Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-01-26

and he did IL with Uch spirit aud originality as
to throw a charm around subjects which in com
mon hands trivial and unnviting. Nor were
the stores of our sterling literature less at his
command. He had such an acquaintance with
! the great writers of our language. especially the
historians and poets. AS enabled him to enrich
! conversation with the most appropos illusions and
| illustrations. When the occasion aud eharac-
| ter Of the company invited it, his conversation
! turned on higher themes, and sometimes rose TO
the moral and sublime. lie not fond of the tee
meal language OF metaphy sics, but he had Crap
! pied like the giant he was. with its most formi-
| dable problems. DIR. johnson was wont To say
| 10 Burke that a stranger who should chance to
| meet him under shed in shower of rain,would
say, This was extraordinary man," stran-
ger, who did not know Mr.. Webster, might have
| passed day with him ia his seasons Of relaxa'
ton without detecting the jurst or the staernan,
| but he could not have passed half an hour with
| him without coming 10 the conclusion that he
was one of the best informed OF men. Ills per-
sonal appearance contributed to the attraction
of his social Intercourse, His countenance, Frame
expression and presence arrested and fixed al
tention. You could not pass him unnotced in a
crowd. fail to see him n man of high mark
and character No one could him and not
wish TO see more of him, and this alike in public
and private Notwithstanding his noble statue
aud athletic development in after life it was in
childhood frail and teuder. In an Autobiography
ical sketch taken down from the diotation he
says: Il was u weak ailing child and suffered
from almost every disease that flesh is heir to-
j" was not able TO work on the farm" This 1t
was which determined his father, though in
Strengthened circumstances, to make the Ell 'rt
to send Daniel to college because some said,
''he was not fit for anything else His brother
Joe. 1.-THE wit of the family" remarked that sit
was necessary to send Dan to school to make
him eoun to the rest of the boys"
IetI ma NOT IN without sneak
ing of still more ondearng aspect of Mr.. Web
rters character | mean the warmth and strength
cf his kindly natural affections. The great sym
pathies of true, generous spirit were as strong
1y developed in him the muscular powers of
his FRAME the capacity of his mighty intel
eot. In all the gentle humanites of life he had
the tenderness OF woman. He honored his
parents. he loved brother and sister and wife and
and child he cherished friend aud nei ghbor, the
companions of boyhood, townsman, aged school
master humble dependent. faithful servant, and
cultivated all the other kindly instincts, if others
there be, with the same steadiness. warmth aud
energy of soul with which he pursued the great
secular objects of life. Mere social compacen-
cy may have n selfish hasis, but Mr.. Wobster,s
heart was full of pure disinterested love. Relg
ious conviction is an act of the understanding,
but he bowed to the intimate with the submissive
ness of IA child.
With what tenderness he contemplated tho
place of his birth, how fondly he poipted to the
site of the humble cottage where he first drew
the breath of life; how he valued the paternal
| trees that shaded t;how his heart melted through
| life at the thought of the sacrifices made by his
! aged parent-the hard working veteran OF two
wars--to procure him an educntion;how he him
self toiled 10 secure that advantage to his older
brother; how he cherished the fond sympathies
of husband and futher; how he sorrowed over
the departed: how he planted his grief, if | may
say so. in the soil of MarshfielJ. in designating
tho trees by the names of his beloved son and
daughter; how beautiful the dedications in which
he has cons gned his friendships aud his loves
to Immortality; how sublime and touching the
| pnthos of his last fnrewells; how santlike the
medltations of his departing -prit-how can
| attempt to do justice TO topics like these, whose
sacredness shrinks from the most distant ap
| proach to public discussionl These the
| pure fountains from which he drew not merely
the beauty but the strength of his character, ev
cry faculty of his mind and every purpose of his
WILL deriving new strength and fervor from the
warmth OF his heart. But may ask were
there no shodows upon this bright picture, no
spots Upon the disc of this meridian SUM Was
he at length
That fautess monster which the world ne saw,
or did he parfake the infirmliies of our commoa
humanity! Did this great intellectual emotion
nj, and physical organization, amidst the strong
action aud reaction of its vast energies its in
tense consciousness otpower, its soaring aspi-
rati"ns, ITS hard struggles with fortune in early
lite, its vehement antagonlsms Of later period,
the celebrations of triumph, the lassitude of ex
ertion-did il never under the urgent pressure
ct the interests. the passions, the exigences of
the hour, diverge in the slightest degree from
the golden mein, in which clustered philosophy
places abs' lutte moral perfection! 70 this ques-
ton, which no one has right to pat but an an
gel-whose serene vision no mote dtSVempcrS-
To which no one will expect negative answer
but Pharisee;with beam in his eye big enough
for the crosstree of synag ,guo-1 make no
response. con6ne myselfto two reflections
first, that while contemporary merit is tor the
most part drudgiHely estimated. the fault, Of
very great men, placed they epon om-
nence where nothing can be concealed, and OBJ
lees OF the most scrutinizng hostility, personal
and political, and like the spots the sun to
which have compared them, seen for the most
pnrt through telescopes, that magnify a hundred
Thousand times and second. that not seldom.
IN reference to questions that strong excite the
public mind, the imputed error, is on the side of
the observer.
J We learn from the Earl of Ross. that the most
difficult problem in practical science is to
struci lens which will not distort the body it
reflects. The slightest aherration from the true
curve of the specular mirror is enough to uuench
the fires of Sirius and break the club of Hercules
The motives aud conduct the principles and the
characters Of men are not less likely to be mis-
taken than the lines and angles Of material bod
les. The Observation-Disclosures of individuals and par
ties will sometimes couiound defect il the glass
: with bemIsh in the object A fly, hatchedfrom
n maggot, in our own brain creeps into the tube
and stfaghtway we proclaim that there is mon
ster in the heavens, which threatens to devour
the sun. Such, my friends. most inateguatey
sketched IN some of his private and personal re-
laiions, was Mr.. Webster; not the urist not the
senator not the statesman not the orator, but the