elected president. With a modesty not unnatural at his years, and a consciousness of the difficulty he might experience, in filling a station of such high im portance and responsibility, he hesitated to take the seat to which he had been elected. Mr. Harrison was standing beside him, and with the ready good humour that loved a joke even in the senate-house, he seized the modest candidate in his athletic arms, and placed him in the presidential chair; then, turning to some of the members around, he exclaimed, We will show mother Britain how little we care for her, by making a Massachusetts' man our president, whom she has excluded from pardon by a public proclamation.””

When the Declaration of Independence was published, the name of the president of the congress alone appeared with it, although it had been signed by the other members. Tudor remarks, in the Life of Otis,-"in signing the instrument, Hancock seems to have had in mind an official proportion in the dimensions of his name, and the force with which it is written shows that it was never intended to be erased." The same writer adds, that the pen with which the several signatures were made, was preserved, and is now in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society. It is a precious memorial, deserving. of all care and honour. We have seen another relic in the possession of a gentleman of Pennsylvania-we mean the autograph of Washington's Valedictory, which, as well as the pen, should undergo a consecration like the Roman, that rendered the thing for ever after inapplicable to any private use. The pens of deceased poets have been encased in gold, and deposited among national archives. Alexander the Great held nothing so worthy of occupying the gorgeous casket, the richest of the spoils of Darius, as his copy of the Iliad corrected by Aristotle.

In affixing his signature, and sending it forth in single hardihood, the Massachusetts outlaw could not be properly considered as incurring any additional risk;-but it is probable that, as he moved the hallowed pen, his wealth occasioned a reflection in the spectators, of a similar purport with the exclamation of one of them when the opulent Charles Carroll of Maryland subscribed his name "There go a few millions!"-Hancock filled the chair with signal propriety and efficiency. We have heard Charles Thomson, the incomparable secretary, testify to his fitness; while he expressed much dissatisfaction with Henry Laurens, the successor of Hancock. The secretary was a model of conscientious regularity, and a fastidious critic; and a personal feud which occurred between him and Laurens may have warped or exasperated his judgment with regard to the successor.

Disease compelled Hancock to retire from congress in the year 1779. He became the first governor of Massachusetts under her new constitution, and was annually chosen from 1780 to 1785. After a retreat of two years, he was re-elected, and continued in the office until his death in the year 1793. In the interval, he acted as president of the convention of the state for the adoption

of the Federal Constitution, for which he finally voted. During his administration as governor, parties were formed, and he did not escape the severest scrutiny and the bitterest satire: even he was for a time darkened by

"the passing clouds,

That often hang on Freedom's jealous brow."

But no permanent injury was done to his general reputation, which survives as that of an early, most strenuous, elevated, and efficient promoter of Independence. The best summary of his character, embracing both its excellencies and defects, which we have seen, is in Tudor's Life of Otis.

The life of FRANKLIN fills nearly two-thirds of the second volume-one hundred and fifty-three pages-without being exorbitant; so rich, impressive, and diversified is the story of his invaluable existence. Considering the length and usefulness of his days, the amplitude, lucidness, and pregnancy of his example, the versatility and felicity of his powers, the extent of his fame, and the peculiar worth and transcendence of his manifold productions, it is not too much to assert, that no other human being has administered more honour and benefit to his country, nay, we might add, to his species. He had no competitor in ante-revolutionary labours and merits;-he was second only to Washington as an agent in the cause of independence ;-in the civil. department, he ought, in our humble opinion, to be proclaimed the first of the national benefactors and luminaries. The details of his life, and the principal traits of his character, have, however, been rendered so familiar to the world, by his own inimitable narrative and the number of biographical sketches from other hands, that we shall not dwell upon the instructive and copious account here furnished. The only new and characteristic anecdote of him, which we have remarked, is in the biography of Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (vol. iii.) where it is related in the following terms:

"In the year 1777, a committee of congress was appointed at the request of Lord Howe, to confer with him on the proposals which he should make for peace; and Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, were deputed for that purpose. The conference, as had been anticipated, was productive of no beneficial result. We may safely presume, from the characters of the commissioners, that our rights and grievances were ably and eloquently portrayed; such, indeed, we are informed, was the fact, and that the junior member took a very active part in the discussion; but we possess no particulars further than the report to congress, already before the public. Mr. Rutledge, however, who was always a free talker upon revolutionary topics, was accustomed to relate an anecdote of Dr. Franklin, very characteristic of that extraordinary man, and which does not appear to have been elsewhere noticed.

Upon taking leave of Lord Howe, his lordship politely sent the commissioners to New-York in his own barge, and just as they were approaching the shore, the Doctor began to chink some gold and silver coin in his breeches pocket, of which, upon their arrival at the wharf, he very formally offered a handful to the sailors who had rowed the boat. The commanding officer not permitting them

elected president. With a modesty not unnatural at his years, and a consciousness of the difficulty he might experience, in filling a station of such high importance and responsibility, he hesitated to take the seat to which he had been elected. Mr. Harrison was standing beside him, and with the ready good humour that loved a joke even in the senate-house, he seized the modest candidate in his athletic arms, and placed him in the presidential chair; then, turning to some of the members around, he exclaimed, We will show mother Britain how little we care for her, by making a Massachusetts' man our president, whom she has excluded from pardon by a public proclamation.""

When the Declaration of Independence was published, the name of the president of the congress alone appeared with it, although it had been signed by the other members. Tudor remarks, in the Life of Otis," in signing the instrument, Hancock seems to have had in mind an official proportion in the dimensions of his name, and the force with which it is written shows that it was never intended to be erased." The same writer adds, that the pen with which the several signatures were made, was preserved, and is now in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society. It is a precious memorial, deserving of all care and honour. We have seen another relic in the possession of a gentleman of Pennsylvania-we mean the autograph of Washington's Valedictory, which, as well as the pen, should undergo a consecration like the Roman, that rendered the thing for ever after inapplicable to any private use. pens of deceased poets have been encased in gold, and deposited among national archives. Alexander the Great held nothing so worthy of occupying the gorgeous casket, the richest of the spoils of Darius, as his copy of the Iliad corrected by Aristotle.

In affixing his signature, and sending it forth in single hardihood, the Massachusetts outlaw could not be properly considered as incurring any additional risk;-but it is probable that, as he moved the hallowed pen, his wealth occasioned a reflection in the spectators, of a similar purport with the exclamation of onc of them when the opulent Charles Carroll of Maryland subscribed his name "There go a few millions!"-Hancock filled the chair with signal propriety and efficiency. We have heard Charles Thomson, the incomparable secretary, testify to his fitness; while he expressed much dissatisfaction with Henry Laurens, the successor of Hancock. The secretary was a model of conscientious regularity, and a fastidious critic; and a personal feud which occurred between him and Laurens may have warped or exasperated his judgment with regard to the successor.

Disease compelled Hancock to retire from congress in the year 1779. He became the first governor of Massachusetts under her new constitution, and was annually chosen from 1780 to 1785. After a retreat of two years, he was re-elected, and continued in the office until his death in the year 1793. In the interval, he acted as president of the convention of the state for the adoption

of the Federal Constitution, for which he finally voted. During his administration as governor, parties were formed, and he did not escape the severest scrutiny and the bitterest satire: even he was for a time darkened by

-"the passing clouds,

That often hang on Freedom's jealous brow."

But no permanent injury was done to his general reputation, which survives as that of an early, most strenuous, elevated, and efficient promoter of Independence. The best summary of his character, embracing both its excellencies and defects, which we have seen, is in Tudor's Life of Otis.

The life of FRANKLIN fills nearly two-thirds of the second volume-one hundred and fifty-three pages-without being exorbitant; so rich, impressive, and diversified is the story of his invaluable existence. Considering the length and usefulness of his days, the amplitude, lucidness, and pregnancy of his example, the versatility and felicity of his powers, the extent of his fame, and the peculiar worth and transcendence of his manifold productions, it is not too much to assert, that no other human being has administered more honour and benefit to his country, nay, we might add, to his species. He had no competitor in ante-revolutionary labours and merits;-he was second only to Washington as an agent in the cause of independence ;-in the civil department, he ought, in our humble opinion, to be proclaimed the first of the national benefactors and luminaries. The details of his life, and the principal traits of his character, have, however, been rendered so familiar to the world, by his own inimitable narrative and the number of biographical sketches from other hands, that we shall not dwell upon the instructive and copious account here furnished. The only new and characteristic anecdote of him, which we have remarked, is in the biography of Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (vol. iii.) where it is related in the following terms:

"In the year 1777, a committee of congress was appointed at the request of Lord Howe, to confer with him on the proposals which he should make for peace; and Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, were deputed for that pur pose. The conference, as had been anticipated, was productive of no beneficial result. We may safely presume, from the characters of the commissioners, that our rights and grievances were ably and eloquently portrayed; such, indeed, we are informed, was the fact, and that the junior member took a very active part in the discussion; but we possess no particulars further than the report to congress, already before the public. Mr. Rutledge, however, who was always a free talker upon revolutionary topics, was accustomed to relate an anecdote of Dr. Franklin, very characteristic of that extraordinary man, and which does not appear to have been elsewhere noticed.

Upon taking leave of Lord Howe, his lordship politely sent the commissioners to New-York in his own barge, and just as they were approaching the shore, the Doctor began to chink some gold and silver coin in his breeches pocket, of which, upon their arrival at the wharf, he very formally offered a handful to the sailors who had rowed the boat. The commanding officer not permitting them

to accept the money, the doctor very deliberately replaced it in his pocket: when questioned by his associates upon so unexpected a procedure, he observed, "As these people are under the impression that we have not a farthing of hard money in the country, I thought I would convince them of their mistake: I knew, at the same time, that I risked nothing by an offer which their regulations and discipline would not permit them to accept.'

Franklin was born in Boston, but passed there only a small portion of his long career of eighty-five years. He lived seventeen years in his native town, twenty-five in Europe, and fortyone in Pennsylvania. He has suffered some injustice from the New-England biographers and reviewers, with respect to his religious and moral spirit, and his political sentiments and views before the Declaration of Independence. In the full article devoted to his memory in Delaplaine's Repository, pains have been taken to vindicate his reputation on both heads, with the support of research and testimony which cannot fail, we think, to conciliate all unprejudiced readers. Mr. Tudor, who has assigned a chapter to him in the Life of Otis, which we have already cited, is more candid and liberal than most of the northern critics have been. He observes:

"There were three causes of distrust, that operated on the minds of many people in Massachusetts, to the disadvantage of Franklin. These were, his religion, his politics, and taken in connection with one or the other of these subjects, according as they prevailed in the minds of the observer, his worldly shrewd ness and thrift. His deep sagacity, diversified experience, ingenious wit, punc tuality, industry, economical views, disciplined temper, tolerant philosophy, extensive knowledge of men and things, and practical philanthropy, though they commanded a large share of respect and admiration, yet could not wholly overcome the prejudices against him, which originated in a difference of theological or political opinion."

The difference of political opinion consisted only in a modification,-in the points of juncture and manner in the assertion of American rights. Franklin, as has been remarked of Washington, was always covered with the mantle of discretion: he was versed in the arts of the world, while he seemed to command the secrets of fate and the mysteries of science. He studied how to gain time and occasion for his country. Mr. Tudor admits that he opposed the measures of the British ministry, as earnestly and steadily as he was thought to have resisted the Revolution; and that his conduct as a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and subsequently to that event, afforded nothing to justify the jealousy of his sentiments and designs which some of the northern patriots obstinately continued to entertain. That, being in London, and negotiating officially with the ministers to draw them from the paths of tyranny and folly, he was prompted, by the nature of his position and function, and his solicitude for the ultimate safety of the colonies, to recommend more moderation and patience to his Boston constituents, will appear the less extraordinary, when it is remembered how many of the most de