in Lancashire and Cheshire.

[Illustration: 814.jpg THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.]

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

The decease of the most remarkable man in Europe, perhaps in the world,
the great Duke of Wellington, filled the country with grief, commanded
the sympathy of all nations friendly to Great Britain, and the attention
of civilized men in every portion of the world. In England, it was the
most important event of the year's history. No man exercised the same
influence over her fortunes. His name was a tower of strength before her
enemies, and his wisdom the chief and _dernier ressort_ in her councils.
He was the most confidential private counsellor of the queen, who
regarded him with the veneration and affection due to the friend of her
childhood, when she was neglected by the corrupt court of one uncle, and
the apathetic court of another, the sovereigns of the empire over which
she also was destined to reign. The removal of the great Duke was an
irreparable loss to her majesty and to the country she so wisely ruled;
and in no branch of the public service was this loss felt more than in
the army, which he had raised to un unprecedented pitch of efficiency
and glory. A brief notice of the life of this extraordinary man is
desirable, that the reader may more clearly see the important influence
his death necessarily had upon the position and policy of the United
Kingdom. Concerning the origin and career of this glorious man, J. H.
Stocqueler has made the following striking remarks:--

"Nobly born, carefully educated, and connected with people enjoying
considerable political influence, he was subjected to no early
wrestlings with fate. He was launched upon the stream of life under the
most favourable auspices, tasting neither the bitterness of poverty nor
the humiliation of obscurity. His public life, from first to last, was
one uninterrupted chain of glory, each link more brilliant than its
predecessor, and, unlike other great adventurers, whose course from
insignificance to splendour was broken, through a series of mischances
or their own unsteadiness of character, his progress knew no culminating
point--his fame no tarnish, his fortunes no reverse.

"But the even tenor of his career is no disparagement of the vast merit
of the Duke of Wellington. If his antecedents were less humble than the
public beginnings of other men, let it be remembered that he reached a
higher eminence than any personage of whom th