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superior education, and resolved, that, as far as he was able - to prevent it, the rising generation of his young countrymen. should not suffer the same privation. I had the honor, at that time, to be connected with the University at Cambridge. I conferred with him on this subject from the time when it first assumed distinct shape in his mind, to that of its full development. He saw the necessity of systematic training in the principles of science, in order to meet the growing demands of the country and the age. He saw that it was a period of intense action. He wished our agriculturists, our engineers, our chemists, our architects, our miners, our machinists, — in a word all classes engaged in handling the natural elements, to lay a solid foundation on the eternal basis of science. But his views were not limited to a narrow utilitarianism. He knew the priceless worth of pure truth. He wished that his endowment should contribute to promote its discovery by original researches into the mysteries of nature, and he especially rejoiced in being able to engage for his infant establishment the services of the great naturalist (Professor Agassiz) of the day. These were the objects of the scientific school, — this the manner in which he labored for their promotion. What nobler object for the appropriation of the fruit of his hardly earned affluence could be devised? For material prosperity and all the establishments by which it is augmented and secured may flee away; commerce may pass into new channels; populous cities in the lapse of ages may be destroyed; and strong governments be overturned in the convulsion of empires; but science and truth are as eternal as the heavens, and the memory of him who has contributed to their discovery or diffusion, shall abide till the heavens themselves have departed as a scroll.

In these and other ways, of which I have not time to speak, Mr. Lawrence rendered noble service to the community, but always as a private man. He wished to serve it in no other capacity. He resisted, as much as possible, all solicitations to enter public life. He served a little while in our municipal councils and our State legislature, but escaped from them as

soon as possible. He served two terms in Congress, with honor and good repute. He brought to that market articles with which it is not overstocked; sound reliable practical knowledge, and freedom from electioneering projects. He rendered the most important aid as one of the commissioners on behalf of Massachusetts in the negotiation of the NorthEastern Boundary question. He was offered a seat in General Taylor's Cabinet, which was promptly declined; and when the mission to London was placed at his disposal, he held it long under advisement. While he was deliberating whether to accept the place, he did me the honor to consult me, naturally supposing I could give him particular information as to the duties of the office, and remarking that it would depend in a considerable degree on my report, whether he accepted it. Among many other questions, he asked me "whether there was any real foundation in truth, for the ancient epigrammatic jest, that an ambassador is a person sent to a foreign government to tell lies for his own," * adding that, “if that was the case, his mind was made up; he had never yet told a lie, and was not going to begin at the age of fifty-six." I told him, "I could answer for myself as a foreign minister, that I had never said a word or written a line which, as far as my own character or that of my government was concerned, I should have been unwilling to see in the newspapers the next day;" and this explanation, he said, removed one of his scruples. I encouraged him, of course, to accept the mission; and his brilliant success is known to the country and to Europe; success equal to that of any of his predecessors, living

* This celebrated jest was written by Sir Henry Wotton, in the album of a German friend at Augsburg, Sir Henry being on his way to Venice in 1604, as ambassador in ordinary to that Republic. As expressed originally in Latin, it reads, “Legatus est vir bonus, peregrè missus ad mentiendum reipublicæ causa,” which Sir Henry Wotton (says his friend and biographer Walton), “could have been content should have been thus Englished, "an ambassador is an honest man, sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.”. But as the play on the words "lie abroad" wholly disappears in the Latin, the jest becomes very reprehensible, and at a later day drew upon its author, a person of great purity of character, -- much obloquy. - See Walton's Life of Sir H. Wotton, p. 149.

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or dead, however distinguished. His genial disposition, his affable manners, his princely hospitality, his appropriate speeches at public meetings and entertainments, — not studied harangues nor labored disquisitions, but brief, animated, cordial appeals to the good feelings of the audience, -the topics pertinent to the occasions, the tone cheerful and radiant with good temper, lively touches on the heartstrings of international sympathy, these were the manly and honest wiles with which he won the English heart. His own government, (first duty of a foreign minister,) was faithfully served. The government to which he was accredited was conciliated. The business confided to him, (and it is at all times immense,) was ably transacted. The convenience of a host of travelling countrymen promoted. The public in England gratified. What more could be done or desired? His success, as I have said, was fully equal to that of any of his predecessors; perhaps I ought to use a stronger term.

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He came home and returned to private life, the same man. He resumed his place in his happy home, in his countinghouse, in the circle of friends, wherever duty was to be performed or good done. To the sacred domain of private life I will not follow him, except to say a word on that trait of his character to which the gentlemen who have preceded me have so feelingly alluded, I mean his beneficence, a topic never to be omitted in speaking of Mr. Lawrence. And here I will say of him, what I heard President John Quincy Adams say of another merchant prince of Boston (Col. Perkins), in the hall of the House of Representatives, that “he had the fortune of a prince, and a heart as much larger than his fortune, as that was than a beggar's." I will say of him what was said of his lamented brother Amos, that "every day of his life was a blessing to somebody." Sir, he gave constantly, by wholesale and retail; and as I venture to affirm without certainly knowing the fact, every day of his life. His bounty sometimes descended in copious showers and sometimes distilled in gentle dews. He gave munificent sums publicly, where it was proper to do so, by way of setting an example to others; and far oftener his benefactions followed humble

want to her retreat, and solaced the misery known only to God and the earthly steward of his bounty. Vast sums were given by him while he lived, which evinced, but, if I mistake not, did not exhaust, his liberality. *

Such he was; so kind, so noble, so complete in all that makes a MAN, and the ultimate source of all this goodness, its vital principle, that which brought all his qualities into harmonious relation, was religious principle; the faith, the hope of the gospel. This is no theme for a place like this, — other lips and another occasion will do it justice, but this it was which gave full tone to his character, and which bore him through the last great trial. This it is which must console us under his irreparable loss, and administer comfort to those with whose sorrow the stranger intermeddleth not.

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To the Scientific School at Cambridge a second sum of

For Model Lodging-Houses [the income only to be expended,]
For the Boston Public Library,

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To the American Bible Society,

5,000

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Besides $70,600 in private bequests outside of his family.

OBITUARY NOTICE.*

OUR readers are doubtless prepared, by the melancholy announcements of some days past, for the news of the death of the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, which event took place at his residence in Park street, on Saturday forenoon, in the sixtythird year of his age, after a severe illness of eleven weeks. Although at different times since his confinement to his house, strong hopes have been entertained of his recovery, encouraged in no small degree by his entire self-possession and command of his mental faculties to the last, it has pleased an all-wise Providence that these hopes should be disappointed.

By this event, Boston has lost one of her most useful and honored citizens. No person was more thoroughly identified with the prosperity of the city, or had done more to promote it. By his untiring energy and sound judgment, aided by the universal confidence in his personal character which he commanded through life, and favored by an overruling good fortune, he rose from humble beginnings to the possession of great wealth, and to a position of high influence in the community and the country at large. The moderation with which he enjoyed and the liberality with which he dispensed his affluence raised him above envy; and the admirable qualitics of his well-balanced character made him an object of esteem and regard wherever he was known.

*The following obituary notice (written by Mr. Everett) of Mr. Lawrence, who died Saturday, 18th August, 1855, appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser of the following Monday.

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