'BLEST be the man! his memory at least, The friend was gone which some kind moments gave, When for a wife the youthful patriarch sent, To catch the soul, when drawn into the eye! LETTERS AND LETTER-WRITERS. N ancient times, the practice of letterwriting, in our modern sense of the term, was altogether unknown. To say nothing of the scarcity and cumbrous character of the materials employed for writing, the state of society was such that correspondence' was not considered necessary. Formal, stately, and even elegant epistles were, no doubt, frequently indited-usually with the view of conveying instruction; but these old-world productions do not bear the remotest resemblance to that rapid, off-hand, genial effusion, the letter of later times. Scriptural and Roman Letters. In the Old Testament Scriptures we find occasional allusions to what are termed 'letters,' A |