must necessarily, of itself, subject to doubt any narrative
not fortified by the most conclusive evidence. Unfortunately
for the reverend historian, his known eccentricities as a
writer, and fondness for hyperbole, must always deprive his
books--though remarkably useful and interesting to the
young--of any authority which might be claimed for them as
histories. As fictions from history, lively and romantic,
they are certainly very astonishing performances; have
amused and benefited thousands, and entitle the writer to a
rank, in a peculiar walk of letters, which has not yet been
assigned him.--

Francis Marion was one of these survivors. The puny boy lived through
the terrors and sufferings under which the strong men perished. So
intense were their sufferings, so terrible the trial, that it will not
greatly task the imagination to recognize in the preservation of the
youth,--looking to his future usefulness--the agency of a special
providence. The boy was preserved for other times and fortunes; and,
in returning to his mother, was perhaps better prepared to heed her
entreaties that he should abandon all idea of an element, from which
his escape had been so hazardous and narrow. It was well for himself
and country that he did so. It can scarcely be conjectured that his
achievements on the sea would have been half so fortunate, or half so
honorable to himself and country, as those which are now coupled with
his name.

Returning to his home and parents, young Marion sunk once more into the
humble condition of the farmer. His health and strength had continued to
improve. His adventures by sea had served, seemingly, to complete that
change for the better, in his physical man, which had been so happily
begun on land; and, subduing his roving inclinations, we hear of him
only, in a period of ten years, as a tiller of the earth. In this
vocation he betrayed that diligent attention to his duties, that patient
hardihood, and calm, equable temper, which distinguished his deportment
in every part of his career. He is represented as equally industrious
and successful as a farmer. The resources of his family seem to have
been very moderate. There were several children, and before Francis
was yet twenty-five years of age, he lost his father. In 1758 he was
planting with his mother and brother Gabriel, near Friersons Lock on the
Santee Canal. In 1759 they separated. Gabriel removed t