centre, in old age he left the shades of private life, and gave the
death-blow to fraternal strife, with the vigor of his earlier years, in a
series of senatorial efforts which in themselves would bring immortality
by challenging comparison with the efforts of any statesman in any age.
He exorcised the demon which possessed the body politic, and gave peace
to a distracted land. Alas! the achievement cost him his life. He sank
day by day to the tomb his pale but noble brow bound with a triple
wreath, put there by a grateful country. May his ashes rest in peace,
while his spirit goes to take its station among the great and good men
who preceded him."

While it is customary and proper upon occasions like the present to give
a brief sketch of the life of the deceased, in the case of Mr. Clay it is
less necessary than most others; for his biography has been written and
rewritten and read and reread for the last twenty-five years; so that,
with the exception of a few of the latest incidents of his life, all is
as well known as it can be. The short sketch which I give is, therefore,
merely to maintain the connection of this discourse.

Henry Clay was born on the twelfth day of April, 1777, in Hanover County,
Virginia. Of his father, who died in the fourth or fifth year of Henry's
age, little seems to be known, except that he was a respectable man and a
preacher of the Baptist persuasion. Mr. Clay's education to the end of
life was comparatively limited. I say "to the end of life," because I
have understood that from time to time he added something to his
education during the greater part of his whole life. Mr. Clay's lack of a
more perfect early education, however it may be regretted generally,
teaches at least one profitable lesson: it teaches that in this country
one can scarcely be so poor but that, if he will, he can acquire
sufficient education to get through the world respectably. In his