do, who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former were directed, and, from his housetop, is looking back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quicksands and mires, which lay in his way, and into which none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling."

"I have become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac; and, under the shadow of my own vine and my own fig-tree, free from the bustle of a camp, and the busy scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with those tranquil enjoyments, of which the soldier, who is ever in pursuit of fame, the statesman, whose watchful days and sleepless nights are spent in devising schemes to promote the welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other countries, as if this globe was insufficient for us all,-and the courtier, who is always watching the countenance of his prince, in the hope of catching a gracious smile, can have very little conception. I have not only retired from all public employments, but am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of private life, with heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with all; and this, my dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my fathers."

Mr. MARSHALL thus finishes this beautiful picture.-ED. For several months after reaching Mount Vernon, almost every day brought him the addresses of an affection. ate and grateful people. The glow of expression, in which the high sense universally entertained of his services was conveyed, manifested a warmth of feeling seldom equalled in the history of man. It is worthy of remark, that this unexampled tribute of applause made no impression on the unassuming modesty of his character and deportment. The same firmness of mind, the same steady and well-tempered judgment, which had guided him through the most perilous seasons of the war, still regulated his conduct; and the enthusiastic applauses of an admiring nation appeared

only to cherish sentiments of gratitude, and to give greater activity to the desire still further to contribute to the prosperity of his country.

Alexander Wilson.-NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

He was a Scotchman by birth. The first years of his residence in this country were devoted to school-keeping in Pennsylvania. An early acquaintance with the venerable Bartram kindled within him a love of science; and after he commenced his ornithological inquiries, he pursued them for the remaining short period of his life with an enthusiasm, perseverance, and self-devotion, which have rarely been equalled. He died in Philadelphia, August 23d, 1813, at the age of forty-seven. His American Ornithology, executed under every possible disadvantage, and with encouragement so slender, as hardly to keep him from the heavy pressure of want, is a monument to his name that will never decay. The old world and the new will regard it with equal admiration. "We may add without hesitation," says Mr. Bonaparte, "that such a work as he has published in a new country, is still a desideratum in Europe." To accomplish such a work, with all the facilities which the arts and knowledge of Europe afford, would confer no common distinction. But when it is considered that Wilson taught himself, almost unassisted, the arts of drawing and engraving; that he made his way in the science with very little aid from books or teachers; that he entered a path in which he could find no companions, none to stimulate his ardour by a similarity of pursuits or communion of feeling, none to remove his doubts, guide his inquiries, or to be deeply interested in his success; when these things are considered, the labours of Wilson must claim a praise, which is due to a few only of the solitary efforts of talent and enterprise.

In the strictest sense of the terms, Wilson was a man of genius; his perceptions were quick, his impressions vivid; a bright glow of feeling breathes through his compositions. In the professed walks of poetry, his attempts

were not often fortunate; but his prose writings partake of the genuine poetic spirit. A lively fancy, exuberance of thought, and minute observation of the natural world, are strongly indicated in whatever has flowed from his pen. He travelled for the double purpose of procuring subscriptions to his book, and searching the forest for birds; and some of his graphic descriptions of the scenery of nature, and the habits of the winged tribes, are inimitable. Sometimes he walked; at others descended rivers in a canoe; again he was on horseback, in a stage-coach or a farmer's wagon, as the great ends of his wanderings could be most easily attained. The cold repulses of the many from whom he solicited subscriptions he bore with equanimity; undaunted by disappointment, unsubdued by toil and pri vation. The acquisition of a new bird, or of new facts illustrating the habitudes of those already known, was a fountain of joy in his gloomiest moments; it poured the waters of oblivion over the past, and gave him new energy in his onward course. The following are his descriptions of the mocking bird and bald eagle ·

"This distinguished bird, [the eagle,] as he is the most beautiful of his tribe in this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our country, is entitled to particular notice. He has been long known to naturalists, being common to both continents, and occasionally met with from a very high northern latitude to the borders of the torrid zone, but chiefly in the vicinity of the sea, and along the shores and cliffs of our lakes and large rivers. Formed by nature for braving the severest cold; feeding equally upon the produce of the sea and of the land; possessing powers of flight capable of outstripping even the tempests themselves; unawed by any thing but man; and, from the ethereal heights to which he soars, looking abroad at one glance on an immeasurable expanse of forests, fields, lakes and ocean, deep below him; he appears indifferent to the little localities of change of seasons, as in a few minutes he can pass from summer to winter, from the lower to the higher regions of the atmosphere, the abode of eternal cold, and thence descend at will to the torrid or the arctic regions of the earth. He is therefore found at all seasons in the countries which he inhabits, but prefers such places

as have been mentioned above, from the great partiality he has for fish.

"In procuring these he displays, in a very singular manner, the genius and energy of his character, which is fierce, contemplative, daring and tyrannical; attributes not exerted but on particular occasions, but, when put forth, overwhelming all opposition. Elevated upon a high, dead limb of some gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations below, the snow-white gulls, slowly winnowing the air,—the busy tringe, coursing along the sands,-trains of ducks, streaming over the surface, silent, and watchful cranes, intent and wading,clamorous crows, and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these hovers one, whose action instantly arrests his attention. By his wide curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in air, he knows him to be the fishhawk settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and, balancing himself with halfopened wings on the branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the surges foam around. At this moment the looks of the eagle are all ardour; and, levelling his neck for flight, he sees the fish-hawk emerge, struggling with his prey, and mounting into the air with screams of exultation. These are the signal for our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, soon gains on the fish-hawk, each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, displaying in these rencounters the most elegant and sublime aerial evolutions. The unincumbered eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching his opponent, when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair and honest execration, the latter drops his fish; the eagle, poising himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his illgotten booty silently away to the woods."

"The plumage of the mocking-bird, though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it; and, had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice; but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. The ease, elegance and rapidity of his movements, the animation of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listening, and laying up lessons from almost every species of the feathered creation within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his genius. To these qualities we may add that of a voice full, strong and musical, and capable of almost every modulation, from the clear, mellow tones of the wood-thrush, to the savage screams of the bald eagle. In measure and accent, he faithfully follows his originals. In force and sweetness of expression, he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted upon the top of a tall bush, or half-grown tree, in the dawn of dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent over every competitor. The ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which are easily distinguishable by such as are acquainted with those of our various song birds, are bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, three, or, at the most, five or six syllables, generally interspersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with great emphasis and rapidity, and continued with undiminished ardour for half an hour or an hour at a time; his expanded wings and tail, glistening with white, and the buoyant gayety of his action, arresting the eye as his song most irresistibly does the ear. He sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy. He mounts and descends as his song swells or dies away; and, as my friend Mr. Bartram has beau 'ifully expressed it, he bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, as if to recover or recall his very soul, which expired in the last elevated strain.' While thus exerting himself, a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose that the whole feathered tribes had assembled together on a trial of skill, each striving to produce his utmost effect;so perfect are his imitations. He many times deceives the