was so brilliant, whose meridian was devoted to promote the best interests of his country and of mankind, and whose career was shortened and end darkened by forebodings of the failure of these exertions. It is most gratifying to us to perceive how the innate grandeur of his soul, exalted by the noblest studies and sanctified by the holiest affections, shed a glory on the close of his day, which the clouds that surrounded it seemed rather to enrich than obscure, and which, I pray, may render its last teachings so dear to his descendants as to make them blest in themselves, and by their beneficial influence a blessing to others.

"Your affectionate brother,

"C. C. LEE."

LETTERS OF GENERAL HENRY LEE TO C. C. LEE.-LETTER 1.

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, ST. DOMINGO, June 26, 1816. "MY DEAR CARTER,-I have just heard by a letter from Henry that you are fixed at the University of Cambridge, the seminary of my choice. You will there have not only excellent examples to encourage your love and practice of virtue, the only real good in life, but ample scope to pursue learning to its bottom, thereby fitting yourself to be useful to your country and to be an ornament to your friends.

"You know, my dear son, the deep and affectionate interest I have taken in you from the first moment of your existence, and your kind, amiable disposition will never cease enjoying and amplifying your father's happiness to the best of your ability. You will do this by preferring the practice of virtue to all other things; you know my abhorrence of lying, and you have been often told by me, that it led to every vice and cancelled every tendency to virtue. Never forget this truth, and disdain the mean and infamous practice. Epaminondas, the great Theban, who defended his country when environed by powerful foes, and was the most virtuous man of his age, so abhorred lying that he would never tell one even in jest. Imitate this great man and you may equal him in goodness, infinitely to be preferred to his greatness. I am too sick to continue this discussion; though I begin to hope I may live to see you, your dear mother, and our other sweet offspring. I only write now to require that you write monthly to me. Send your letters by vessels from Boston which go to Turk's Island for salt;

and inclose them to Mr. Daniel Bascombe, merchant. He will send them to me wherever I may be, though I shall not get them as expeditiously as my heart desires. This goes to Mr. Wm. Sullivan, a gentleman of Boston, who will send it to you, and do you any necessary favor, should sickness or accident render such favor requisite. He is, too, an exemplary gentleman, worthy of your imitation. There is a little boy, James Smith, son of a Mr. Smith of these islands, at school at Westfield, not far from Cambridge; should you ever go that way call and see this boy, and assist him by your advice and countenance. He is in a strange land and far from his relatives. My prayers are always offered to Almighty God for the protection of my darling Carter, and especially for establishing in his heart and conduct virtue in all its power. I pray you never to forget that virtue is our first good and lying its deadly foe.

"Your father,

GENERAL HENRY LEE TO C. C. LEE.

"H. LEE."

"TURK'S ISLAND, ON MY VOYAGE TO NEW PROVIDENCE,

"August 8, 1816.

"MY DEAR CARTER will have received one letter written as soon as I knew he was settled at Cambridge, and which was sent to the care of Mr. Sullivan, in Boston. Having this moment an opportunity to send to New York, I use it to repeat my love and prayers for his health and advancement in the acquisition of knowledge from its foundation, not on the surface. This last turns man into a puppy, and the first fits him for the highest utility and most lasting pleasure. I requested you to write monthly to me, giving to me with clearness and brevity a narrative of your studies, recreations, and your relish for the occupations which employ you in and out of college. Never mind your style; but write your first impressions quickly, clearly, and honestly. Style will come in due time, as will the maturity of judgment. Above all things earthly, even love to the best of mothers and your ever-devoted father, I entreated you to cherish truth and abhor deception. Dwell on the virtues, and imitate, as far as lies in your power, the great and good men whom history presents to our view.

"Minerva! Let such examples teach thee to beware,
Against Great God thou utter aught profane;

And, if perchance, in riches or in power
Thou shinest superior, be not insolent;
For, know, a day sufficeth to exalt

Or to depress the state of mortal man.
The wise and good are by our God beloved,
But those who practise evil he abhors.'*

"You have my favorite precept, instilled from your infancy by my lips, morning, noon, and night, in my familiar talks with you, here presented to your mind in the purity and elegance of the Grecian tragedian. You never, I trust, will forget to make it the cardinal rule of your life. It will, at least, arrest any tendency to imitate the low, degrading usage, too common, of swearing in conversation, especially with your inferiors. My miserable state of health improves by the occasional voyaging in this fine climate, with the sage guidance of a superior physician to whom I am now returning. When Boston fails to give you opportunities to write as before directed, send your letters to Mr. William Goddard, in Providence, who will forward them to me.

"CAICOS, September 30, 1816. "October is near at hand, and no letter from my beloved Carter; notwithstanding I have been writing to you ever since I learned that you were at Cambridge, and the salt vessels are weekly arriving at the adjacent island, and I had asked my friends, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Goddard, to forward your letters. What can this mean? Any thing, I know, my dear son, but your lukewarmness of devotion and love to your father. I have been detained three months on my way to my Spanish doctor in Nassau, the chief town of Providence, where I hope to be partially restored or to die in the attempt; why, then will you not give me the delight of reading your letters? Write, I entreat, your thoughts just as they come, and in the order and fashion in which they arise. I am very serious in this requisition; and if your letters exhibit labor, instead of negligent ease, I shall be unhappy. Never show those for me to your preceptor or any one else. Speak from your heart to my heart;

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*From the Ajax of Sophocles.