a life that has done well its work. If we rejoice at the advent of a new life, if we welcome the coming of a new pilgrim to the uncertainties of this world's way, why should there be so much gloom when all these uncertainties are passed, and life at its waning wears the glory of a complete task? Beautiful as is childhood in its freshness and innocence, its beauty is that of untried life. It is the beauty of promise, of Spring, of the bud. A holier and rarer beauty is the beauty which the waning life of faith and duty wears. It is the beauty of a thing completed; and as men come together to congratulate each other when some great work has been achieved, and see in its concluding nothing but gladness, so ought we to feel when the setting sun flings back its beams upon a life that has answered well life's purpose. When the bud drops blighted, and the mildew blasts the early grain, and there goes all hope of the harvest, one may well be sad; but when the ripened year sings amid its garniture of Autumn flowers and leaves, why should we regret our murmur? And so a life that is ready and waiting for the "well done" of God, whose latest virtues and charities are its noblest, should be given back to God in uncomplaining reverence, we rejoicing that earth is capable of so much goodness, and is permitted such virtue." A PORTRAIT OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. We extract the following description of Washington from a "Book of Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782 by the Marquis De Chastellux, one of the forty members of the French Academy, and Major General of the French Army, serving under the Count de Rochambeau." The book was published in Dublin in 1787. The reader cannot but feel the force of the remark made in a note, by the translater of the Marquis' Book. He says, "It is impossible not to admire the accuracy of this description, or read it without the strongest emotion. Posterity, future historians, will be grateful to the Marquis de Chastellux for this exquisite portrait, every feature, and every tint of which will stand the test of the severest scrutiny, and be handed down to distant ages in neverfading colors." As the book, containing this portrait, is rare in this country, and the piece perhaps never published here, we are the more anxious to furnish it to our readers.-ED. GUARDIAN. Here would be the proper place to give the portrait of General Washington but what can my testimony add to the ideal already formed of him? The Continent of North America, from Boston to Charleston, is a great volume, every page of which presents his eulogium. I know, that having had the opportunity of a near in spection, and of closely observing him, some particular details may be expected of me; but the strongest characteristic of this respectable man, is the perfect union which reigus between the physical and moral qualities, which compose the individual. One alone will enable you to judge of all the rest. If you are presented with medals of Cæsar, of Trajan, or Alexander, on examining their features, you will still be led to ask, what was their stature, and the form of their persons; but if you discover, in a heap of ruins, the head or limb of an antique Apollo, be not curious about the other parts, but rest assured that they all were conformable to those of a god. Let not this comparison be attributed to enthusiasm! It is not my intention to exaggerate. I wish only to express the impression General Washington has left on my mind; the idea of a perfect whole, that cannot be the product of enthusiam, which rather would reject it, since the effect of proportion is to diminish the idea of greatness Brave without temerity, laborious without ambition, generous without prodigality, noble without pride, virtuous without severity; he seems always to have confined himself within those limits, where the virtues, by clothing themselves in more lively, but changeable and doubtful colors, may be mistaken for faults. This is the seventh year that he has commanded the army, and that he has obeyed Congress; more need not be said, especially in America, where they know how to appreciate all the merit contained in this simple fact. Let it be repeated that Conde was intrepid, Turrenne prudent, Eugene adroit, Catinat disinterested. It is not thus that Washington will be characterized. It will be said of him, at the end of a long civil war, he had nothing with which he could reproach himself! If any thing can be more marvellous than such a character, it is the unanimity of the public suffrages in his favor. Soldier, magistrate, people, all love and admire him; all speak of him in terms of tenderness and veneration. Does there thon exist a virtue capable of restraining the injustice of mankind; or are glory and happiness too recently established in America, for envy to have deigned to pass the seas? In speaking of this perfect whole, of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty; he is well made, and exactly proportioned, his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so that in quitting him, you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar air; his brow is sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring respect, he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence. But above all, it is in the midst of his general officers that it is interesting to behold him. General in a Republic, he has not the imposing stateliness of a Marchal de France, who gives the order; a hero in a Republic, he excites another kind of respect, which seems to spring from the sole idea, that the safety of each individual is attached to his person. "NUN LASSET UNS DEN LEIB BEGRABEN." A funeral Hymn by Michael Weiss, a minister of the Bohemian Brethren, Born 1630. This Hymn is much sung in America, by all denominations on funeral occasions. TRANSLATED BY THE EDITOR. We lay this body in the grave, With faith in Him who came to save ; When men to judgment wake from clay. Dust, dust it is-from dust its birth- But it shall leave its dusty bed, When God's loud trump shall call the dead. The soul, by His salvation blest, Is safely with its God at rest; From sin and death has made it free. All sorrow, suff'ring, pain and wo, His soul is freed from every grief; Whilst here he lived in anxious care, We leave him to his slumbers here- O Christ, who all our comfort art, SCHILLER'S REMAINS. SCHILLER died in 1805, poor. Being dependent on his pen for support, his own illness and that of his wife not only deprived him of his regular income, but also used up what little he had laid by. At the time of his death, too, his friends, who might have secured him the attention worthy his fame, were either absent from the city or so ill as to be unable to take any action. Besides the family and sister-in-law of the poet, Henrich Voss was the only friend who was present at the death bed. When all was over he went to the joiners, and, knowing the need of economy, ordered a plain deal coffin-price ten shillings sterling. Arrangements were made for a funeral involving the least possible cost. It was to take place at midnight, with no display, no religious rite, and no procession, and to be conducted, according to the custom of the place, by the guild of tailors, who shared, in regular rotation with the other guilds, the duty of attending funerals. But Schiller had a neighbor, Carl Leberecht Schwabe, in the adjoining house, who admired his genius and had cultivated his personal acquaintance. Schwabe was absent at the time of the death of his friend, but returned a few hours before the time appointed for the funeral. He was greatly astounded when he heard the arrangements that had been made; they seemed to him mean and disgraceful to the city. He bestirred himself to alter them for the better, but it was late, and he was only able to secure a decent attendance of bearers and friends. At midnight the humble procession took up its march, and bore the body of the poet to the churchyard of St. James, where it was deposited in the Kassengewölbe. This was a public vault belonging to the provine of Weimar, in which it was usual to inter, on payment of the fee of a louis d'or, persons of the higher classes. It stood near the wall of the churchyard; the interior inclosed a space of about fourteen feet clear each way. It was provided with a trap-door which gave access to the hollow space beneath. Here coffins were deposited, from time to time, no particular order being observed, till the vault became full, when a "clearing out" would be ordered, to make room for other coffins. On such occasions it was the custom to dig a hole in the corner of the church-yard, and to bring up en masse the entire contents of the Kassengewölbe, and shovel the whole heap into the pit. Such was the first interment of Schiller's remains. They lay in this place undisturbed and unsought for for twentyone years, during which time Schwabe had risen to be Bürgermeister. In March, 1826, the authorities ordered a "clearing out" of the Kassengewölbe. Mayor Schwabe heard this order, the result of which would be to consign the dust of Schiller to perpetual oblivion, with dismay. Prompt as on the former occasion he immediately took measures to rescue that precious dust from such an outrage. Armed with a permit from competent authority, Schwabe, with a few chosen friends, undertook to search the vault for Schiller's bones. There were no means of identification. No plate or inscription had been placed on the coffin; nor could it be found by the order in which the coffins lay, because they had been frequently moved at subsequent burials. It was thought the coffin might be identified by its pecular size and proportions, but when the attempt was made to move or lift any, they fell immediately to pieces. A second effort was made with an equally unsuccessful result, and the project was about to be abandoned in despair. Now Schwabe bethought himself that he would be able to recognize the skull if he could find it. So, secretly-for the people had begun to be very indignant at the irregular proceedings which had been going on-with sworn and trusty assistants, he descended again into the Kassengewölbe. The labor of three nights was rewarded by the exhumation of twentythree skulls, which Schwabe found, by comparison of the records, corresponded with the number of bodies deposited there since the last "clearing out." The mayor put the skulls into a sack, and carried them to his house, where he took them out and placed them in rows on a table. 6 "It was hardly done ere he exclaimed: That must be Schiller's!' There was one skull that differed enormously from all the rest both in size and shape. It was remarkable, too, in another way: alone of all those on the table it retained an entire set of the finest teeth, and Schiller's teeth had been noted for their beauty. But there were other means of identification at hand. Schwabe possessed the case of Schiller's head, taken after death, by Klauer, and with this he undertook careful comparison and measurement. The two seemed to him to correspond; and of the twenty-two others, not one would bear juxtaposition with the cast. Unfortunately the lower jaw was wanting, to obtain which a fourth nocturnal expedition had to be undertaken. The skull was carried back to the Gewölbe, and many jaws were tried ere one was found which fitted, and for beauty of teeth corresponded with the upper jaw. When brought home, on the other hand, it refused to fit any other cranium. One tooth alone was wanting, and this tooth, an old servant of Schiller's afterwards declared, had been extracted at Jena in his presence." Medical authorities and friends of Schiller-among them Goethe -were invited in to examine the skulls, all of whom confirmed Schwabe's decision. It was Schwabe's plan to deposit the skull, which was all of Schiller's remains that he now hoped to find, in a chosen spot of the new cemetery of Weimar, and to mark the spot by a simple monument. "But the Grand Duke and Goethe decided otherwise. Dannecker's colossal bust of Schiller had recently been acquired for the Grand Ducal library, where it had been placed on a lofty pedestal |