much agitation and perplexity, that his fellow citizens insisted on his representing them in the senate of Virginia. He carried into that body all the integrity, sound judgment, and love of country, for which he had ever been conspicuous, and his labours there were alike honourable to himself, and useful to the state. He did not remain long in this situation. His love of ease, and fondness for domestic occupations, now gained the entire ascendency over him, and he retired from public life with the firm determination of never again engaging in its busy and wearisome scenes: and to this determination he strictly adhered. In this retirement, his character was most conspicuous. He always possessed more of the gay, good humour, and pleasing wit of Atticus, than the sternness of Cato, or the eloquence of Cicero. To the young, the old, the grave, the gay, he was alike a pleasing and interesting companion. None approached him with diffidence; no one left him but with regret. To the poor around him, he was a counsellor, physician, and friend;—to others, his conversation was at once agreeable and instructive, and his life a fine example for imitation, Like the great founder of our republic, he was much attached to agriculture, and retained from his estate, a small farm for experiment and amusement. Having no children, Mr. Lee lived an easy and a quiet life. Reading, farming, and the company of his friends and relatives, filled up the remaining portion of his days. A pleurisy, caught in one of the coldest winters ever felt in Virginia, terminated the existance of both his beloved wife and himself, within a few days of each other. His last moments were those of a Christian, a good, an honest, and a virtuous man'; and those who witnessed the scene were all ready to exclaim, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and my last end be like his." let |