lief which his purse could supply, but on his return home, sent them the blankets from his own bed for their covering.

Of some of the concluding scenes of the life of this amiable but ill-fated son of genius, the following detached extracts from Mr Russell's more full and detailed narrative, present a picture at once gratifying and melancholy.

"The sphere of duty in which Mr Wolfe was engaged, was extensive and laborious. A large portion of the parish was situated in a wild hilly country, abounding in bogs and trackless wastes; and the population was so scattered, that it was a work of no ordinary difficulty to keep up that intercourse with his flock, upon which the success of a Christian minister so much depends. When he entered upon his work, he found the church rather thinly attended: but, in a short time, the effects of his constant zeal, his impressive style of preaching, and his daily and affectionate converse with his parishioners, were visible in the crowded and attentive congregations which began to gather round him.

"The success of a Christian pastor depends almost as much on the manner as the matter of his instruction. In this respect, Mr Wolfe was peculiarly happy, especially with the lower classes of the people, who were much engaged by the affectionate cordiality and the simple earnestness of his deportment towards them. In his conversations with the plain farmer or humble labourer, he usually laid his hands upon their shoulder or caught them by the arm; and, while he was insinuating his arguments, or enforcing his appeals, with all the variety of simple illustrations which a prolific fancy could supply, he fastened an anxious eye upon the countenance

of the person he was addressing, as if eagerly awaiting some gleam of intelligence, to show that he was understood and felt.

"During the year that the typhus fever raged most violently in the north of Ireland, his neighbourhood was much afflicted with the disease; and thus the important duty of visiting the sick (which to him was always a work of most anxious solicitude,) was vastly increased; and he accordingly applied himself with indefatigable zeal in every quarter of his extended parish, in administering temporal and spiritual aid to his poor flock. In the discharge of such duties, he exposed himself to frequent colds; and his disregard of all precaution, and of the ordinary comforts of life to which he had been accustomed, soon, unhappily, confirmed a consumptive tendency in his constitution, of which some symptoms appeared when in college. His frame was robust, and his general health usually strong; but an habitual cough, of which he himself seemed almost unconscious, often excited the apprehensions of his friends, and at length, in the spring of 1821, the complaint, of which it seemed the forerunner, began to make manifest inroads upon his constitution. No arguments, however, could for a long time dissuade him from his usual work. So little did he himself regard the fatal symptoms, that he could not be prevailed upon to relax his parochial labours. At length, however, his altered looks, and other unfavourable symptoms, appeared so alarming, that some of his most respectable parishioners wrote to his friends in Dublin, to urge them to use their influence in persuading him to retire for a while from his arduous duties; and to have the best medical ad

vice for him without further delay. But such was the anxiety he felt for his parish, and so little conscious did he seem of the declining state of his health, that no entreaties could avail. The repeated accounts of his sinking health at last impelled the friend who now feebly attempts this humble re. cord of his worth, to set off at once to visit him, and to use all his influence to induce him to submit to what appear ed so plainly the will of Providence, and to suspend his labours, until his strength was sufficiently recruited to resume them with renewed vigour. In the meantime, (about the middle of May 1821,) he had been hurried off to Scotland by the importunate intreaties of a kind and respected brotherclergyman, in his neighbourhood, in order to consult a physician, celebrated for his skill in such cases. On his way to Edinburgh, he happened to fall in with a deputation from the Irish Tract Society, who were going to that city to hold a meeting for the promotion of their important objects. Notwithstanding the languor of his frame, and the irritation of a harassing cough, he was prevailed upon to exert his eloquence in this interesting cause. In some of the speeches made upon that occasion, he thought that the dark side of the character of his countrymen had been strongly exhibited, while the brighter part was almost entirely kept out of view. With characteristic feeling, he stood up to present the whole image with all its beauties as well as its defects.

"On his return from Scotland, the writer met him at a friend's house within a few miles of his own residence; and, on the following Sunday, accompanied him through the principal part of his parish to the church; and never can he forget the scene he witnessed as they drove together along the road, and through the village. It must give a more lively idea of his character and

conduct as a parish clergyman than any other laboured delineation, or than a mere detail of particular facts. As he quickly passed by, all the poor people and children ran out at their cabin doors to welcome him with looks and expressions of the most ardent affection, and with all that wild devotion of gratitude so characteristic of the Irish peasantry. Many fell upon their knees, invoking blessings upon him; and long after they were out of hearing, they remained in the same attitude, showing by their gestures that they were still offering up prayers for him; and some even followed the carriage a long distance, making the most anxious inquiries about his health. He was sensibly moved by this manifestation of feeling, and met it with all that heartiness of expression, and that affectionate simplicity of manner, which made him as much an object of love, as his exalted virtues rendered him an object of respect.

"It can scarcely be a matter of surprise that he should feel much reluctance in leaving a station where his ministry appeared to be so useful and acceptable; and accordingly, though peremptorily required by the physician he had just consulted, to retire for some time from all clerical duties, it was with difficulty he could be dislodged from his post, and forced away to Dublin, where most of his friends resided.

"It was hoped that timely relaxation from duty, and a change in his mode of living to what he had been originally accustomed, and suitable to the present delicate state of his health, might avert the fatal disease with which he was threatened. The habits of his life, while he resided on his cure, were in every respect calculated to confirm his constitutional tendency to consumption. He seldom thought of providing a regular meal; and his humble cottage exhibited every ap

pearance of the neglect of the ordinary comforts of life. A few straggling rush-bottomed clairs, piled up with his books-a small rickety table before the fire-place, covered with parish memoranda; and two trunks containing all his papers,-serving, at the same time, to cover the broken parts of the floor, constituted all the furniture of his sitting-room. The mouldy walls of the closet in which he slept, were hanging with loose folds of damp paper; and between this wretched cell and his parlour, was the kitchen, which was occupied by the disbanded soldier, his wife, and their numerous brood of children, who had migrated with him from his first quarters, and seemed now in full possession of the whole concern, entertaining him merely as a lodger, and usurping the entire disposal of his small plot of ground, as the absolute lords of the soil.

"After he left this comfortless home, he resigned himself entirely to the disposal of his family. Though his malady seemed to increase, and his frame to become more emaciated, still his natural spirits and mental elasticity continued unimpaired; so much so, that he continued to preach occasionally in Dublin with his usual energy, until the friendly physician to whom he had now submitted his case, absolutely forbade all present exercise of clerical duties.

"His anxiety about the provision for his duties in his parish, seemed for a long time materially to interrupt every enjoyment which might tend to his recovery. Indeed his feelings were so alive to the subject, that he could scarcely be satisfied with any arrangement which his kind clerical friends could make for him, under conviction that no occasional deputy can fully fill the place of the regular minister of the parish; and, unhappily, the advanced age and infirmities of his rector

rendered any exertions on his part im practicable.

"For some months after his removal from his parish, his health appeared to fluctuate, as is sometimes the case at the commencement of such complaints as his; and it was considered necessary, towards the approach of winter, that he should go to the south of France, as the most probable means of averting from him the threatened malady. In his attempt to reach Bourdeaux, he was twice driven back to Holyhead, by violent and adverse gales, and suffered so much from the effects, that it was deemed prudent to abandon the plan, and settle near Exeter during the winter and ensuing spring.

"After his return from Exeter, hè remained during the summer with his friends in and near Dublin. His general health appeared not to have undergone any material change in the meantime; but his cough continued so violent and distressing, that he was ordered to go to Bourdeaux and back, for the benefit of the voyage.

"In less than a month he returned from Bourdeaux, and seemed to have derived some benefit from the voyage; but this was of short continuance. The fatal disease which had been long apprehended, proved to have taken full hold of his constitution: his strength appeared to sink fast, and his spirits to flag. The bounding step which expressed a constant buoyancy of mind, now became slow and feeble; his robust and upright figure, began to droop; his marked and prominent features acquired a sharpness of form, and his complexion, naturally fair, assumed the pallid cast of wasting disease; and all the other symptoms of consumption soon discovered themselves; and,

• Ev'n when his serious eyes were lighted up With kindling mirth; and from his pe distill'd

treaty began to be hinted, and the death of the empress alone prevented its completion.

The zeal of her son and successor, Peter III., required but little stimulus to induce him to make a common cause with the chief potentates of Europe; and Sir Charles Whitworth concluded a provisional treaty at St Petersburgh in 1798, by which it was agreed, on the part of his Imperial Majesty, "that in case the King of Prussia could be induced to take an active part in the war against the common enemy, the Emperor of all the Russias was ready to afford him a succour of land forces, and he destined for that purpose forty-five thousand men, infantry and cavalry, with the necessary artillery." But this plan, "the pecuniary succours for which were to be supplied by his Britannic Majesty," was completely defeated by the obstinacy of the monarch in question, who firmly persisted in his adherence to a system of rigorous neutrality. It was, however, resolved, notwithstanding this adverse occurrence, that so considerable a body of troops should not remain idle; and Sir Charles Whitworth, knowing how much and how deeply England was interested in the overthrow of the Batavian republic, concluded a convention, dated June 22d, (11) 1799, for the express purpose of employing a portion of them" for the expulsion of the French from the Seven United Provinces, and the deliverance of the latter from the yoke under which they had so long groaned."

But although Peter III. entered into the contest with a degree of enthusiasm worthy of the days of chivalry, and although his general, the celebrated Suwarrow, at the head of a chosen body of troops, conferred new lustre on the Russian arms, the sudden reverse that occurred in Switzerland, added to some misunderstanding

relative to Holland, and a coolness that took place between the two Imperial Courts, were calculated to effect an alteration in the aspect of public affairs. This was completed by a domestic incident, for the introduction of an obscure actress produced a complete change in the politics of Russia, and all that had been achieved by the talents of our minister there was overturned by the arts of a cunning and intriguing female. The name of this personage was Madame Le Chevalier, and she is said to have been originally the mistress of the imperial barber, a Greek domestic who possessed great influence with his sovereign. The British factory offered to advance a large sum of money to Sir Charles Whitworth to produce a counter-action on the lady; but what were ten or fifteen thousand pounds to a rapacious woman, who had an absolute monarch, the autocrat of all the Russias, at her feet?

On the return of the English ambassador, he was created, March 21, 1800, an Irish peer, by the title of Baron Whitworth, of Newport Pratt, in the county of Galway.

The situation of this country soon after became very critical in respect to the northern states. They complained that their neutrality was no longer respected, that their shores and harbours were violated by the British cruizers, and that even their men-ofwar were not permitted to afford protection to convoys intrusted to their charge. They urged, at the same time, as a matter of right, that their neutrality protected their merchantmen against being searched by the cruizers of either of the belligerent powers.

In this posture of public affairs, it was resolved in the British cabinet, to select a diplomatist equally eminent for his talents and for his moderation; and accordingly Lord Whitworth was