tates are brought into a union so admirably
composed and balanced,--both complicated and kept distinct with
such skill,--as to seem less a work of human prudence than of
Providential interposition. Mr. Webster has at all times been
fully aware of the evils of anarchy, discord, and civil war at
home, and of utter national insignificance abroad, from which
the formation of the Union saved us. He has been not less
sensible to the obstacles to be overcome, the perils to be
encountered, and the sufferings to be borne, before this
wonderful framework of government could be established. And he
has been persuaded that, if destroyed, it can never be
reconstructed. With these views, his life has been consecrated
to the maintenance in all their strength of the principles on
which the Constitution rests, and to the support of the system
created by it.

"The key to his whole political course is the belief that, when
the Union is dissolved, the internal peace, the vigorous
growth, and the prosperity of the states, and the welfare of
their inhabitants, are blighted for ever, and that, while the
Union endures, all else of trial and calamity which can befall
a nation may be remedied or borne. So believing, he has pursued
a course which has earned for him an honored name among those
who have discharged the duty of good citizens with the most
distinguished ability, zeal, and benefit to the country. In the
relations of civilized life, there is no higher service which
man can render to man, than thus to preserve a wise
constitution of government in healthful action. Nor does the
most eloquent of the statesmen of antiquity content himself
with pronouncing this the highest human merit. In that
admirable treatise on the Republic, of which some precious
chapters have been restored to us after having been lost for
ages, he does not hesitate to affirm, that there is nothing in
which human virtue approaches nearer the divine, than in
establishing and preserving states."

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

Miss Mitford, in her pleasant _Reminiscences of a Literary Life_, gives
the following sketch of this charming poetess:

"My first acquaintance with Elizabeth Barrett commenced about
fifteen years ago. She was certainly one of the most
interesting persons that I