till night."

Mrs. Jay, of course, wrote frequently to her husband. In one letter she thus expresses herself: "Say everything to our dearest daughter (Anne), that a fond and delighted mother could express. Thank her for her charming letter. No cordials could have so salutary an effect on my spirits as the dear letters I receive from you both. I have perused and re-perused them twenty times at least." In another letter, some months later, she says: "I have been rendered very happy by the company of our dear children; but, could we have been together, it would have heightened the satisfaction.

I often, I should say, daily, bless God for giving us such amiable children. May they long be preserved a blessing to us and in the community."

Soon after, Mrs. Jay found her health sufficiently restored to permit her to rejoin her family at Bedford. This she was delighted to do, and she bade farewell to the busy world of society, without regret, and with unfeigned satisfaction. Her health, though not strong, was much improved, and, humanly speaking, there was every reason to think that she might be spared for many years to enjoy the calm and blessed sunshine of peace and quiet in her rural home. But in the dispensation of God's providence, it was not so to be. Within less than a year, she was seized with a severe illness, and expired May 28th, 1802. Her husband was watching at her side when she died; and having

In concluding this brief memoir, it needs hardly a word further, in order to point out the high character and admirable qualities of the wife of John Jay. Her letters display a charming delicacy and sensibility, mingled with strength of mind and acuteness of perception rarely surpassed. Sincerely and truly a Christian, she was enabled to bear trials and disappointments without murmuring, and to regulate her whole life by the principles of unerring truth and rectitude. As a wife and mother, she was faithful, tender, and loving; and as one occupying the high position which she did, and which brought her into contact with the gay, the fashionable, and those who seem to live for the present hour alone, she was all that a Christian woman could be, preserving her simplicity, purity and gentleness untarnished, and when the proper time came, cheerfully and gladly retiring from the busy and distracting world.. Of her it may be said, as of the wives of Washington and Adams, that she was worthy to be the companion and fellow-laborer with the noble patriots of our early history: "her price was above rubies:" "her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."

BONAPARTE, was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 15th of August, 1769. He was descended from a patrician family, which had been of some note in Italy during the middle ages; and one of his ancestors, the gonfaloniere Buonaparte of San Nicolo, had governed the republic of Florence about the middle of the thirteenth century. His father, Carlo Buonaparte, was an advocate of considerable reputation; and his mother, Letizia Ramolini, was eminent alike for personal beauty and uncommon strength of character. When the Corsicans under Paoli rose in arms to assert their liberty against the pretensions of France, Carlo Buonaparte espoused the popular

side; and through all the toils and dangers of his mountain campaigns was attended by his lovely and high-spirited wife. Upon the termination of the war, the father of Napoleon meditated accompanying Paoli into exile; but his relations dissuaded him from taking this step; and being afterwards reconciled to the conquering party, he was protected and patronized by the Comte de Marbœuf, the French governor of Corsica. Napoleon was the second child

King of Spain, being the eldest born; but he had three younger brothers, Lucien, Louis, and Jerome; and three sisters, Eliza, Caroline, and Pauline. Five others appear to have died in infancy; and at the age of thirty, Letizia became a widow by the death of her husband, who seems to have left his family but indifferently provided for.

In his early years Napoleon betrayed no marked singularity; and when his character began to be formed, its development was too profound and too essentially intellectual to attract the notice of ordinary observers. At the age of ten he was admitted to the Military School of Brienne, where he spent several years devoted to his studies, and afterwards removed to a similar institution at Paris, where he appears to have completed his education.

His birth having destined him for service, Napoleon had just completed his sixteenth year, when, in August, 1785, after being examined by Laplace, he obtained his first commission as lieutenant of artillery in the regiment of La Fere. He was already desirous of fame, and had conceived the idea of

making himself a name by writing the history of the war in Corsica. He communicated his intention to Paoli, at the same time requesting that that officer would furnish him with the necessary information; but an historian of eighteen did not probably inspire any great confidence, and Paoli took no notice of his proposal. His advancement, however, indemnified him for this little mortification. In the year 1789, he obtained a company of artillery; and the Revolution, which broke out immediately afterwards, seemed to open up a new and more enlarged sphere of action. With this movement he soon foresaw that all his hopes and prospects were identified. "Had I been a general," said he, in the evening of his life, "I might have adhered to the king; but being a subaltern, I joined the patriots."

Happening to be in Paris in the year 1792, he witnessed the scene of the 20th June, when the revolutionary mob stormed the Tuileries, and placed the lives of the king and his family in the greatest jeopardy. He followed the crowd into the garden before the palace; and when Louis XVI. appeared on a balcony with the red cap on his head, he could no longer suppress his contempt and indignation. "Poor driveller," said Napoleon; "how could he suffer this rabble to enter? If he had swept away five or six hundred of them with his cannon, the rest would soon have disappeared." He was also a witness of the events of the 10th of August, when the throne was overturned, a provisional council established, the king confined in the Temple, the Republic proclaimed, and a nation

al convention called to frame a charter. At this time he was without employ ment, and poor; wandering idly about Paris, living at the shops of restaurateurs, projecting a variety of schemes,— some of them wild enough,-and in a great measure dependent upon the scanty resources of his class-fellow Bourrienne. But the circumstances of the times were such that he was not suffered to remain long inactive. Being offered the command of a battalion of national volunteers destined to join the expedition to Sardinia, he readily accepted it; and upon the return of the expedition he re-entered the artillery with the rank of superior officer, or commandant. Till the siege of Toulon, however, he led an insigBut this operation nificant life. proved in some measure decisive of his fortunes. He saw that, from the situation which he held, as second in command of the artillery, he might have some influence on the result of the siege; and the event justified his anticipations.

When, towards the close of August, 1793, Toulon, the great port and arsenal of France on the Mediterranean, had, along with the fleet, been delivered into the hands of the allies, the situation of France was truly deplorable. Lyons had raised the standard of the Bourbons; civil war raged in Languedoc and Provence; the victorious Spanish army had passed the Pyrenees, and overrun Roussillon; and the Piedmontese army, having cleared the Alps, was at the gates of Chambery and Antibes. Terror, discord, and defection reigned within; whilst on the frontiers one reverse followed hard at

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