struggle with the remains of a once powerful constitution, the disease triumphed, and, on the 20th of the month the patriot of liberty expired at Paris, aged seventy-seven. He was buried, by his own direction, not within the walls of the Pantheon-not among the great and illustrious, that people the silent alleys of Pere la Chaise-but in a rural cemetery near Paris, by the side of her who had shared his pure love of liberty, his triumphs, his dungeon, and his undying renown. In a secluded garden, in this humble retreat, beneath the shade of a row of linden trees, by the side of his wife and his daughter, the friend. of Washington and America lies in his last repose.

In whatever aspect we may regard the life of La Fayette, it must strike us as one of the most wonderful in history. It is crowded with events of an extraordinary character, and displays an union of qualities, rarely found in one individual. In early life he is superior to the seductions of wealth and flattery; he is not enervated by luxury, nor corrupted by vice. While all around him is bent in homage to royalty, his lofty spirit sympathizes with a remote people, struggling for liberty, and with an elevation of soul rarely paralleled, he crosses the Atlantic, expends his fortune, and risks his life in the cause of freedom.

In his own country, he becomes the leader of mighty movements in behalf of oppressed humanity. He acquires an ascendancy over millions, and is at the head of the mightiest army of citizen soldiers that was ever organized. He became the shield of royalty and the Atlas of the revolution. The scene changes; the reign of terror is established, and he is obliged to

fly before the tempest. He is first an exile-then a captive and, finally, a prisoner, cut off from light and air, and the knowledge of mankind. He lingers in dungeons for years; he escapes, is recaptured, and immured in still deeper dungeons. Again he is at liberty-he returns to private life, and here he remains, a witness of the most stupendous events, till a new convulsion shakes the earth, and he is summoned from his retirement. The storm is tranquillized, and, after an absence of forty years, he revisits the far land whose freedom he had helped to achieve. Here he finds a nation of three millions increased to twelve, and a generation born since his departure, now ready to welcome him, and shower honors and blessings on his name. He returns to Europe, and still another revolution is at hand. In the midst of the tempest, he seizes upon the helm, and while the Bourbon monarch flies, he holds the reigns of power in the capital. A new dynasty is founded, and a new king is set upon the throne; order is restored, and the patriot, laying down his mighty power, retires again to the tranquil pursuits of country life.

What a chequered history is here! What vicissitudes of fortune, yet what consistency of action! There is an equanimity, a dignity, a steadfastness about the character of La Fayette, which elevates him as far above the common heroes of history, as the top of the mountain, catching the very hues of heaven, is above the vulgar mounds and knolls that lie scattered at its base; and the secret of this elevation lies in the motive which inspired his actions. He was a patriot-a philanthropist. He lived for his country

for mankind. He was indeed a man of rare faculties -he possessed a skill of adaptation, and a quickness of perception, amounting to genius; yet his fame, his power, his greatness, arose less from his intellectual gifts, than his moral elevation. How great a boon has he conferred on mankind-not only by his deeds, but by his fame, and his example! He has taught the world the path to truer glory than that which is won upon the battle-field; he has shown the elevating and ennobling power of a virtuous principle, and he has set before mankind the strong argument of example in favor of a disinterested philanthropic

KOSCIUSKO.

THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO, the last generalissimo of the republic of Poland, and one of the noblest characters of his age, was descended from an ancient and noble, though not rich family, in Lithuania. He was born at the chateau of Sienniewicze, in 1756, and was educated in the military school at Warsaw. The prince, Adam Czartoriski, perceiving his talents and industry, made him second lieutenant in the corps of cadets, and sent him, at his own expense, to France, where he studied drawing and the military art. After his return, he was made captain. He had become attached to the daughter of Sosnowski, a marshal of Lithuania; but he saw her married to Prince Lubomirski. He now left Poland, and sought to bury the memory of his unhappy passion in solitary studies. He devoted himself particularly to history and mathematics, and, possessing great elevation of character, he was prepared to join in the contest for freedom, in which he engaged. Hearing of the struggle of the American colonies for liberty, he came hither, and gained the confidence of Washington, who made him his aid. He distinguished himself particularly at the siege of Ninety-Six, and was very highly esteemed by the army and commander-in-chief. He and La Fayette were the only foreigners admitted into the society of Cincinnatus.

In our service, Kosciusko received the rank of