conflict of which he was the victim, is stated to have been the desire of re-instating himself in the public opinion. A fondness for popularity is a feeling almost universal: in well regulated minds it leads to the practice of benevolence, and all the mild virtues, but in free governments it often becomes the means by which ambition forces its way to power. It is one of the most precious rewards of the patriot who has dedicated his time and abilities to the service of his country, and it is the channel through which the demagogue rises to power and consequence. All politicians are desirous of acquiring, and it is hoped there are but few who are not desirous of deserving, it; but the instances are very rare of men who have once basked in the sunshine of popularity, who have submitted to be dismissed to the obscurity of private life, without a struggle to regain the eminence from which they have been removed.

The complication of events which oppressed the feelings of Mr. Gwinnett, may be pleaded in extenuation of the deed which deprived his country of one of its earliest advocates. The disastrous failure of his military schemes, his sudden fall from the highest office of the state to the rank of a private citizen, the defeat of his political hopes, the success of his competitor, and the triumph of an avowed

enemy, may palliate an action which no sophistry can justify, and which it is our duty to condemn.

From the period at which Mr. Gwinnett engaged in agricultural pursuits, he devoted his leisure hours to political studies. The short interval of five years which preceded his death, did not permit him to attain a thorough education in the school of policy; but had his aspiring ambition been tempered with more prudence, he possessed talents which promised extensive usefulness.

He was about six feet in height, and his person was properly proportioned, lofty, and commanding. Without possessing remarkable eloquence, his language was mild and persuasive. His manners were polite and his deportment graceful. He was of an irritable temper and impatient of contradiction. He left a widow and several children, who did not long survive him.

Although the political career of Mr. Gwinnett was short, and its termination afflicting, his memory, stamped, as it is, upon the charter of our Independence, must be coeval with the duration of the American republic.

JOSIAH BARTLETT.

BARTLETT.

THE ancestors of the honourable Josiah Bartlett were of Norman origin, and settled in the south of England at the time of the Norman conquest. During the seventeenth century a branch of this family immigrated into America, and established itself at Beverly in Massachusetts. His great-grand-father, whose name was John, lived in that town and had several sons, one of whom, named Richard, removed to Newbury: he, had eight sons and two daughters. His fifth son, Stephen, married a lady named Webster, and settled in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The subject of the present memoir was his fourth son, who was born at Amesbury in November, 1729. The family of Stephen Bartlett consisted of five sons and one daughter, who were all distinguished for good sense, for their regular and moral deportment, and quick perception.