The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-06-25

| scarcely ever Deen dlSpuIeu. hapnael
constitution was sensitive and delicate
As is often the case with genius, hi
physical frame was weak. But instead
of being warned by this circumstance tt
moderate those iudulgences which hi
depraved morality did not constrain hin
entirely to relinquish, he was often guilt,
of great excessos. The impctuosity o
his passions was not proportioned to hi
physical strength and it was after sucl
season of imprudent excess, that HI
was attacked with violent fever. H
concealed the true cause of his diseast
from his physician, who, attributing i
to source other than the real one, re
sorted to bleeding for the purpose o
depletion. Raphael at once sank under
this double exhaustion. He prepared
himself to die; received the last sacra
ments of the church; provided literally
for the support of the partner of hi:
pleasures, as we'll as for other charita
BILE objects, and expired calmly at tho
early age of thirty seven. His body
was laid out in state, in the same hal
which contained the great painting oi
the TRANSPORTATION, which had just been
completed. 1t was ft association to
place in such close and instructive con-
nection SO strong 4 proof of the mortal
ity and of the Immortality of man; OF
the transient nature of his body, and Of
the undying glory which attends the
products of his intellectual part. The
lesson in this instance must have been
unusually forcible for Raphacl's earth
ly existence was as short and frail as his
intellectual being is glorious and imper-
ishable. We may we'll Imagine the
mingled emotions of awe and regret
which that creation. of art would pro-
dnce on the mird of every beholder
No more striking scene, has perhaps oc-
CURED within the memory of man, than
that splendid trophy suspended by the
side of the inauimate remains Of its i'm
mortal creator. 1t suggests to the mind
the sublime truth, that man has kindred
ship alike with earth and With heaven
that lie is composed CT two most oppo-
site and incoDgruoUs elements - the
crumblipg dust aud the God-like and
tiica Il IS spirit winch anilhates 1t.
Raphaei's flneral train was composed
of the most eminent citizens of Rome,
headed by Leo Y, together with an in
teLse multitude of Lis friends and ad-
mirers. That voluptuous Pope, unused
to mediate upon scenes of death ard
gloom, vas compelled, in this instance, to
draw near and shed tears of regret over
the remains of his favorite; and the sew
en-hillcd city herself gave signs of uni
versal sorrow, which were seldom exhib
tied even for the greatest of her expir-
ing pontifTs. He was buried beneath
his own shrine in the Pantheon, tenn
pie once devoted to the worship of all
the gods; and there he was deposited,
amid the mausoleums of other heroes, of
whom he himself would not be the least.
Cardinal Rembo, the most distinguished
writer of the Papal court, was commits
stoned by Leo to inscribe a classic eri-
taph upon his tomb. And over that
tomb, for many long years, The artist
aud the prelate, the pontif and the po-
ct, the illustrious and the beautiful, bent
alike in ardent admiration and fond re-
gret. But around him, in the splendid
hall and temples of the Eternal City,
,hone forth upon applauding generations
the enduring monuments of his genius
and his fame whilst at the same time,
hey proclaimed with equal eloquence
and power another lesson; that the vio-
ence of ungoverned passion will eztin-
5uish the brightest light of genius, and
Zig an early grave for its gifted but
reckless possessor.