and with evidently genuine feeling. Mr. Motley's reply is as durable a monument to Mr. Peabody's memory as the marble itself. He said,

May it please your Royal Highness, my Lord Mayor, ladies and gentlemen: I thank you sincerely for the very cordial reception you have given me, and his Royal Highness for the kind and courteous words he has spoken. I should be glad, as an American citizen, to pronounce a fit eulogy on our great philanthropist; but the brief and rapidly-fleeting moments allotted on this occasion will not permit such eulogy. Nor is it necessary. His name alone is eulogy enough. Most fortunate and most generous of men, he has discovered a secret for which misers might sigh in vain, the art of keeping a great fortune to himself so long as time shall be. In this connection, I have often thought of a famous epitaph inscribed on the monument of an old Earl of Devon, one who was commonly called the good Earl of Devon.' No doubt, the inscription is familiar to many who now hear me: 'What I spent, that I had; what I saved, that I lost; that which I gave away remains with me.' And what a magnificent treasure, according to these noble and touching words, has our friend and the poor man's friend preserved for himself till time and he shall be no more !

'And tongues to be his bounty shall rehearse

When all the breathers of this world are dead.'

"Of all men in the world, he least needs a monument;

but, as it was to be erected, I am glad that the task has been committed to the great American sculptor whom I have had the honor and happiness of calling my intimate friend for many years. And, during a recent residence in Rome, I had the good fortune of seeing this statue, which has just been unveiled in this busy heart of England's great metropolis by the royal hand of England's Prince. I saw it grow, day by day, beneath the plastic fingers of the artist; and it was my privilege on one occasion — a privilege I shall never forget― of seeing Mr. Peabody and his statue seated side by side, and of debating within myself, without coming to a satisfactory conclusion, whether, on the whole, if I may be allowed so confused an expression, - whether the statue was more like Mr. Peabody, or Mr. Peabody more like the statue. It is a delightful, it always will be a delightful thought, that the thousands and tens of thousands who daily throng this crowded mart will see him almost as accurately as in the flesh. And the future generations—generations after generations, the long, yet unborn, but, I fear, never-ending procession of London's poor-will be almost as familiar with the form and the features of their great benefactor as are those of us who have the privilege and the happiness of knowing him in the flesh. Your Royal Highness and my Lord Mayor, I beg to thank you for your courtesy."

CHAPTER X.

MR. PEABODY IN AMERICA.

The Flood of Letters.

The Gift for Education in the South.— Mr.

Peabody's Letter. - His Gift seconded by Publishers.

""Tis education forms the common mind:

Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."- POPE.

"To do good and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."-HEB. xiii. 16.

T is said that Mr. Peabody "was of course very much annoyed, during his last visits, by appeals to his purse, as well as by impertinent intrusions upon his privacy. To individual appeals

for assistance he never listened. All his letters were opened and read by his sister; and she exercised her judgment about letting him see them, or throwing them into the fire. Begging-letters of any sort he never wished to read. Even deserving charitable institutions got nothing from him if they asked for it. He gave only as the mood took him; and it may be safely said, that all his benefactions were the spontaneous outgrowth of his own ideas of what the world needed, and what could be most easily and efficiently put into practical operation. He was, in

short, a philanthropist without sentiment; a man of tender heart and generous impulses, who believed that the highest duty of the rich was, not to dole out small sums for the relief of the improvident, but to put the commonwealth in the way of diminishing improvidence by general education, and helping the poor to live in decency and virtue. There was no imaginable reason why he should not rigorously carry out his principle, that, while the public had claims upon him, individuals had none. It will be a part of his panegyric, in time to come, that he took this plain, sensible view of his duties; that he saw so clearly how he could make his money go farthest."

A perfect flood of letters poured upon him when last in America; they were to be numbered by hundreds, every day, it is said: but he rarely read one of them. The sound of his munificence had gone abroad; and, very naturally, there were needy ones who desired to share his bounty, and felt at liberty to ask it. He felt at liberty to refuse, so long as he gave so liberally in other directions.

His crowning donation was that of nearly two million dollars to build up the cause of education in the South. This last fund was placed in the hands of trustees of the highest character for integrity and zealous interest in the cause of education; and was to be applied to assist schools, and to promote the education of the people, without distinction of race or color, in the Southern States.

An appropriate acknowledgment of this last generous gift was made by the Government of the United States.

A costly and elegant gold medal was presented to him in pursuance of an act of Congress, bearing on one side a fine profile portrait of the recipient, and on the other the inscription, "The people of the United States to George Peabody, in acknowledgment of his beneficent promotion of universal education."

The following is a copy of the letter of Mr. Peabody to the trustees of the Southern Educational Fund:

"To Hon. Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts; Hon. Hamilton Fish of New York; Right Rev. Charles P. McIlvaine of Ohio; Gen. U. S. Grant of the United-States Army; Hon. William C. Rives of Virginia; Hon. John H. Clifford of Massachusetts; Hon. William Aiken of South Carolina; William M. Evarts, Esq., of New York; Hon. William A. Graham of North Carolina; Charles McAllister of Pennsylvania; George N. Riggs, Esq., of Washington; Samuel Wetmore, Esq., of New York; Edward A. Bradford, Esq., of Louisiana; George N. Eaton, Esq., of Maryland; and George Peabody Russell, Esq., of Massachusetts.

"Gentlemen, I beg to address you on a subject which occupied my mind long before I left England; and in regard to which, one at least of you (the Hon. Mr. Winthrop, the distinguished and valued friend to whom I am so much indebted for cordial sympathy, careful consideration, and wise counsel in this matter) will remember that I consulted him immediately upon my arrival in May

last.

"I refer to the educational needs of those portions of our beloved and common country which have suffered