Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1841-05-13
NUMBER III.

ny men, far his snperiors IN practical use.
fulness, lived unhonorcd and without intiu.
ence, and died unsung, because they had
not eloquence. Eloquenca is superior to
all other gifts, even TO the dazzling fasci-
nations OF the warrior for il rules alike
I in war and peace, and il wins all by its
spell. Randolph was the very personih-
cation Of inconsistency. Behold him talk
ing Of the splendid misery OF officehold-
ers; what did he want with office;
cup Of cold water was better in his cond-
ton, the sword OF Damoces was suspend.
ed over him by single hair" &C., &c.
when 10! he goes to the frigid north
for what For health 7 No, for an out.
lii and salary! and dies chldless, worth
il is said, nearly million!
Randolph's oraiory reminds US iorcibly
OF Don Juan; and if Byron had written
nothing but Don Juan, Randolph might
have been called The Byron Of orators.
He had all the wit, eccentricitv, malice,
and fiightiness Of that work--iis touches
that strike the heart, and sarcusms that
scorn, the next moment, the tear that had
started.
In dying state, Randolph went to
Washington duIng the last session Of Con-
gress, and although no. member, he had
himself borne daily to the hall OF legisla-
ton to witness the debate. He returned
home to his constituents and was elected
to Congress, and started on a tour to Eu-
rope, if possible to regain his heath he
said sit was the last throw Of the die.
He expired in Philadelphia, where he
had first appeared in the councils Of The
nation, in the sixty first year of his age,
leaving reputation behind him for clos
sic wit and splendid eloeuence which few
of his contemporaries may hope to equal
and a character which his biographer
may deem himself fortunate il be can ex.
PLAIN tito have been compatible with either
the duties of social lie, the sacrednesss Of
friendship, or the requirements Of patriot-
ism, unless he offer as an apology partial
arrangement. In the letter in which tho
deceased acknowledged that he had made
a msstaiement with regard 10 the charac-
ter of Mr.. Lowndes on the tariff, he as.
signed, as reason for the error, the dis
ordered state Of his mind, arising from tho
exciting medicines which he was compeli-
ed 10 take 10 sustain life.
have, perhaps, expressed myself harsh
ly--inconsistent with that cha table feel.
ing which all should possess who are
threading upon ashes under which the
fire is not yet exiinguished." Ii so 10 ex-
press our conscientious opinions is some-
times to DO wrong,
Why draw his frsiliies from their dread abode T.
For who can tell, in the close alliance
between reason and madness, which were
so strongly mixed up in his character,
how much his actions and words partook
OF the one or the other! Where they al
ternated, or where one predominaled, or
where they mingled their influence, not
in the embrace of love, but in the strife
for mastery, oh ! how much he may have
struggled with his mental alterations and
wanderings, and felt that they were er-
rors, and yet struggled in vain.
His spirit, like the great eye OF the Uni
verse, may have known that clouds aud
storms beset it, and have felt thai il was
contending ,cith disease, and the film of
coming death yet hoped to beam forth in
its brightness.
!" The day drags on, though storms keep out the
sun,
And thus tho heart will break, and brokeuly live
on"
And so is it with the mind, and Ran
dolph's 4" brokenly lived on till the ra.
ven shadows of the night Of death gather
ed over him to the dark beyond.