplies of men and necessaries were of great service to the cause, it was nothing compared to the vigor it imparted through the army of the continentals. They perceived that at length their injuries were beginning to excite the commisseration and sympathy of other nations, and the appearance of Lafayette and his brave companions was hailed as the first fruits of that generous feeling. A high command was immediately offered to the noble-hearted Frenchman, and was accepted only on condition that he should be allowed to act at his own expense.

Why should we detain our readers with a detail of the exploits of the young partizan of liberty? They are in the mouths of every age and condition in our country. From his dexterous evasion of the French and British cruisers, both of which attempted to cut off his passage, to the peace with Great Britain, and the establishment of American Independence, they are familiar to every ear as "household words." Suffice it then, to recapitulate briefly that he was at the battle of Brandywine, where he was wounded;-soon after, in concert with Greene, he beat off a body of English and Hessians with a few raw undisciplined men. He stemmed successfully, though with difficulty, cabals entered into against his immortal friend and compatriot Washington, and was mainly instrumental in preserving the authority of that great man. After various important services rendered in the field, and in debate, he asked leave to visit his native country,—but not for the purpose of reposing under his laurels-not supinely to receive the homage of an admiring world. He had a higher object at heart, and that object he attained. The court of France, originally hostile to the adventure of Lafayette and his friends, had, from the revolution of opinion which was at that time in rapid operation, begun to look upon the American revolution with a more favorable eye, and finally, in somewhat more than a year and a half after the departure of Lafayette for the western continent, had entered into a treaty of alliance with the United States. It was to render this alliance somewhat more than nominal, that he returned to France in about two years from the time of his leaving it, carrying with him the gratitude and friendship of every man in the Union, and various personal tokens of respect.

In Europe he did not remain idle,—the blandishments of a court had no charms for the devoted partizan of a grand revolution. He occupied himself, in concerting with others, modes of annoying the British, even on their own ground,—of diverting their attention, or of increasing their difficulties. He pressed the court of Versailles to activity in the cause they had espoused; roused the Spaniards into action in the same cause,-set every engine to work, both of men and money, that could forward the great design in hand, and again returned to America. He was received with open arms, his services had been already inestimable, but continued actively employed wherever a duty was to be performed, and encouraging and inciting both the troops and the people to patience and perseverance. It is no small proof of the importance in which he was held, to find the British commander, Lord Cornwallis, in the exultation of his soul upon one occasion, in which he fancied Lafayette to be within his toils, exclaiming that "the boy could not escape him."*

*Sarran's Lafayette, i. 23.