RICHARD HENRY LEE.

To censure a just pride of ancestry would be to lessen the incentives of virtue; and since he who was the idol of a people's worship has declared, even when holding up to scorn the folly of aristocracy, "that the glory of our forefathers is a light to their posterity," it may be permitted to observe, that Richard Henry Lee traces his descent from one of the most ancient and distinguished families in Virginia.

The firmness and policy of his great grandfather, obtained nominally for Virginia, what his own energetic eloquence and active patriotism afterwards contributed effectually to secure to her, the title of an independent dominion. When the arbitrary taxation of the first king Charles of England had lost to him his kingdom and his life, as Virginia had not suffered with the parent state, so she shared not in its joy on this event, and only by treaty as an independent dominion, would she consent to avail herself of the protectorship of Cromwell. Mr. Lee and Sir William Berkley conducted, on the part of the colony, the negotiation which followed her resistance to the armed forces of the republic of England. Before the voice of the people or the strength of a faction had collected the scattered fragments of the throne, the colony, moved by Lee and Berkley, proclaimed the second

Charles, king of England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia, while yet he wandered an exile in a foreign land; and the quartering of her arms on the ancient escutcheon of his kingdom, testified the gratitude or the vanity of the dissolute Stuart.

The memory of his father's services, or his own capacity and influence, obtained for Richard, second son of Mr. Lee, an honourable and important situation, a seat in the king's council in the colony, which he was able to transmit to his son Thomas, the father of him whose life it is proposed to sketch.

Historians record a few intimations of facts, long antecedent to their existence, which philosophy has been perplexed to explain; some refer them to strange but casual coincidence, some to remarkable foresight, while others almost dare to call them prophecies. To these may be added, as an instance of peculiar sagacity or prophetic anticipation, the conviction in the mind of Mr. Thomas Lee, then president of the king's council, that America would yet take her place among the nations of the earth, and that the capital of the independent Sovereignties would be established near the little falls of the Potomac. That this was not a conjecture at random, or mere transient impression, may be inferred from the fact that he took up and settled large tracts of land in that neighbourhood, at the distance of only three miles from the place actually chosen, half a century afterwards, for the seat of the general government. It was far from his hereditary estates, for these lay in that county which has had the honour of furnishing three presidents to the United States; and may with pride and exultation number among her sons a Washington, a Lec, a Jefferson, and a Monroe.

TO RICHARD HENRY LEE, who was born on the twentieth of January, 1732, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, seems to have descended an hereditary care of his native state, for his maternal grandfather and uncle, held with credit to themselves and advantage to their country, seats in the king's council, of which his father was president, and his great grandfather in that line, was governor Ludwell, of North Carolina.

Fashion prompted, or necessity urged, in the infancy of the colony, such as could afford the expense, to send their children to England to be educated. Wakefield, in Yorkshire, then a flourishing school, was selected for Mr. Lee; where the refinements of the town were mingled with the economical habits of the country. The classic pursuits and chaste style of Mr. Lee in after life, may give a favourable opinion of his docility and talent, while they contribute to support the well earned fame of his tutor, as a scholar and a teacher. The histories of the ancient republics inspired him with a love of liberty, taught him the fate of tyrants and elated him with hope, not, however, unmingled with apprehension, for he saw them at times tossed by the storms of faction and again awed to the stillness of despotism. The love of rational liberty, thus excited, was strengthened by the beautiful portraits of her in the ancient authors, while defects in their systems were discovered by the strength of his own reflections, aided by the liberal views of the philosophic Locke. To studies calculated to form the character of a firm patriot, an enlightened statesman and an elegant scholar was his attention devoted, free from the restrictions which professional duties impose.

Ethics, in its most extensive meaning, and the philosophy of history were his favourite pursuits; the manuscript sys