parts of its delicate body are of resplendent changing green;
and it throws itself through the air with a swiftness and vivacity
hardly conceivable. It moves from one flower to another like a gleam
of light, upwards, downwards, to the right, and to the left.

THOMAS HART BENTON.

~1782=1858.~

THOMAS HART BENTON was born in Hillsboro, North Carolina, and was
partly educated at the State University. He left before graduation,
however, and removed with his widowed mother to Tennessee, where
twenty-five miles south of Nashville they made a home, around which a
settlement called Bentontown gradually grew up.

He studied law with St. George Tucker, began to practice in Nashville,
and was elected to the State Legislature in 1811. In 1815 he removed
to St. Louis, and was elected United States Senator in 1820 on the
admission of Missouri to the Union. He worked heartily and
successfully in the interests of settlers in the West. His title "Old
Bullion" was derived from his famous speeches on the currency, during
Jackson's administration, and they gained him a European reputation.

He and Calhoun were opposed to each other on almost every question,
and they carried on a ferocious warfare in the Senate. He was a
Senator for thirty years, 1820-50, and his great work gives an account
of men and measures during that very exciting and intensely
interesting period, in which he was himself one of the most prominent
actors.

A fine statue was erected to him in the park at St. Louis.

WORKS.

Thirty Years' View of the Workings of Our Government.
Abridgment of the Debates of Congress.
Examination of the Dred Scott Case.

Benton's style as an orator was easy, full, and strong, showing him
well acquainted with his subject and confident of his powers.

The "Thirty Years' View" is noted for its excellent arrangement and
for a style easy and fluent yet not diffuse. "It is a succession of
historical tableaux," of which the following extract presents one of
the most famous.

THE DUEL BETWEEN RANDOLPH AND CLAY.

(_From Thirty Years' View._[7])

Saturday, the 8th of April (1826)--the day for the duel--had come, and
almost the hour. It was noon, and the meeting was to take place at 4-1/2
o'clock. I had gone to see Mr. Randolph before the hour, and for a
purpose; and, besides, it was so far on the way, as he lived half-way to
Georgetown, and we had to pass through that place to cross the Potomac
into Virgini