ed with the man, distinguishing
him in all his associations. The refined purity of his nature made him
naturally to despise and scorn all meanness and vice, and so intensely
as to render an association with any man distinguished by these,
however exalted his intellect, or extensive his attainments,
impossible. Falsehood, or the slightest dishonorable conduct in any
man, put him at once beyond the pale of his favor or respect. In all my
association with him, I never saw an indelicate act in his conduct, or
heard an obscene word in his conversation. In youth, he was fond of the
society of ladies--fond of this society not for a pastime, but because
of his high appreciation of the virtues of those he selected for
society. In his verse, "Memoriam," he has embalmed the memory of those
of our early female friends he most esteemed. He rather courted this
association in the individual than in the collective assembly--for he
was not fond of crowds, either in society, or the ordinary assemblages
of men and women.

The love of fame, more than any other passion, fired his ambition; but
it was not the love of notoriety--the fame he courted was not that
which should only render his name conspicuous among men, that he might
receive the incense of hypocritical flattery, or be pointed at by the
fickle multitude--for such, his contempt was supreme; but it was the
desire of his heart, and the struggle of his life, to be embalmed in
men's memories as the benefactor of his race, to be remembered for his
deeds as the great and the good. This was the spontaneous prompting of
his heart, and for this he labored with the zeal of a martyr.

Much of his early life was devoted exclusively to literature. His
reading, though without order, was select and extensive. He was well
versed in ancient history. The heroic characters of Greece and Rome
were his especial admiration, and that of Brutus above all others. Of
the nations of modern Europe, and their history, he knew everything
history could teach. His imagination was fired with the heroic in the
character of those of modern times, as well as those of antiquity, and
seemed the model from which was formed his own. The inflexible
integrity, the devoted patriotism, the unselfish heroism of these were
constantly his theme when a schoolboy, and the example for his
imitation in manhood.

When a school-boy, and at a public examination and exhibition, (then
common at the academies throughout the State,) o