Washington, as a virtuous patriot,-a great, a good, and an honest man; and it is a fact, which evinced this opinion as powerfully as possible, that he was the only one of his family, who always avowed himself a friend of our present system of federal government, principally upon the ground of its having been approved of, and sanctioned, by one he so highly esteemed.

An anecdote is related of Mr. Lee, about that time, which supports our assertion. Being at the county court house, on a court day, just after the federal constitution was published, and was of course the subject of general conversation, many of his countrymen, who held his opinions in high estimation, asked him what he thought of it. He told them, with an air of gravity, that he did not pretend to be a judge of these things now that he was old, and did not read much -but that there was one thing which satisfied his mind, and that was, "that General Washington was for it, and John Warden against it." Mr. Warden was a Scotch lawyer of considerable celebrity, but known to be unfriendly to American independence: he had just finished an harangue to the people in opposition to the system.

In the spring of 1779, Mr. Lee retired from congress, and returned to the home to which both his temper and inclination led him, with pleasure and delight. He was not, however, long permitted to enjoy the satisfaction it conferred; for the internal affairs of his native state were in a situation of so

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

CHASE.

AMONG the patriots of the revolution, none were more actively engaged during its most trying scenes, and few more distinguished in after life, than SAMUEL CHASE.

He was born on the seventeenth of April, 1741, in Somerset county, Maryland, and was the only child of the Reverend Thomas Chase, a very learned clergyman of the protestant episcopal church, who emigrated from England, and married Matilda Walker, the daughter of a respectable farmer.

The Rev. Mr. Chase having lost his wife, and succeeding at nearly the same time to the pastoral charge of St. Paul's parish, in Baltimore, removed with his son to that town in the year 1743.

Baltimore was, at that period, merely a village, and afforded little opportunity for the education of boys; indeed, so lately as nine years afterwards, a schoolmaster seems to have been still a desideratum, for a gazette of that date contains an advertisement, offering good encouragement from the inhabitants, to

any one of "sober character," competent to "teach English, writing and arithmetic."

The Rev. Mr. Chase was, however, perfectly well qualified to instruct his son. He had enjoyed the best advantages which England afforded, and had become not only a scholar of remarkable attainments, but also an enthusiast in classical learning; a proof of which was given in his laborious translation of the poem of Silius Italicus, enriched with copious and learned notes, a work which though bearing the marks of great talent as well as perseverance, yet remains in the hands of his descendants, awaiting sufficient encouragement for its publication.

Under the tuition of a parent so accomplished and so devoted to learning, the young Samuel acquired a degree of erudition uncommon among his compeers; and at the age of eighteen, with the established character of a good scholar, he was sent to Annapolis to commence the study of the law.

Pursuing his studies, in the office of Mr. Thomas Johnson, with the earnestness that marked all his conduct through life, he was admitted to practice in the mayor's court at the early age of twenty, and two years afterwards was licensed for the chancery and some of the county courts.

He chose Annapolis for his permanent residence, and very soon became known as an able, eloquent and fearless lawyer; with the reputation superadded, at least among the more staid and loyal inhabitants,