in such an emergency, this thoughtlessness of self in the welfare of others, this inborn elevation, rising above rules and maxims and ordinary principles, is found but in a few only of the race of men, and should be honourød beyond the praise due to skill or bravery.

In the latter part of his life there was a soft, and, as it were, a religious melancholy diffused through all his actions. He seemed to take delight in contemplating the character of the aged, and in holding communion with those on the confines of another world. His was a high spirit, yielding with philosophical composure to circumstances which he could not control, but still unsubdued and unbroken, buoyed up by a hope that a day of redemption was at hand. But all is over. His sufferings are at an end. Persecution has no power in the grave malignity stops at the green turf, which lies lightly on the breast of the dead; and elated insolence, with all its enmity and meanness, does not stride with unhallowed foot where sleep the ashes of the just. Public sentiment hangs a Shechinah on the tomb of such a man to extend and protect his name.

IV. JAMES PERKINS.

[New-England Galaxy.* Boston.]

MR. JAMES PERKINS, who died last week, in the sixtysecond year of his age, was one of the most distinguished merchants of Boston. He entered upon the business of life, and was an active and enterprising merchant, about the peace of 1783. This was a period, of all others in our history or perhaps in any other, the most propitious for a man of fine mental and moral elements to form his own character in the mercantile profession. Then there were no sturdy and unyielding maxims, drawn from prudent predecessors in trade-no fixed channels, within whose sides folly and wisdom were bound to move on together. The world was before the enterprising, and they made their own calculations, without possessing those numerous results of experience, which are now at the command of every one. The August 9, 1822.

house, at whose head he was till his death, has been considered for many years among the first establishments in the country for extensive and important concerns, for good faith, punctuality and success.

In New-England, mercantile men have, since the revolution, held the first rank in society; and, by increas ing in numbers and in property, they have generally directed the destinies of the community, and given a cast to the character, and, of course, are, in a great degree, responsible for the reputation of the present age. There were no classes of men to come in competition with them. The learned professions found it politically and morally just to identify their interest generally with those of mercantile men. The agriculturalists were not sufficiently rich to feel jealous of the merchant, and the manufacturer was then hardly known. This powerful class of competitors have arisen within a few years, and will increase for centuries. So situated, it was natural that merchants, having the wealth, should have become almost exclusively, in this part of the country, the patrons of the arts and sciences. They have been so ; and their praise is commingled with every strain of gratitude, heard in our rising institutions for the public good. This golden age of mercantile honour and prosperity, can never return. It was peculiar and felicitous. Trade may flourish, as it has heretofore; but rivals to its interests will dispute its former supremacy; and the military, naval, manufacturing, and other classes of men will contend for a share of the power, and will get it. It is a proud reflexion, however, and one that we will cherish,-that, during this period of their glory, the merchants have been conspicuous among the elevated, the generous, and the patriotic. Had Burke lived to this day, and could he have had an opportunity of fairly analyzing the mercantile character, and of knowing it thoroughly, he would have retracted his bitter denunciation against a profession, in which if there be, sometimes, something to blame, there is always much to praise; or, at least, he would have done it as far as regards us.

Is there not something singular, and, indeed, on a

slight view, something unaccountable, in our estimation of the living and the dead? The common merchant, while alive, the master of countless thousands, feels his influence extend to every relation in life. His smile is courted and valued, his frown is dreaded as some direful calamity ; but he is no sooner dead, than his influence and himself are forgotten, and his mightiness transferred to his heir, or to some successful accumulator of wealth. It is remembered, perhaps, that he did exist, that he pursued and enjoyed, nobly, during his brief hour, and left others to fatten on the full harvest he had gathered. There are others, but little known while living, who then had neither influence nor power, and who are no sooner gone to moulder in their narrow bed, than

Honour comes, a pilgrim grey,

To bless the turf, that wraps their clay.

This distinction is only justice deferred. Those who live for themselves alone, like Dives, may fare sumptuously every day, and command the applause and homage of the multitude; but this lasts only with life. Others, who do not attract attention, but are constantly labouring for the good of mankind, often live unrequited, but there generally comes an after justice that struggles to repair the former neglect, and the names of such benefactors are held in reverence, and go down to posterity in sweet remembrance. But what is said of the oblivion of most men, will not apply to the distinguished merchant, whose death is now generally deplored; for the properties of his character were indestructible. it was thought by the ancients, that he, who did homage to any one of the muses, was certain of a celestial existence in the Elysian fields. How much more is he entitled to enjoy the realms cf light and love, who has opened his coffers to enlarge our views of nature and theology-to soothe and heal the maladies of the mind, and who has generously removed his own household gods, without entreaty and without compensation, that the votaries of letters and science might make for themselves a temple worthy of the taste and refinement of Athens.

Mr. Perkins was intelligent,—well acquainted with

the geography and commerce of the world, and ready, at proper times and opportunities, to communicate his information when it would afford any practical benefit to his friends or the community. He was enterprizing, but had nothing of that foolish anxiety to monopolize every branch of trade, because it might be profitable-nothing of the restlessness of little minds who are in perpetual dread of some younger competitor, who might strike out a new path to wealth, and get beyond them. He was an industrious man, assiduously and carefully watching his large concerns, but never suffered himself to indulge in that poignant distress which some men feel who have much at risk. His equanimity was not disturbed at a loss, nor did his heart overflow at a fortunate voyage; for he believed that when he had done all in his power to ensure success, he ought to leave the event to providence. His views were liberal in the course of business; in which even men, liberal and generous in other respects, are often severe. He did not think, as some do, that the human beings he had used as means to gain his property were to be treated as slaves. No seaman was ever heard, on the longest voyage, to curse him for short provisions or mouldy bread, and his agents of more responsibility were never kept starving at home and abroad by a penurious policy. There was nothing cheap about him-nothing mean in his business. His plans were extensive, and his arrangements above board. He was domestic, accessible, hospitable and courteous, and never discovered any of that pride of purse so often the concomitant and the disgrace of men who are the builders of their own fortunes.

In aid of all these virtues, which exalt and adorn human nature, charity had shed her kindliest influences on his heart, and the silent, hidden streams of her inspiring bounty were in constant flow to cheer and bless the humble and unfortunate

Spirits are not finely touched,

But to fine issues.

To this delicacy and liberal feeling, was superadded a munificent disposition, which identifies a great and opulent man with the history and honours of the age in

which he lived. Like the head of the Florentine merchants, Perkins, and, indeed, if we may venture to speak of the living, his family, too, have done much for the charitable, the literary, the mercantile, and the political institutions of the country. Under the direction of a high-minded man, wealth has a sort of holy value. Gold in the hands of such men seems, as it were, beaten into vessels of the Lord, and kept in the sanctuaries of knowledge and religion, not only for the use of the present but for future generations; and every succeeding age inscribes on them some deathless memorial of such benefactors.

Man, in acquiring wealth, is fulfilling a duty--in saving it he is prudent and praise-worthy; but in distributing it for general and permanent purposes, for the benefit of mankind, he is an elevated and god-like being, in whose actions, self is forgotten, or becomes a secondary consideration. By this noble exercise of his faculties and his means, a finite creature gives perpetuity to his own deeds, and is allowed by his beneficent Maker to claim kindred with him in spirit and immortality:

V. JUDGE LIVINGSTON.

[Evening Post. N. Y.]

On the 23d of March, 1823, the remains of Judge Livingston were entombed in the family vault, in Wallstreet church yard, New-York.

Mature in years, and ripe in fame and honours, BROCKHOLST LIVINGSTON, having discharged his obligations to society, has paid his debt to nature. A stroke like this, however timely, must be felt; for we are made to feel and to grow better by the discipline of our feelings. There is a sorrow which is useless, affecting the animal rather than the moral nature. None can be worthy of him we lament, but that which is chastened, restrained, and directed to elevate the Man, or improve the Christian. It behoves us, therefore, to waive our idle lamentations, and, imitating the manly and enlightened piety which cheered and sustained the last hours of him whose