twenty-third of January, and inform them that my constitution and circumstances oblige me humbly to ask leave to return home next spring. The necessity of having good men in congress is so evident, that I shall only beg they may be sent in time. For public news, I must refer you to the bearer. The congress are doing all in their power to procure assistance, foreign and domestic. May God give success!"

His house was at all times open to those who were houseless, and his table was frequently surrounded by individuals, from whom gratitude alone could be anticipated in return for his kindness and hospitality. Nevertheless it would be unreasonable to suppose that all the high qualifications possessed by Dr. Thornton, were wholly free from alloy-for he was human. It is asserted that the auri sacra fames, in some degree, detracted from the dignity of the character which he generally sustained; but this accusation may have sprung from the observations of those who did not properly distinguish economy from avarice. He was never known to be unjust, although he rigidly enforced his rights, without reference to the smallness of the amount: hence he was considered severe in his pecuniary claims. If he was strict in obtaining that which was due to him, he was scrupulously exact in liquidating his obligations to others.

Another trait in his character, which frequently excited unpleasant, but momentary feelings, was his powers of satire. Although no man more patiently endured a cutting sarcasm, but few were inflicted on Dr. Thornton without a prompt and keen retaliation. In fact he was fond of pleasant jests, and was even immoderately pleased at a pungent pun, or a lively repartee. Many diverting anecdotes of this kind are preserved by his surviving companions.

As a neighbour he was universally loved, as a citizen respected, and as a physician, he gained the confidence of the

people, by his skill and punctuality. He cherished with fondness the remembrance of those individuals of merit, with whom he had formed an acquaintance during the chequered scenes of his life, and endeavoured to preserve undiminished their respect and approbation. In the evening of life, after his professional and political usefulness was almost exhausted, he was in the habit of visiting his old friends in Londonderry, the once happy scene of his youthful exertions. In these interviews, he was feelingly affectionate;-grasping the hand with a real sensibility of the heart, in the recollection of the joys of by-gone days. The reiteration of this social formality was a renewed pledge of his kindness and affection: his recollection of the children in the neighbourhood was remarkably acute, and, without invidious distinctions, he possessed a particular favourite among the children of all his acquaintances; a foible perhaps incident to the character of a family physician. During these visits, he never alighted from his chaise, owing to the infirmities of age; but when the arrival of the judge was announced, the whole family was laid under a willing contribution, and old and young alike flocked out to bid him welcome.

His own children, who were absent from home, participated largely in his warmest affections: he visited them annually, and expended some time in their society. Their love and veneration for him, and unceasing solicitude for his welfare, amply repaid his paternal anxiety, and were a soothing consolation to his declining years. He was greatly recreated. by these excursions, and never returned from them without apparent satisfaction.

Dr. Thornton was, indeed, a man, venerable for his age and skill in his profession, and for the several important and honourable offices which he had sustained;-noted for the knowledge which he had acquired, and his quick penetration

into matters of abstruse speculation. His virtues were a model for imitation, and while memory does her office, will be held in grateful recollection. His character as a christian, a father, a husband, and a friend, was bright and unblemshed and if he had any of those failings which are inseparable from humanity, they have long since been forgotten.

His vigorous mind seemed to seize boldly upon the leading points of the subject which it proposed to investigate, and never to relax its grasp until it had arrived, almost uniformly, to a correct conclusion. He enjoyed diversified and almost unlimited information, from the habit of reading which he maintained during the whole course of his life. He was a philosopher in the strictest sense; but, although he possessed a mind able and prone to engage in metaphysical inquiries, and capable of the deepest research, he did not wholly devote himself to abstract speculations. His powerful genius was formed to grasp "heaven, earth, and ocean, and plunder them of their sweets," to pass "from grave to gay, from lively to serene," and still excite undiminished and lasting admiration. In every situation of life in which he was placed, and in every act which he thought it proper to perform, the mens divina was conspicuous; and that talismanic attribute of the human soul was transcendent. When the blossoms of honour and of old age were thick upon him, he was in the constant practice of reading such works of fancy as possessed any merit, or tended rationally to amuse the mind, and improve the morals. Light reading, in his moments of recreation, accorded better with the certain, however imperceptible, mental decay, which the octogenarian must inevitably experience, and those delightful creatures of the imagination served, for a season, by enticing his attention, to invigorate an enfeebled frame, which unrelieved studies upon abstruse topics would have prostrated. He wrote, however,

political essays for the public papers after he was eighty years of age, and about the same period prepared for the press a metaphysical work, which was never published. It is comprised in seventy-three manuscript pages in quarto, and possesses the following singular title:

"PARADISE LOST; or the origin of the Evil, called Sin, examined; or how it ever did or ever can come to pass, that a creature should or could do any thing, unfit or improper for that creature to do; or how it ever did or ever can come to pass, that a creature should or could omit, or leave undone, what that creature ought to have done, or was fit and proper for that creature to do; or how it ever was, or can be possible for a creature to displease the Creator in Thought, Word, or Action."

This abstruse production exhibits, in a strong light, the wonderful powers of mind possessed by Dr. Thornton, which, triumphant over time, enabled him, at a period of life attained by few members of the human family, to wrestle with a subject which particularly demands a large portion of mental vigour. The practice of no profession affords a wider field for the exercises of the inquisitive mind in the developement of the human character, than that of physic. The medical practitioner habitually sees man as he is, divested of the factitious aids which attend his intercourse with society ;-depressed by disease, his mind assumes its natural tone, whether it be one of dignity or degradation. He recognizes the stern leader of armies in the plaintive and murmuring invalid, and the gifted politician in the testy and terrified valetudinarian. Beneath a sickly and enfeebled frame, he finds a soul inflexible in strength, and under the soft form of suffering woman, an energy of mind which would exalt the character of the hero. Hence Dr. Thornton, profiting by his professional advantages, as well as those commonly afford

ed by worldly intercourse, obtained an accurate and extensive knowledge of human nature.

On the great question which was decided in favour of our national independence, he was invariably steadfast, and at all times evinced his readiness to support with his property and life, the declaration to which he had publicly subscribed. His political character may be best estimated by the fact, that he enjoyed the confidence, and was the unshaken disciple, of Washington.

In relation to the religious sentiments and opinions of Dr. Thornton, it is not ascertained that he ranked himself among any of the established sects of christians. It is, however, certain, that no man was more deeply impressed with a belief in the existence and bounties of an over-ruling Providence, which he strongly manifested by a practical application of the best and wisest injunctions of the christian religion : a believer in the divine mission of our Saviour, he implicitly followed the great principles of his doctrine, so far as human frailty would permit. Exemplary for his regard to the public institutions of religion, and for his constancy in attending public worship, he trod the courts of the house of God with steps tottering with age and infirmity.

When he had passed the eightieth year of his age, he was attacked with the hooping-cough, which proved extremely distressing. But, notwithstanding the violence of the spasms, which nearly deprived his feeble frame of breath and pulsation, he continued his practice of visiting, and fully retained his natural pleasantry and humour. For many years previous to his death, a slight affection of the palsy had impaired his voice, which rendered it difficult for him, at certain seasons, to express himself intelligibly: but even this infirmity, in such a man as Dr. Thornton, served to enhance the veneration in which he was held. The solemn enunciation of his voice