24 LIFE OF 



when called upon, in the succeeding year, to pcrforQi 

 the mournful task of commemorating the death of his 

 friend Wistar ! " We have lost him/' said he, ^^ in 

 the strength of life, and vigour of intellect; too soon, 

 indeed, for his family and his country ; but not too 

 soon for his own happiness. Protracted life might 

 have been embittered by bodily pain ; the frailties of 

 nature might have dimmed the lustre of brighter years ; 

 or death, which spared him, might have desolated his 

 house, and left him solitary and cheerless, to encoun- 

 ter the infirmities of age. Happy, then, wert thou, 

 Wistar, in death, as well as in life,'-' 



Thus Tilghman spoke. The tears which inter- 

 rupted him, at this part of his discourse, made a deep 

 impression on the audience. Every heart re-echoed 

 — happy, indeed, wert tjiou, Wistar ! and we forgot 

 for a moment our sorrow for the death of that great 

 and good man, to ponder on the misfortunes of his 

 venerable Eulogist. 



He had nov/, as he expresses himself in a pathetic 

 effusion, found among his papers after his death, at- 

 tained the age of sixty years, and survived parents, 

 brothers, sisters, wife, and child, and but few of his 

 dearest connexions remained in this world. One 

 would think, that hs had exhausted the cup of afflic- 

 tion. But another trial remained for him. Before 

 three years had elapsed, he lost his last hope upon 

 the earth, his grand-child. 1 shall not dwell on that 

 melancholy event. When the mind has been shaken 

 by a great calamity, it is prepared for every thing, and 



