Public spirit. Slavery. were Episcopalians, or Methodists, or perhaps belonged to one of the other Presbyterian churches. I have been assured that no object of public utility could present itself in the town of which he did not at once stand forth as the advocate and supporter; if judicious counsel was wanted, he was ready to render it; if efforts and sacrifices were demanded, he did not hesitate to make them; and by this prompt and unsolicited exercise of public spirit, he identified himself with the entire community in which he lived. On the day of his funeral, it was manifest that we were in the midst, not of a mourning congregation only, but of a mourning city. The first bell that tolled, after the procession began to move, was the bell of a church which is, perhaps, as far from any denominational sympathy with Dr. Murray's as is consistent with both being Protestant; and the rector of that church, to his honor be it recorded, addressed to Mrs. Murray a letter of condolence, paying a just and beautiful tribute to the memory of her departed husband. I heard it stated that even Jews and Roman Catholics closed their places of business during the hour of the funeral solemnities. "There is one point more on which I wish to say a single word, because I happen to know that Dr. Murray's views in respect to it have been, to some extent, misapprehended—it is the matter of slavery. A friend of mine, and a gentleman of great worth and respectability, residing in Illinois, wrote me, shortly after Dr. Murray's death, that while he had a very high estimate of the ability and general character of Abolitionists. The war. my friend, he had been pained to learn that he had given the aid of his name, if not of his pen, to the cause of slavery; and, if I have been correctly informed, the same impression has prevailed, to some extent, in other quarters. I have heard him express his opinion on this subject so often that I think I can not have fallen into any mistake in respect to it. He was, indeed, far from having any sympathy with the party technically termed "Abolitionists" at the North; on the contrary, he believed that theirs was a mission of unmixed evil; and this opinion he never hesitated to express on either side of the Atlantic. But he considered slavery, as it exists in our country, not merely in the light of a calamity, but as involving great national guilt; and he wrote me, only a few weeks before his death, that he had just preached a sermon in which he had protested against human beings being bought and sold as "chattels." It pleased a gracious Providence to call him home before the present reign of terror and distress throughout the country was fairly inaugurated; but he lived long enough to see the clouds begin to gather, and to deliver, on more than one occasion, the most earnest and impressive testimony in favor of the government which he saw threatened with formidable attack, and even utter extinction. "I fear, my dear sir, that this communication may prove of an inconvenient length, and yet knowing, as I do, how cordially you respond to every effort to honor and embalm the memory of our dear departed friend, I have no doubt that you will be tolerant of Conclusion. any error I may have committed in that direction. As Dr. Murray was a man, he must, of course, like all other men, have had his infirmities, but what they were I leave it to those who looked at him with eyes different from mine to describe. I will only add, that I heartily rejoice that the writing of his life has devolved upon the person whom, of all others, I should have selected as the one who is in every respect best qualified to do justice to his memory. "I am, my dear sir, with great regard, faithfully your friend, W. B. SPRAGUE." Dr. Edgar's letter. Kirwan Letters. CHAPTER XXI. Letter from Rev. Dr. Edgar. -Rev. Prof. Gibson.- Mrs. Duncan.- Rev. Dr. Edgar to Geo. H. Stuart, Esq. Rev. Dr. "Belfast, June 27th, 1861. "MY DEAR MR. STUART,-In furnishing for Dr. Prime's work reminiscences of our dear departed friend, Dr. Murray, I desire to associate them with you, not only because his love for you was enthusiastic, but be-cause I am anxious that he should be in death, as he was in life, a bond of union between me and one for whom my love can never die. "One of my first links of connection with him was my republishing the Kirwan Letters, which first made him eminently great. Having written a preface, and added notes by the late Dr. Samuel O. Edgar, I issued, in 1850, an edition of five thousand copies of the first series, one thousand of which were purchased by an eminent lawyer; and the good effected by them verified a statement of the preface, that they were republished in unhappy Ireland, not chiefly because of the talent and eloquence which distinguished them, but because, being brief, clear, practical, and characterized by genuine good-nature and politeness, they are well qualified to be a useful manual for all, especially the ignorant and young. "When, next year, I issued the second series, my Popery. Visit to Ireland. distinguished fellow-helper, author of Edgar's Variations of Popery, was no more; and in a preface I said, 'Had his life been a little prolonged, he might have formed a personal acquaintance with him whom he had favorably known by his writings; for the Rev. Dr. Murray has visited the Old World, and been enthusiastically received by many who had formed a high estimate of the convert from Romanism, who had done as much as any other in the Western World to breathe Protestant life and spirit into the masses of the people. His Letters have commanded in America an enormous circulation. A chief feature of their popularity here is the eagerness with which they are read and circulated by Roman Catholics in districts blessed with scriptural schools.' "Of his visit on that occasion he has published an account in his work, 'Men and Things as I saw them in Europe.' He accompanied me in a part of my annual missionary tour, visiting our schools, preaching in our missionary stations, received as an honored guest at the houses of landed gentry-every where delighted by interesting scenes and society, awakening the liveliest sympathies, making happy friendships, and leaving impressions never to be forgotten. "Some time after he sent to this country a loved and cherished representative, who, first for her father's sake, and then for her own, was received with extreme kindness. She was one of the most intensely interesting of beings in female form I ever saw. So fascinating, so talented, so full of activity, genius, wisdom, kindness-and beautiful withal; but, alas! so delicate, |