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withdrawing from public life altogether. When the elections came on, he presented himself as candidate to the Chamber of Deputies, both at Toulon and Dunkirk, but without success. 1832 he set out on a journey to the East, accompanied by his wife and daughter, and travelled in princely style. He was absent sixteen months, and had the mis. fortune to lose his daughter, who died in her sixteenth year at Beyrout. The fruit of his travels was a work on the East, in imitation of Chateaubriand, which purported to treat of every subject-religion, history, philosophy, politics, poetry, &c. Owing chiefly to the numerous inaccuracies with regard to facts, and negligence of composition, it had not the success which the writer and the public had anticipated. He was consoled, however, by the fact that during his absence he had been named Deputy for Dunkirk by the same electors who had before rejected him. His first essay as a Parliamentary speaker on the discussion of the Address (1834) was a decided failure. He made an elaborate speech, in which he treated of justice, morals, tolerance, &c., but passed over the question before the House. In 1835 he produced his poem of " Jocelyn," which the public at first received with hesitation, but which gradually attained a success as great as that of his first "Méditations." Two years later appeared "La Chute d'un Ange," an antediluvian episode of a great universal epic which he had planned, but which was received as coldly as his maiden speech, or as his " Voyage en Orient," and for the same reason. In 1839 he published his "Recueillements Poétiques," as the farewell of the poet to the muse. His literary labours did not, however, entirely detach Lamartine from politics. Though not a practical politician, he yet made considerable progress as a speaker. The Eastern question, the abolition of capital punishment, the defence of purely literary studies, which Arago professed to think lightly of, and certain social questions, furnished him with subjects on which he spoke with much fluency, and in a style which charmed the Deputies so long as the speaker was before them, but which they forgot the moment he sat down. In order to show how unfounded was the reproach brought against him of not being a practical politician, he introduced a plan to substitute for the Ottoman Empire, the fall of which he believed to be imminent, a vast European colonization, and he demanded that a general Congress of all Powers of Europe should be assembled

to determine its conditions and basis; and it was in this point of view that he treated the Eastern question" under the Ministries of M. Thiers and M. Guizot, both of whom he by turns opposed. Those who still looked upon him as a mere dreamer he tried to convince by an elaborate speech on a subject which was not very poetical, for it related to sugar, and he had the patience to master all its complicated details. He denounced, too, the obstinacy of the Conservative party, and it was then (1844) that he made the famous speech at the Reform banquet of Maçon, in which he pleaded to M. Guizot that his Ministry would fall by a "revolution of contempt." The greatest effect which Lamartine produced, however, was by the publication, in 1847, of his "Histoire des Girondins," full of historical inaccuracies as usual, but written in the most attractive style. In this work he threw a sort of poetical halo round the actors in the most sanguinary events of the Revolution. He did not, indeed, hold it up for the imitation of his contemporaries, but he claimed indulgence for the errors which were the consequence of their peculiar situation. The work was immensely popular; parts of it were dramatized, and a new revolutionary hymn was prepared, when the Revolution of February broke out. When the flight of the King left the field free, the popular voice called upon Lamartine to form part of the Provisional Government which soon proclaimed the Republic. Whatever may be thought of his influence in bringing about that Revolution, and however severely he may be judged for the part he took in it, it is certain that the name of Lamartine, during the struggles which soon broke out between his colleagues, was regarded by the country at large as the symbol of order and moderation. During the confusion which followed, it was his eloquence that for several days protected the Hôtel de Ville when the Provisional Government was installed; and it would be unjust and ungrateful to forget that his courage, his presence of mind, and his energy saved Paris. His answer to the clamours of the mob, who demanded that the red flag should be recognized as the flag of France, has often been quoted

"For my part, I will never adopt it. It is the tricolour that under the Republic and the Empire made the tour of Europe with your liberties and your glory; and the red flag only made the tour of the Champ de Mars through the blood of the people."

There was a moment when he might easily have assumed the Dictatorship. At the general elections Lamartine was named by ten departments as representative to the Constituent Assembly; but, as if to expiate the immense popularity which he had enjoyed during three months, and the influence on the masses which he had gained by mere force of eloquence and will, and their consciousness of his integrity, he was elected only fourth on the list of the Executive Commission which succeeded the Provisional Government. His influence was of short continuance. There is no doubt that the suspicion generally entertained of complicity with the Reds lowered him in public estimation; and his ingenious apology that, if he had conspired, it was as the conductor conspires with the thunder, did not win back for him public confidence.

The

terrible insurrection of June overthrew him and his colleagues, though he had made every effort to prevent it, and also to conjure what he thought to be another danger, in the person of Prince Louis Napoleon, which he foresaw was preparing for the Republic. At the general elections for the Legislative Assembly he was not returned, and if he afterwards was enabled to take his stand in the Chamber it was owing to a partial election for the department of the Loiret. His preponderance was gone for ever, even in his native department. During the election to the Presidency of the Republic there was some slight agitation in favour of him, but only in a portion of the press, and when the returns were complete Lamartine's name stood fifth on a list of six candidates. He had only 17,910 votes, not half the number given to the candidate of the pure Socialists. The Coup d'Etat put an end to him as a public man. He retired into private life, and never after quitted it.

His latter years were devoted to what has been well called the travaux forcés of literature. His expensive tastes and his disregard or ignorance of the details of practical life had seriously compromised the fortune which he had inherited from his family, or which he had acquired by marriage; the political agitation in which he was engaged completed his ruin. The publication of a new edition of his works was undertaken for his benefit by a financial association, and subscriptions were raised for him at home and abroad, but to which, it must be said, his own countrymen did not contribute in the proportion they should have done for one who, whatever his imprudence or his political errors,

had

been, at all events, one of the great literary glories of France. Lotteries, direct and repeated appeals to the public, and his, perhaps, too frequent intervention in the subscriptions opened for him, all failed to relieve him from difficul. ties which were, in fact, almost inextricable. He continued to send forth, fortnight after fortnight, his "Entretiens," and thus consumed in ephemeral productions the energies which he might have concentrated on the composition of a work more worthy of his fame. It was said that offers of pecuniary assistance were more than once conveyed to him in the most delicate form by the Emperor, but which he declined. About two years ago a Bill was presented by the Government to the Legislative Chamber for an annuity of 25,000f. to be paid out of the public funds, which was voted, and in this form relief was accepted by Lamartine. This late recognition, however, of his genius and his services he did not live to enjoy long.

CHIEF JUSTICE LEFROY.

The Right Hon. Thomas Lefroy, of Carrickglass, in the county of Longford, many years Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland, who died on the 4th of May, was a thorough impersonation of the better class of Irish Tory of the old school; even so far back as 1798 he was already a barrister; he well remembered the men who had been foremost in the Irish rebellion; and he was nearly the last survivor of those who had seen the streets of Dublin stained with the blood of Lord Kilwarden. Sprung from an old Flemish, and, we believe, Huguenot family, which had sought the hospitable shores of England under the persecutions of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, the late Judge inherited from his forefathers a strong feeling in favour of the Reformed Faith, a feeling which no doubt was considerably strengthened by a residence for two or three genera tions in a country like Ireland, where the strong Protestant so easily and readily blossoms into the still stronger Orangeman.

The future Lord Chief Justice was born in the year 1776. He was the eldest son of the late Mr. Anthony Lefroy, of Carrickglass, who was some time Lieutenant-Colonel in the 9th Dragoons, and who lived till the year 1819. Mr. Lefroy himself took his Bachelor's degree at Trinity College as far back as 1796, and proceeded to the degree of M.A. in due course. His call to the Bar

of Ireland dated from the year 1797, three years before the Union, of which Mr. O'Connell in his own day, and the Fenians in our own time, have so zealously laboured to effect the "repeal." When he entered on his profession he brought with him the highest University reputation, as he obtained during his undergraduate course at Trinity the four annual prizes and seven certificates, besides the gold medal awarded on taking his degree. Accordingly, he soon obtained a lucrative equity practice, which he retained for many years, without entering upon the more ambitious line of Parliamentary honours. In 1819 we

find him a Bencher of the King's Inns, and he had already obtained the dignity of a King's Serjeant. This honour, however, he resigned, and in due course was nominated a King's Counsel; but in the House of Commons and in Hansard he was generally known by his University distinction of "Doctor" Lefroy.

He does not appear to have entered Parliament until after he had attained and well-nigh passed the middle age, having been first chosen in 1830 as one of the representatives of the University of Dublin in the strong Tory interest. Roman Catholic Emancipation had been conceded in the previous year, and the Test Act had already been repealed, or else, no doubt, history would have told us how fiercely he opposed both these measures. That he voted against the Reform Bill of 1832, and against Mr. Stanley's measure for pruning and lopping the Irish Established Church of some superfluous bishoprics in the following year, that he consistently opposed the leading measures of Lords Grey and Melbourne, and as zealously supported the Premier of his choice, Sir Robert Peel, whose personal acquaintance he had made some years previously, when that statesman was in Dublin as Chief Secretary for Ireland-these are nearly all the points in his political career which the biographer can record. always regarded the Reform Act of his own time as a political pestilence; and he could scarcely have entertained any great partiality for that Reform Bill of which he heard in extreme old age that it had been proposed by so sound a Tory as Mr. Disraeli. As a speaker in the House of Commons he succeeded but indifferently; his manner was not attrac tive, and he knew less of the graces of diction than most of his fellow-country. men. In the earlier part of his Parliamentary career, he spoke frequently, more especially on Irish subjects and against Mr. O'Connell; but his chief

He

success lay in emptying the benches. A strong and decided Tory, and a strenuous opponent of the interests of the Roman Catholics, he was still entitled to the credit of being one of the best tempered men who ever took a strong line in Parliament. In his public and private character he was always greatly respected; and, high as party politics ran in Ireland thirty years ago, no word of reproach was uttered against Mr. Serjeant Lefroy. He sat for the University of Dublin as the colleague of the Right Hon. Frederic Shaw down to the year 1841.

When Sir Robert Peel returned a second time to place and power, it was not to be expected that the claims of Serjeant Lefroy would be overlooked, and no time was lost in appointing him to the first vacancy on the Irish Bench as one of the Barons of the Exchequer, whence he was promoted in 1852 by Lord Derby to the post of Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, from which he always resolved that neither ill-health nor failing years should force him as long as the Liberals were in power. Accordingly he continued to take his seat on the bench and to hear causes until his 90th year, when the return of Lord Derby to place gave him the opportunity of gracefully resigning his post, to be filled by a younger, we can scarcely say more vigorous Tory. He then bade adieu to public life, and thenceforward lived in the bosom of his family, strong and hale beyond his years, and with very little consciousness of failing faculties.

Judge Lefroy was the author of some Reports in the Irish Court of Chancery under Lord Redesdale, and also of an Irish law pamphlet, published so long ago as 1802, on Proceedings by Elegit, in which the Effect of a late Decision is considered, and a new method of Proceeding is proposed; but the pamphlet and the occasion which called it forth have passed away out of the memory of living lawyers. He married, in 1799, Mary, the only daughter and heiress of Mr. Jeffrey Paul, of Silver Spring, in the county of Wexford, by whom he had three daughters, and also four sons, of whom the eldest, Mr. Anthony Lefroy, has been M.P. for the University of Dublin for the last ten years, and previously represented the county of Longford in Parliament.

MR. GEORGE PEABODY.

George Peabody, the great philanthropist of the Old and New Worlds,

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who died on the 4th of November, was one of an honest, sober, industrious New England family, whose ancestors had emigrated from Old England six generations before. There had been one or two Congregational ministers and divines of some repute for learning and piety among his elder kinsmen. His father, Thomas Peabody, of Darwen, in Massachusetts, who died in 1811, left by his wife, Judith Dodge, of Rouley, five sons and three daughters. For his own part, the district school had taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic; the rest of his knowledge was self-taught in after life. Having been four years in the grocer's store, and spent another year with his grandfather in the rustic labours of Vermont, he went to join his brother David, who had set up a drapery or 'dry-goods" business at Newburyport. This was stopped in a few months by the disaster of a fire, which destroyed Peabody's shop, with most other houses in the little town. But an uncle, Mr. John Peabody, who had settled in Georgetown, adjoining the Federal capital, in the district of Columbia, invited young George to become his commercial assistant. He went, and stayed with his uncle two years, managing a good part of the business, though still in his teens. In May, 1812, during the unhappy war between Great Britain and the United States, when a British fleet came up the Potomac, this young merchant's clerk, like others of his time, volunteered into the patriot army, and served a few months in the defence of Fort Warburton, as a true citizen soldier. The short war being over, his proved skill and diligence in trade brought him the offer of a partnership in a new concern. It was that of Mr. Elisha Riggs, who was about to commence the sale of "dry-goods"all sorts of clothing stuffs, as distinguished from "groceries "-throughout the Middle States of the Union. Riggs found the capital, while Peabody did the work; the firm of Riggs and Peabody had great success. Peabody acted as bagman, and often travelled alone, on horseback, through the western wilds of New York and Pennsylvania, or the plantations of Maryland and Virginia, if not farther, lodging with farmers or gentlemen slaveowners, and so becoming acquainted with every class of people and every way of living. The Southern connexion grew the faster; and in 1815 the house was removed to Baltimore, though its branches were established, seven years later, at Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Riggs, about the year 1830, having retired from business, Mr.

Peabody found himself at the head of one of the largest mercantile firms in the home trade of America. His career was so far that of other clever and lucky commercial men.

But Mr. Peabody's character as a man of superior integrity, discretion, and public spirit, already distinguished him from others. He coveted no political office; he courted the votes of no party; he waited upon no "caucus," put his foot down upon no "platform," went for no "ticket," but held aloof from the hateful strife of rival American factions. He chose rather to bestow on his native commonwealth the most perfect example of justice, honour, and liberality in social life, with the quiet self-culture of individual manhood. A Republic composed of such persons would have small need of political cunning. The honest man was so much greater than the State or nation that, while he sat at home, they came to him for aid and counsel. His private morality and prudence were invoked to redeem the disasters of public finance.

Mr. Peabody's first visit to London was in 1827, while he was still chief partner of the Baltimore firm. From this he at length withdrew, in 1843, and fixed himself here as merchant and money-broker, with others, by the style of George Peabody & Co., of Warnfordcourt, City. As one of three commissioners appointed by the State of Maryland to obtain means for restoring its credit, he refused to be paid for his services; he received a special vote of thanks from the Legislature of that State. Americans in Europe were always glad to know Mr. Peabody, from whom they gained, if they deserved it, the most useful assistance as well as the kindest welcome. The anniversary of American Independence, the Fourth of July, he used to celebrate with a semipublic dinner at the Crystal Palace.

This honest and diligent getter was to show himself beyond all precedent in modern history a cheerful giver; and to do it with that grace of noble simplicity which human virtue has not surpassed. Mr. Peabody knew very precisely what he was about. He had seen as much of the world as most elderly men of business accustomed to society and travel. Living here in England he had seen what can be done by a private gentleman or nobleman with 50,000l. or 60,000l. a year; what palaces can be built and furnished; what parks and gardens can be planned; what trains of servants, what splendid equipages, what sumptuous feasts, can be procured; what

pictures, statues, and libraries can be stored up for delight of intellectual leisure. He might have devoted his entire wealth to his own indulgence in these things, inviting a select circle of fashionable acquaintance to sit round him and enjoy them; he would have been envied, admired, flattered, and renowned. Whatever the world affords and "men of the world" profess to desire was in the reach of so rich a man ; political power, if he had chosen it, might have been his in America; social power and pride either there or in Europe; -all that could minister to the luxury of sense or fancy, or to the vanity of personal distinction. But Mr. Peabody cherished a singular opinion of his own. He believed, from his experience and observation of the world, that none of these things would make a man happy; though a man who has set his heart upon such things might be very unhappy if they were taken from him. He thought he knew a surer way to obtain happiness by the use of riches; and so, having wherewithal, he resolved teach this lesson, by a few striking instances, both to his own countrymen and to ourselves.

to

Some of his first notable acts of pecuniary munificence went to save the reputation of the American people. At the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851 he promptly supplied the sum needed to pay for the arrangements of the United States' contributions. In the following year he joined Mr. Henry Grinnell, the New York shipowner, in fitting out the expedition to the Arctic Seas in search of Sir John Franklin. In the same year, 1852, he bestowed a large donation, since augmented to 100,000l., to found a free library and educational institute at Danvers, his native place. In 1857 Mr. Peabody revisited his native country, after more than twenty years' absence. On this occasion he gave 100,000l. to found in Baltimore a noble institute devoted to science and the arts, in conjunction with a free library. The corner-stone of the building for this institute was laid in 1858, and the building was completed, but its opening was delayed by the outbreak of the Southern rebellion. It was not until after the conclusion of the war that it was finally dedicated to the purposes for which it was founded. The founder afterwards gave a second 100,000l. to this institution.

On March 12, 1862, Mr. Peabody addressed a letter to Mr. C. F. Adams, American Minister; the Right Hon. Lord Stanley; Sir J. E. Tennent; Mr. (now Sir Curtis, Bart.) M. Lampson;

and Mr. J. S. Morgan, his own partner in business, informing them that a sum of 150,000l. stood in the books of Messrs. George Peabody and Co., to be applied by them for the amelioration of the condition of the poor of London.

The gentlemen above named duly entered on their trust, which has been applied in the mode indicated by the donor -namely, in the erection of model dwellings for working men. In January, 1866, Mr. Peabody added another 100,000l. to the fund; and on December 5 last he made a further donation of about fifteen acres of land at Brixton, 5642 shares in the Hudson's Bay Company, and 54051. in cash, making a total of 100,000l., thus raising the amount of his gift to London to 350,000l. This gift is held by the trustees under two deeds, the first having reference to the 150,000l. first given, and the second including the remaining 200,000l., which latter was not to be put in operation until July, 1869, and has, therefore, but now begun to be dealt with. It appears by the statement of the trustees for the year 1868 that they now hold property under the first deed valued at 173,3131., the increase being the produce of rents on the buildings added to the interest on unexpended capital. Four ranges of buildings have been already erected, which house a population of 1971 individuals, composed of the families of working men earning wages on the average under 21s. a week. The trustees have acquired other sites, on which they are about to complete further blocks of houses for similar purposes.

By the last will and testament of Mr. Peabody, opened on the day of his funeral, his executors, Sir Curtis Lampson and Mr. Charles Reed, M.P., were directed to apply a further sum of 150,000l. to the Peabody Fund in London. This makes half a million sterling bestowed by Mr. Peabody for that single object.

The

This extraordinary beneficence of a private American citizen was acknowledged in Great Britain. The freedom of the city of London was conferred upon him by the Corporation. Queen, not content with offering him either a baronetcy or the Grand Cross of the Bath, which he respectfully declined, wrote him a grateful letter, and invited him to visit her at Windsor. Mr. Peabody also received from Her Majesty, in March, 1866, just before his departure on a second visit to his native country, the gift of a beautiful miniature portrait of herself, framed in the most costly style, which he deposited in the Peabody Institute at Danvers. The last