OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 159 



judgment, and the perfect taste, which have placed him at the head of 

 our literature, and made him our pride. 



" There was, however, one peculiarity in his character which I have 

 studied carefully, and have not as yet seen fully noticed by any of the 

 many who have spoken of him ; and I should be glad to say a few 

 words in relation to it. I refer to the blending in him of qualities 

 which are usually regarded, not only as opposites, but as antagonists, 

 and as mutually destructive. 



" On the one hand, he was by nature soft, tender, and impressible. 

 I never knew a person who had so much capacity for enjoyment; and 

 I never knew one who had a greater love for it. And this was uni- 

 versal. It seemed as if he were alive to all the emotions, and possessed 

 all the sensibilities, which are divided among other men, and in their 

 division constitute the means of happiness for each. And I will add, 

 that he was naturally as susceptible as any one could be, of every 

 curled rose-leaf which threatened to mar his enjoyment. 



" But, on the other hand, this man had an iron will ; before his 

 invincible energy, obstacles which to others would have seemed, and 

 would have been, insurmountable, melted away. By his strength of 

 purpose, obstructions were converted into helps. He had a resolute 

 and unflinching self-control and self-restraint, and an unfailing power 

 of self-government, upon which he knew that he could depend, and on 

 which he did depend, always advancing, never losing a step that he 

 had gained, and never doubting that he should gain the next, until, at 

 length, he stood upon the eminence which from the beginning had been 

 his goal, and upon which death found him. 



" It has seemed to me that these qualities concealed each other, even 

 from those who knew him. They who were most assured that he had 

 won his high position by a stern devotion to his own lofty aims, and by 

 unexampled force of character, sometimes imagined that such a man 

 could not be sincere in his ready sympathy with all, in his full enjoy- 

 ment of common pleasures, in the cordiality with which he came forth 

 to meet all who approached him, in the smile which made all who saw 

 it believe that he was happiest when he c6uld make others happy ; 

 and it seemed to them as if this must be only a thin varnish, a mask of 

 courtesy, which his knowledge of the world taught him to wear. 



" Nothing, nothing could be more untrue. Believe me, Mr. Presi- 

 dent, when I say that an experience of more than fifty years justifies 



