I06 BANQUET TO THE 



the results of a long acquaintance with the gentle- 

 man who will be your guest. It would be more 

 gratifying to his modesty that these things should 

 not be said to his face, but to you ; and behind his 

 back I feel bold enough to say that although when 

 I first knew him he was as old as I now am, and 

 therefore entitled to the deference due to seniority, 

 yet that has only made me appreciate with keener 

 obligation the sincerity and frankness which, equally 

 with the scope of his attainments and the vigorous 

 grasp of his intellect, have made his friendship a 

 source of pleasure and an exhaustless mine for 

 instruction and wisdom. 



I should indeed love to grasp him by the hand, 

 look into his kindly beaming eyes on this occasion, 

 and gaze on his stalwart and vigorous figure ; and I 

 should not now write as much were it not that his 

 health seems to have been drawn from a fountain 

 of perpetual youth ; and he appears so likely to out- 

 live me that, to use an Irishism, I fear I shall never 

 live to make a funeral oration over him unless I do 

 it now. Unlike the century-plant which blossoms 

 only once in a hundred years, he blossoms for a 

 hundred years at a time ; and what then ? 



Give him for me the right hand of fellowship, and 

 believe me 



Sincerely yours, and his, 



Charles Levi Woodbury. 



Chas. H. B. Bkeck, Esq. 



