upon idiocy now, does not appear. Probably it was the case. But he fell ill under the weight of these severities, and, as some writers have it, died on the eighth of June, 1795.

There is another account of the matter. What reliance can be placed upon it, remains to be seen. After the boy fell ill, two physicians, M. Dumangin and Surgeon M. Pelleteau, were appointed to take care of him. They were secret loyalists, or inclined that way. A plan was projected for his escape, and carried into execution. They reported him worse, and finally dead. The officers were bribed, and the guards intoxicated. A dead body was introduced from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and the living boy immediately passed beyond the power of bolts and bars.

In the year 1799, Nathaniel Ely, a gentleman of Longmeadow, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, requested two persons, then on a tour in Canada, to visit the Caughnawaga Indians, at their village on the right bank of the St. Lawrence, a few miles south of Montreal, and procure two of the descendants of John Williams, a clergyman of Deerfield, Massachusetts, who had been taken prisoner in the irruption and destruction of that town by the savages in the year 1704, and with his family, carried into captivity. One of his daughters, Eunice, an infant of seven years, had been adopted by the Indians, and afterwards married an Indian chief. It was the object of Ely to obtain two boys from this descent; and, as he supposed, did so, in order that he might give them a Christian education, and fit them to act as missionaries for the conversion of the Indians. He was prompted to this work of benevolence from a religious turn of mind.

Accompanied by their father, the boys, Eleazer and John Williams, accordingly came to Longmeadow soon after, and were taken into his family. It is proper to observe here, that among the North American Indians generally, as in this case, the names of families are continued in the female line, and do not change, as among us, to the male on marriage. So, in this instance, the daughter of John Williams, though married to an Indian, continued to retain her own name, as well as her descendants. "I well recollect the time they came to Longmeadow," states a gentleman of Rochester, New-York, in 1849, "though I think I did not see either of them until about the year 1810, when I first saw Eleazer, and have always been well-acquainted with him ever since. John I do not recollect ever to have seen; but it was reported that he was much more of an Indian than Eleazer."

The boy Eleazer was sent to the academy connected with Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and sustained a good reputation for scholarship and Christian character. He continued his studies, and was educated a clergyman. But war breaking out between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, and strongly appealed to, by the national and state governments, he took up arms. The crisis was momentous and trying; and he was urged to make vigorous exertion, since-" Much will depend upon your zeal and activity, as an Indian chief in that section of the country, which is the principal theatre of the war." For the defence of American rights, and the honor of its flag, he shed his own blood at the siege of Plattsburg in 1814. Peace concluded, he returned to his former avocation, and was settled as pastor over the Oneida Indians, in Oneida County, New-York. About this time he formed an acquaintace with

Bishop Hobart, of New-York, and possessed the affection and confidence of that eminent prelate to the day of his death. In the year 1821, he removed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where, for five years, he acted as chaplain to the garrison. He was followed by his former Indian congregation, among whom he now officiates occasionally.

A French gentleman, M. Bélanger, recently died at New-Orleans, Louisiana, who declared on his death bed, that in the year 1795 he brought from Paris the Dauphin, the son of Louis the sixteenth, by way of Holland and England, to the United States, and committed him to the care of an Iroquois chief, named Thomas Williams, from Canada. Eleazer himself states, and he is a man whose veracity was never questioned, that he supposed when he went to Longmeadow he was thirteen years of age; but it may be, he was fifteen. He was informed by his reputed parents, that for four years, from 1795 to 1799, he was deranged. He never had distinct recollection of any events of his life, until about six months before going to Longmeadow. Ever since that time, faint outlines, as of dreams, of buildings of great splendor, military array, men in martial dress, and similar images, have been ascociated with his first and earliest recollections; one object, however, was and has always been vividly before his mind-a monster who was continually menacing and abusing him, and of whom he was always in great fear. Could that have been his jailor, Simon?

In December, 1799, when his reputed parents were debating the question of complying with the request of Nathaniel Ely, he was lying in bed in the same room, and, as they supposed, asleep. His mother objected to letting the children go to be educated among heretics, and lose their souls. This was overruled by the father. The mother rejoined. "If you will do it, you may send away this strange boy. Means have been put in your hands for his education; but John I cannot part with." Other expressions were used, which indicated her willingness to sacrifice him. This raised many queries in his mind, then and afterwards, in regard to his connection with the family; but they were soon forgotten.

In the month of October, 1795, Jacob Vanderheyden, a well-known Indian trader of Albany, New-York, encamped at Caldwell's, on Lake George, and remained there many days waiting for the Indians to come in from the north, to purchase their furs, and supply them with goods, previous to their winter hunts. While there, a French gentleman came among them, having a French boy with him, about ten years old. He was in the Indian camp for some time, and departed, leaving the boy with the Iroquois chief, afterwards the reputed father of Eleazer. The boy came with the chief to the camp of Vanderheyden, and was evidently deranged; he spoke the French and German languages, and was remarkably well dressed; afterwards, he was taken by the chief to his winter hunt, as one of the family, and continued with him until the year 1800.

In the year 1818 Eleazer was at St. Regis, and, furnished with introductory letters from the priest of that mission to the Reverend Dr. Richards, of the Seminary at Montreal, called upon him, by request, and was well received. He was informed by this gentleman, that Abbe Calonne, for many years chaplain to the Convent at Three Rivers, Lower Canada, a priest who had escaped from the fusillades of the French revolution, and who was the brother of the state minister under Louis

Sixteenth, had declared, that Eleazer was a French boy, from one of the best families of France. When questioned more particularly relative to the matter, he never could be prevailed upon to go into explanation.

In the last interview with his reputed father, now dead, Eleazer inquired of him about the visit of a certain French gentleman at Lake George many years before; but he kindly declined entering into any conversation about it. Soon after, he inquired of him his age. He replied rather sharply, "Why do you ask me? go to the priest; he keeps the records." He went to the priest, at Caughnawaga, was shown the records, and found there the date of the birth of each of his father's children, eleven of them, at regular intervals, with little exception, of from two to two-and-a-half years, but no record of his birth, or the time he was adopted. These baptismal records have been since examined, and with the same result.

He is now apparently from sixty-three to sixty-five years of age; about five feet nine inches in height, and inclined to embonpoint. His complexion is rather dark, but not as much so as very many Americans, and especially Europeans from the Continent. His eyes are dark, but not black. His hair may be called black, is rich and glossy, and interspersed with grey. His eyebrows are full, and of the same color; upon the left is a scar. His beard is heavy, and nose aquiline. The nostril is large, and finely cut. His mouth is well formed, and indicative of mingled firmness and benignity of character. Most however remarkable, is the full protuberant Maximilian lip, the distinctive feature of the Austrian family. This, the experienced observer is well aware, is never found in the aboriginal, and very rarely among the Americans themselves. His head is well formed, and sits proudly upon his shoulders.

He is naturally intelligent, and possessed of a clear mind and correct judgment. In his address he is easy, and in conversation animated. His manners are, and ever have been, uniformly polite and gentlemanly, and would indicate French rather than English parentage. His language is choice. He is fluent in both Indian and English. Of the French he is defective in pronunciation; though he understands tolerably, when reading or addressed in that tongue. But there is not the slightest indication, in his person or countenance, of Indian blood. And, if there be any thing in family resemblance, whoever has seen Louis the Sixteenth, or likenesses of him, or is acquainted with his family, in beholding this man, would notice the similitude.

Justly, the elder branches of the Bourbons have regarded the younger as their enemy. They never forgave Egalité for his participation in the death of the king. Louis Phillippe, the principal element of whose character was selfishness, had not been seated a fortnight on the throne, when his whole energies were directed to his own firm establishment, and the succession of his family, and that at the expense of the elder branch. Through his entire reign, down to the Spanish marriages, all diplomacy was directed to this object. At the instance of the citizen king, Prince de Joinville visited Eleazer, at Green Bay, in 1841, and spent three days with him. What transpired between them, will probably go down to the grave unknown. It is sufficient to state, that overtures were made him, to renounce for ever all claim to the throne. The proposal was rejected with disdain. De Joinville received the same answer which Artois rendered the ambassador of Napoleon at Warsaw on

a similar errand. "Though I am in poverty, sorrow, and exile, I shall not sacrifice my honor."

Whatever may be the result, the fate of our friend appears fixed. He has endured trials and sufferings. With them, or without them, he has no ambitious aspirations. Wisely, he would prefer the seclusion of private life to occupying an earthly throne, even though it were offered him.

And now the question may be asked, what care the American people for the Bourbons? Nothing as princes, but everything as men. Never can we forget the good will of Louis the Sixteenth towards us, and the assistance he rendered, with fleets and armies, in achieving our independence. And if it so be, that his son is an exile among us, and not only that, has shed his blood in the defence of rights dear to us all, we will show our gratitude, at least, in being hospitable and generous.

TRANSLATIONS FROM HORACE-ODE XXII.

TO FUSCUS.

No, Fuscus, no-protected by a heart
Virgin of crime, nor bow, nor moorish dart,
Nor quiver full of deadly poison'd reeds,
The steady friend of Virtue needs.

Whether his path through Syrte's sands he seeks,
Or Caucasus' inhospitable peaks,

Or in that land of vision and of dream,

Where flows Hydaspes' wooing stream.

For-as, with songs of Lalage and love,
Careless, I wander'd in the Sabine grove
Too far I met a wolf, who, at my sight,
Defenceless as I was, took flight.

Such prodigy ne'er Daunia's warlike land
In her wild forests fed; ne'er did the sand
Of lion-breeding Africa beget

The equal of that monster yet.

Place me in lifeless regions, where no trees
With waving unbrage woo the summer breeze,
E'en on that side of earth which heaven's doom
Hath shrouded in perennial gloom.

Place me in deserts, where from nearest skies
Sol's rays descend, love-treasur'd memories.
Of Lalage's sweet voice and sweeter smile

Would still my sufferings beguile.

PRIMOGENITURE AND ENTAIL.

AMERICANS universally condemn these laws, and most justly too; but do we not lose much of the wisdom of experience by condemning on the first appearance of wrong and injustice, without tracing the many injurious and baneful influences to their primary source. To the student these laws are peculiarly interesting; but to the people they are of vital importance. It is now too late to trust to accidental changes and improvements in our social relations; every evil can be traced, with proper diligence, to its primary cause, and may be remedied by the peaceful but all-powerful workings of our moral and intellectual forces. Political faith is no longer superior to our religious convictions.

We maintained, in our previous number, that free thought and free action are necessary to the development of mind, which no one will deny, and that quality stimulates all the energies of society, by presenting the various fields of interest and ambition to the competition of every member. The laws under consideration are directly opposed to the idea of equality, and.are therefore contrary to the spirit of our institutions. Before we examine the influences, which they exerted, we will take a view of the laws themselves.

The third rule in the canons of English descent is-that where there are two or more males in equal degrees, the eldest only shall inherit; but the females shall take together. "This right of primogeniture in males," says Blackstone, seems to have obtained among the Jews." During the time of Henry the first, "the eldest son had the capital fee, or principal feud of his father's possessions." There appears

to be much difference of opinion as to the period and place, when and where, this law was first introduced; it is not, however, so important to know these facts, but rather the reasons for it; the objects sought to be effected by it; and the manner and extent of its influence. The Greeks, the Romans, the Britons, and the Saxons, were in the constant practice of dividing their property equally among their children; or, in some instances, among the males only. But society was broken up, and, with the new order of things, honorary feuds, or titles of nobility, were introduced; it therefore became necessary to make the estates impartable, and descendible to the eldest son alone. This was rendered necessary, not only to keep up a distinct nobility, but to secure the military services by which the feud was held. The eldest son was the first one competent to discharge the services; it was therefore proper for him to take the honors and assume the responsibilities of the feud. Females were excluded-for, by marriage, they might introduce a stranger into the family of her lord, the feudal relations and interests of whom might prevent a faithful discharge of the duties and services attaching to the feud. These were the reasons upon which the rule was based, and were the legitimate offspring of the feudal relation; but they ceased to exist as soon as that system expired. But those most benefited by this rule found other reasons for continuing it. The feudal distinctions had given it birth; and it was found essential to maintain a portion of those privileges after the new order of things had been introduced. The