engagements thus fortified by resolve stimulated by love of the profession cheered by loud of friends by domestic solicitude and filled with the and courage of the national character they more resemble the chivalry which a few centuries ago assembled around de or de in their upon the fields of italy than they do any army of modem times the skill concert impetuous and labour of their will be the theme of from military critics in centuries to come whilst the brilliancy of their over such numbers and the rapidity of their conquest of the of will be regarded as the of the age in which they were achieved the of the regular army on the canada frontier in the war of will suffer nothing in the comparison with those of the latter period the won by the youthful general at and s lane will retain a as fresh as those which the same chief has plucked in his elder day upon the plains of s professional engagements had now so multiplied upon his hands as nearly to all his time and the reputation following his success seems to have so fur gratified his ambition as in a great degree to his literary projects or at least to them to few and efforts the old bachelor the greater part of which had been completed in the year through all the following year and after a slight endeavour towards a revival was finally disposed of in the life of henry too was vol i � v life of henry found to be an enterprise of less promise than at first it seemed we shall have occasion hereafter to notice the of this task and how weary the author became of it in a letter from mr to him upon this subject the farmer expresses a difficulty in regard to the collection and the publication of facts respecting henry which had already felt in answer to this letter remarks i despair of the subject it has been continually sinking under me the truth perhaps cannot be published by me during my life i propose at present to prepare it and leave the manuscript with my family i still think it a useful subject and one which may be wrought not only into lessons on eloquence but on the superiority of solid and practical parts over the transient and gaudy show of occasion i wish only it had been convenient to you to enable me to illustrate and adorn my theme by a short portrait of mr henry s most prominent i may notice here as some reference to the event will be made in the course of this narrative that had in the last week of the year � the day after christmas � been visited by a calamity of overwhelming horror in the burning of the theatre during a performance which had attracted to the house an unusual crowd of the most cherished members of the society of the city between sixty and a hundred persons were burnt up in the amongst these were the governor of the state george w smith mr the president of the bank of virginia mr the gentleman whom we have seen engaged as one of the counsel of the wife of this gentleman and his niece with many other ladies most to the community of � young and aged � were also in this awful catastrophe was in mourning with scarce a family in it that had not suffered some so melancholy a disaster we may suppose would leave its traces upon the character of the city for many years it was long before resumed that cheerful and careless tone of social enjoyment for which it was previously distinguished � i find a manuscript reference to this sad event amongst the papers of mr in which he has detailed some of the particulars attending the xx appointed the letters some interesting particulars of personal history making occasional to the incidents of the war and presenting some few evidences of the literary aspirations rather than labours of the writer they furnish besides agreeable pictures of the contentment and cheerfulness which attend a prosperous life the of judge to the bench by the governor and council required the of the in this proceeding in the of an opposition was got up against the judge sufficiently strong to defeat him during the year in which he had served on the bench it was universally admitted that entire was given to the public � that in fact the office was administered with distinguished ability the opposition is said to have arisen out of objections of a purely local character which touched what was supposed to be the claims of other persons it is said that acknowledging the judge s merits and with a special purpose to retain him in the the created new district of which was the seat of justice and bestowed the appointment to it upon him this appointment he promptly accepted it compelled him to change his residence from to the change seems to have gone hard with him for some time to one of his genial temper and love of domestic associations such a breaking up of settled habits and separation from familiar faces was rather a severe tax upon his affections this will explain the occasion of the next letter death of the governor i extract a few passages � the fatal night of his death says this record he had taken his wife and one of his sons about nine or ten years old to the play at the cry of fire he led mrs smith into the box and that he had left his little son behind in the box he told her to remain there until he stepped back for tho boy it was her wish to do so but the pressure of the crowd bore her away when the governor returned his wife was not to be seen he hastened 