What though the epithet "book worm" be flung at through life, cherished the privacy of studious rehim-better be a book worm, crawling among tirement-who, far from courting, shunned the pubmighty truths and holy thoughts, than earth worm, lic gaze, except when an imperious sense of duty toiling through the dust of gold. His spirit com- brought him before it--who never cultivated popumunes with the great and the good, and he cares larity, however he esteemed it, when the reward not for the ribald jeer of the unthinking world. His pleasures are permanent-he has invested his labor beyond the reach of adversity,-no power, less than the arm of God, can deprive him of it. Riches flee away, and give no real pleasure, while they last. Houses are consumed by the mocking flame. Investments made in the mind are the only fast property-these will last when

"The cloud capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all, which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant, faded,
Leave not a rack behind."

The flowers of literature, sown in the seed field of the mind, only bud here on the earth: they bloom in all their fragrance and their beauty beyond the dark winter of the grave.

H. S. LEGARE,

LATE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.

To the Editor of the Sou. Lit. Messenger:

of virtuous actions-and who, from his inmost heart, despised, as, in his lofty and burning eloquence, he was ever wont to brand, the unworthy arts of the demagogue. The man thus honored and lamented in his death was neither the favorite, nor the nursling of party. He had, indeed, gravely offended the spirit of party, on more than one occasion, by the independence and the conscientious integrity with which he pursued the convictions of his own judgment, where he believed the interests of his country at stake. As a consequence of this inflexibility of principle, as well as of his retiring and unobtrusive personal habits, his career, while living, had not been attended, in a degree corresponding to his rare endowments, with all those external evidences of public consideration, which his friends, who, in the unreserved freedom of private intercourse, had been able to sound the depths of his genius and resources, well knew he merited. Such, however, is the winning power of virtue and talents, even when separated from the ordinary accessories of party popularity, that he was daily, though silently, growing in the sober esteem and confidence of the country; and when, at length, the hand of death arrested him in the noble path of his usefulness, the national appreciation of him, which had been lying comparatively dormant, though all the while warming the hearts of a generous and enlightened people, suddenly burst forth in one general symphony of lamenta tion and exalted praise.

. I observe, with sincere satisfaction, in the last number of the Messenger, that you invite for its columns a fitting notice of the character of the distinguished man, whose recent loss, under circumstances alike imposing and affecting, the nation has been called to deplore. It is a homage most appropriately due from the patriotic literature of the country to the memory of one, who, always a Let all who engage in the service of their counzealous worshipper at its shrine, has done so much try, with elevated views and conscious powers to assert its dignity and illustrate its usefulness, in of usefulness, take courage from this example. connection with the highest pursuits of social and Sooner or later, the reward of public approbation active life. The theme demands a pen, which has and gratitude will infallibly crown every career, other qualifications than those which an ardent and which rests its solid and imperishable titles on “the devoted friendship alone can supply, to do justice pursuit of noble ends by noble means." Let no to it in all the breadth and elevation of its moral feverish anxiety, for a spurious and fleeting notodignity and grandeur. But there are some reflec-riety, lead the aspirant for public esteem to put his tions, growing out of the recent death of H. S. trust in specious arts, superficial attainments, er Legaré and the national mourning which has fol- accommodating suppleness, as available substitutes lowed it, that even an untutored hand, under the instinctive guidance of the heart, may be excused for attempting to present.

for that laborious and vigorous training and application of the faculties, moral and intellectual, by which only a genuine and enduring popularity can The first observation, which occurs to the mind be won. Let him equip himself for the stern conin contemplating this lamented event, is one which, flicts of public duty from the armory of knowledge out of the very depth of the public affliction it has and virtue, where only weapons of the true temoccasioned, brings forth solid encouragement to per for such a warfare are to be found, and not go every sincere and honest patriot, and is full of in-forth to battle in the mimic accoutrements of the structive lessons to the generous and aspiring youth toy-shop. Let him not indulge an undue solicitude of the country. All must have remarked, and to obtain popularity. Let his aim rather be to demany not without surprise, the loud and universal acclaim of mingled sorrow and praise which followed to the tomb one, whose habits and tastes,

serve it. Let him exhibit in superior knowledge and acquirements-in the diligent and untiring eu.tivation of all the capacities of a high public use

fulness—in noble and elevated principles of action, the authentic credentials of his mission to serve his country; and his country will, in time, call for and honor him, or, if she does not, the loss will be her's, not his.

No felicity of ge

and accomplished statesman.
nius, however great, no fecundity of nature, how-
ever teeming, could account for such intellectual
riches, without the creative energies of constant
and unwearied diligence; for it is a truth, as appli-
cable to the philosophy of mind as to the science
of political economy, that labor is the true and
only source of either mental, or material wealth.
No paltry vanity of natural endowments ever pre-
vented Mr. Legaré from bearing earnest and in-

The example addresses itself, with equal em-
phasis, to the gifted youth of the country, who
have not yet entered on the arena of active exer-
tion, but who are looking forward, with generous
aspirations, from the silence and discipline of their
accademic retreats, to the part they are hereafter structive testimony, in his discourse, as he exem-

to act upon the busy stage of life. The desponding sentimentality of the poetic muse, or rather the dangerous sophistry of that improba siren desidia, the natural indolence of man, is not unfre- Having enjoyed, in early youth, the advantages quently invoked to discourage a manly and strenu- of a finished education in the best schools of his ons ambition, by portraying, in funereal colors, the own country and of Europe, he continued, through ultimate vanity and fruitlessness of all human all the avocations and active employments of his pursuits. We are sometimes asked, in the mis- future life, the same habits of diligent and enthuapplied language of unreasoning elegy, why scorn siastic study by which he established, from the delights and live laborious days," in the vain pur-first, a marked preeminence among his companions. suit of fame; seeing that,

plified so strikingly in his practice, the truth and value of this grand arcanum of all sound superiority and success.

"the fair guerdon, when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life."

He was so smitten with a sympathetic appreciation of the great Roman orator's noble panegyric of letters, that he literally fulfilled in his daily habits, (without any such purpose, certainly, as that of mere pedantic conformity), the picture of

But the only fame, which a true ambition is capa-their attractions so graphically delineated in the ble of coveting, is one which "the abhorred shears latter part of that celebrated passage-Hac Stuof the blind Fury" have no power to destroy. It dia, &c., delectant domi, non impediunt foris, persurvives the stroke of Fate, and flourishes beyond noctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur. His the grave. It is that amaranthine plant which, the books were his inseparable companions, whether same immortal poet tells us, "lives and spreads at home, or abroad-they passed the night with aloft" to Heaven, and is but its anticipated judgment him, they travelled with him, they accompanied on the deeds of men. It is that fame which alone him in his occasional rural retreats. A jealous Legaré sought, and which he achieved-with what economist of time, and particularly attentive to glorious and enviable success, let the according husband those odd fragments of leisure, which praises and regrets of a whole nation testify. irregularly intervene in the routine of daily employWhat other fame is worthy to engage, for a moment, and which by most persons are thrown away ment, the concern of a being, whose life on earth, when longest, is limited to a span! To live in the hearts and memory of our countrymen, when we ourselves shall have passed from among them, is, on the other hand, an object in harmony with the highest aspirations of the human soul, and fitted to elicit the noblest faculties of our nature. In the distinguished and now hallowed example before us, let the enlightened and patriotic young men of America read, for their encouragement, amid the daily and nightly toils of their probationary discipline, the pledge of their own high destinies, if, by the same means, they shall devote themselves to the same noble ends.

as useless, he was more fortunate even than the ancient philosopher, who reproached himself with the loss of one day in the course of a long life. Legaré never lost an hour, for however small the interval of time which fell upon his hands, unoccupied by the necessary demands of business, or the cherished society of a chosen circle of friends, it was never wasted. A book, a pen, or a train of thought to be resumed, was always at hand to absorb and employ it usefully; for so perfect was the discipline of mind he had established, through long habits of industry and study, that he turned his attention, at will, to whatever subject seemed, at the moment, fittest to engage it.

The extraordinary powers and varied attainments As a scholar, he stood without a rival among the of the late Attorney General were the product of public men of America of his day, and if, even in early and incessant culture, and of untiring indus-that class of learned men who make the cultivatry and labor. How else could such rare excel-tion and pursuit of letters the sole business of their lence, in so many different departments of human lives, he had any superior in scholarship, it would talent and knowledge, have been acquired; for he be difficult to say who that superior was. was primus inter pares in all-a finished scholar, acquaintance with the great writers of antiquity, a consummate orator, a profound lawyer, an able the master minds of Greece and Rome, was inti

His

mate, thorough and familiar-placing at his ready learned professions. One of the great secrets of and perfect command all those hidden treasures of his superiority was to place ever before him the thought, philosophy and wisdom, all those exqui- highest standards of excellence, in every departsite models of taste, eloquence and power, which ment, as the beau ideal, at least, which a true and lie enshrined in their immortal works. In the lan- lofty ambition should aim to approximate as near guages and literature of modern Europe he was as possible, if not able fully to attain. His idea of perfectly at home. He not only read, but wrote the nobleness and grandeur of the law, in its true and spoke the languages of France and Germany dignity, was that which Bolingbroke has so justly with the ease and elegance of a native, and was and eloquently portrayed, and his impersonations profoundly versed in their history and literature. of that idea were the Bacons, the Clarendons, the He had explored, with particular industry and suc- Somers, the Mansfields of England,—the Marcess, the rich mines of learning and historical dis-shalls, the Pinkneys of America.* covery, (so to speak), which the acute and recon- The narrow and unworthy prejudice against dite researches of modern German writers have learning, as incompatible with professional emiopened, and enlarged his own accumulated stores nence, which has been so properly rebuked by Judge by the super-addition of the fruits of their valuable Story, sometimes ventured to question the claims Jabors. With all this affluence of intellectual of Mr. Legaré to the character of an able lawyer, wealth, he made no ostentatious display of his on the very ground of his acknowledged pre-emiacquisitions. They were assimilated into the solid nence in the attainments of elegant literature. nutriment of his own mind, and their effect was The same Gothic prejudice, we learn from conseen rather in the enlarged scope and vigor of his temporary memorials, boldly called in question the conceptions, than in any exhibition of mere learning. legal abilities of Lord Mansfield, and was humorAs a speaker and writer, the style of his elo- ously satirized, at the time, in some lines of Pope, quence was ornate and rich. But, like the gorgeous-in which the poet represents two heavy serjeants of ness of Burke, this was the unbidden effect of the the Temple, "who deemed each other oracles of irrepressible exuberance of his genius. No one law," exulting, with a grave self-complacency, in despised more than he did the mere glitter of words, the fancied profoundness of their own legal attain or held in lighter esteem the studied arts of the ments, while professed rhetorician. Whatever was the eleva

tion and richness of his diction, it was uniformly

supported by a corresponding richness and elevation of thought. The stream of his eloquence was fed from copious and inexhaustible fountains, and its majestic current fertilized and fructified, even when it inundated its banks.

"Each shook his head at Murray as a wit."

And yet this Murray rapidly rose through all the gradations of professional eminence, to the Chief Justiceship of the King's Bench, in which court he presided, with unrivalled lustre and ability, for thirty-two years, having been thrice offered also the great seal of Lord Chancellor; and such was the almost miraculous infallibility displayed by him

His character and abilities, as a profound and accomplished jurist, have been already given to the world under the seal of the highest authority. To as a Judge, that, out of the numerous decisions

but two or three of his judgments were ever rerendered by him during that long period of time, versed, and about an equal number of instances occurred in which any of his brethren differed in opinion from him.

With such an illustrious exam

the question, was he an eminent lawyer, Judge Story, in his beautiful and touching address to the Law School at Harvard, while the funeral bells of Boston were yet tolling the knell of his departed spirit, answered emphatically and unhesitatingly— 66 no man was more so." And certainly, if a pro* In his letters on the study of History addressed to Lord found acquaintance with the most renowned systems Cornbury, the great grandson of the Earl of Clarendon, of ancient and modern law, with the common law Bolingbroke, after speaking of the profession of the law as of England, the civil law of Rome, the codes of in its nature the noblest and most beneficial to manked, France and Germany, added to a familiar knowin its abuse and debasement, the most sordid and the most pernicious," makes the following remarks, admirable alike ledge of the laws and constitutions of our own for their eloquence and truth. "There have been lawyers country and a thorough indoctrination in the prin- that were orators, philosophers, historians,--there have ciples of universal jurisprudence, can make an been Bacons and Clarendons, my lord. There will be none able and accomplished lawyer, Legaré was such. such any more, till, in some better age, true ambition, or All this breadth and scope of knowledge, however leisure and encouragement to prepare themselves for the the love of fame, prevails over avarice, and till men fiú superfluous it may be deemed for the lawyer who, exercise of this profession by climbing up to the vantage to use the words of Cicero, is nothing more than ground,' so my Lord Bacon calls it, of science; instead leguleius quidam cautus, et acutus præco actionum, of grovelling all their lives below in a mean, but gainful cantor formularum, auceps syllabarum, was neces-application to all the little arts of chicane. Till this hapsary to fill Mr. Legare's conception of the cha-pen, the profession of the law will scarce deserve to be racter of a great lawyer, worthy of the name, and happens, one of the 'vantage grounds,' to which men s ranked among the learned professions; and whenever it of a calling which boasts its rank among the climb, is metaphysical, and the other historical knowledge,"

ple before us, we shall be slow to believe that the When Mr. Legaré, therefore, came into Consuperior literary accomplishments of Mr. Legaré gress, he came clad in complete armor. The were likely to prove a hindrance to him in the path speeches and reports made by him, during the brief of professional reputation and success, or to pre- period of his service there, show with what fullvent him from fulfilling his destiny, in becoming one ness of information and knowledge he came into of the chiefest glories of the American bar. the discussion of every question in which he took As a Statesman, the merits and talents of Mr. a part-enriching it with the widest amplitude of Legaré were of the very first order. He early illustration-judging it with the utmost maturity of conceived the noble ambition of usefully serving thought and wisdom-while adorning it with the his country, not to gratify a selfish vanity, or to graces of a finished and captivating eloquence. promote any private or personal end, but from a But his career there was permitted to continue two true filial devotion to her glory, and from a gene-years only, leaving the nation to regret the premarous and magnanimous desire to bear his part in ture loss, from its legislative councils, of the rare upholding the honor and success of her model Insti- and eminent abilities and statesmanship, of which, tutions. His whole training was one of admirable in so short a time, he gave such abundant and unepreparation for this high career. There is no quivocal proofs.

branch of knowledge proper to an American States- The splendor of his genius accompanied him in man in which he was not a profound adept. He his ostracism, and illuminated the obscurity of his had thoroughly studied the genius of popular govern- retreat. He was soon called back, to take a proment, as well in its essential principles, as in all minent position in the Executive Government of its great historical examples. With what sagacious the country, for which he was pointed out solely and discriminating research he explored the his- by the consideration of his superior fitness; for he tory and institutions of the master states of anti-never sought office, and his friends deemed too quity, the Republics of Greece and Rome, he has highly of him to believe that any office was capagiven to the world proud and enduring evidence, in ble of adding to the intrinsic dignity of his talents writings which will long survive him, and which and worth. This new sphere of duty elicited new posterity, assuredly, "will not willingly let die."* proofs of his varied powers and attainments, and He had traced and meditated, with equal diligence developed comprehensive faculties of public usefuland care, the progress of civil and political liberty ness, co-extensive with and equal to every demand among our British ancestors; and all those great of the public service. Besides the able and dissocial and political revolutions, which have changed tinguished discharge of the duties which more parthe face of modern Europe, were alike familiar to ticularly belong to the post he occupied, which bis mind, in their causes, incidents and results, and received the united testimony of the most enlighwith all the monitory and instructive lessons with tened judges and of the general voice of the country, which they are so richly fraught. With these pre- he brought to the aid of the government, on every paratory lights, he made our own peculiar, happy great question of national interest, a fund of knowand complicated system of popular and federative ledge, a clearness of views and a promptitude of government, the subject of his profoundest study, decision, which could not fail to be sensibly felt and and was as deeply imbued with its spirit, as he was appreciated. When unexpectedly called to fill the thoroughly initiated in its principles, and familiarly leading Executive Department, it is not unreasonconversant with its constitutional action. To these able to suppose, and it is hoped the suggestion may primary qualifications of all true American States-be made without offence, that none of the able and manship, he added that enlarged knowledge of the distinguished men who have filled it, upon their sound principles of political economy, and of the fundamental laws of trade, currency, revenue and finance, which are indispensable guides to enlightened practical legislation. With the public law of nations, which regulates, in peace and in war, the mutual rights and duties of civilized and independent states, the diplomatic position he had filled abroad with so much honor to his country and to himself, no less than his early studies, made him intimately acquainted; and to crown all these civic accomplishments and advantages, he had enjoyed the precious opportunity of observation and experience amid the largest scenes of human affairs, in foreign countries, as well as his own.

*Two most able and learned tracts, one on the Constitutional History of Greece and the Democracy of Athens, the other on the origin, History and Influence of Roman | Legislation, are here more particularly alluded to.

first introduction to its duties, probably ever felt more at home among its high and imposing concerns, than did Mr. Legaré-excepting always, with the profound reverence so especially their due, those great minds of revolutionary schooling, which grew up along with the thorny and difficult questions of our international relations, and which laid deep the foundations of our foreign policy and public law. The records of the State Department, during the short, but busy month his life was spared to stamp the lasting mark of his genius, industry and abilities upon them, will show whether this suggestion may not find in its verisimilitude some excuse for its temerity.

It is not a little remarkable that Mr. Legaré was doomed sometimes to encounter the same scepticism, in regard to his practical abilities as a States

man,

thies and affections of domestic life,—and in friendship ever firm, faithful and devoted. But reminiscences, such as these, are too intimately connected with a yet bleeding sense of an irreparable personal loss, to be obtruded upon the public eye; and the sacred curtain, which the hand of an awful and mysterious providence has let fall upon the cherished hopes and affections of the heart, must remain farther undisturbed. R.

DEFECT IN SCIENCE SUPPLIED. Plain and practical matters of science will always be welcomed, particularly articles on the history and progress of its useful applications. Our distinguished correspondent need not confine himself to his favorite science. In

which had thrown unavailing doubts on the effusions of childhood itself, into the lovely sympa solidity of his legal attainments, and from the same cause. The extraordinary polish and brightness of his weapons, however massive, seemed to raise suspicions of their strength and durability. The very superiority of his qualifications inspired distrust of their reality. So the great Roman Statesman and orator, whom Mr. Legaré especially resembled, in the broad and elaborate foundation of general learning on which he raised the superstructure of his political talents and usefulness, was pointed at, when he made his appearance on the public stage, as the Greek and the Scholar. Yet this did not prevent him from exhibiting such consummate proofs of practical statesmanship, in circumstances of the most complicated difficulty and danger, as no man ever surpassed, and which procured for him, by a solemn decree of the national reference to his demonstration, a scientific friend has given gratitude, the title of the Father of his country. us the following information:-A similar demonstration But eminent as were the intellectual powers and was proposed some years ago, by M. Bertrand of Geneva, accomplishments of Mr. Legaré, they formed by and attracted much notice in Europe. Several eminent no means, the most distinguished part of his public Geometricians have approved it, and it has found a place character. It was the high moral tone so visibly in the Elémens de Geometrie' of M. Devely. Lacroix impressed on all his actions, his disdain of every The demonstration of M. Bertrand may be found thing low and mean and narrow, the commanding notes to Young's Elements of Geometry, p. 181, American elevation of his principles and views, the lofty edition. Young does not consider it satisfactory.-Ed. spirit of personal honor, the magnanimous courage MR. EDITOR:-Though the lucubrations of a and self-reliance of conscious virtue, which made Mathematician may not comport with the charachim truly great. What the greatest of Irish ora-ter of your journal, yet as the teacher and the lover tors so impressively said of the first of British of science may not be unwilling to see an attempt to remove a difficulty, which has baffled the efforts Statesmen, with suitable modifications, may be of every one, from the days of Euclid to the prejustly said of Legaré. "No state chicanery, no sent time, I will run the risk of a rejection at your narrow system of vicious politics, no idle contest hands. for mere party victories, regardless of principle, ever sunk him to the vulgar level of the so called great;" but resolute, conscientious, undaunted and unseduced, his object was ever the glory, liberty and happiness of his country-his means were truth, integrity, patriotism and honor.

A character, thus marked by the prominent and dazzling traits which enlist public admiration and applause, was set off by all those milder, but not less winning qualities which inspire affection and esteem, and which give to human life its highest charm and sweetest attraction. He was the delight and the ornament of the society he frequented. The spirit and brilliancy of his conversation were unremitting and unsurpassed. His manners were of the most perfect tone, uniting the dignity and elegance of the gentleman with the cordiality and playfulness of the companion and the friend. He had cultivated, with no small success, a taste for the fine arts, whose happy influence it is to humanize and soften, without enervating the character. But above all, his heart was warm, noble, generous and true, despising every form of indirection and meanness,-embracing, with the strong affinities of a kindred spirit, whatever was lofty in principle, magnanimous in sentiment, or virtuous in action-entering, with the warm and unrestrained

notices it with approbation, in a note to his Elemens. among

the

The theory of parallel lines, itself one of the pillars of Geometry, depends upon the celebrated postulate of Euclid: and this postulate, a flaw in the most beautiful and exact of all sciences, has never been demonstrated, at least in a manner sufficiently simple for purposes of instruction. The whole difficulty would be removed, however, if the proposition given in Davies' Legendre, as an axiom, could be proved, viz. "Two lines cannot pass through the same point, parallel to a third line." I submit the following as a demonstration at once simple and complete.

Let b and c be two lines passing through a common point, and parallel to a, and let the three lines be supposed to be indefiinitely prolonged. Now α

whatever may

С

included between these lines, if placed in juxtaposi be the angle (bc), the whole space tion around the point of intersection, a certain definite number of times, will fill up, or exceed the whole space about that point. But the space included between a and c, if repeated in juxtaposition any number of times whatever, will still leave space ac is less than bc; and 6 must cross a and an infinite space to be filled up. Therefore the pass beyond it, otherwise the greater space would be contained in the less.

P. P.