284 LAFAYETTE.
cult to believe, that more than fourscore years had passed over him. His details of the revolution of 1790, of the secret springs that produced it, and of some terrific scenes which he personally witnessed, and which, by a deliberate utterance, he politely accommo dated to a foreign ear, were to me more graphic than the pages of any historian. The grace with which age adapts itself to a new generation, and the affec tionate manner in which it is welcomed among them, are delightful traits in the character of the French people.
Monsieur George Washington Lafayette, and Ma dame Laysterie, the surviving children of the Mar quis Lafayette, with their families and his other descendants, are sought with interest by Americans, and reciprocate every expression of such regard to their illustrious ancestor. La Grange is consecrated ground to those, who, in the words of one of our most elegant writers, the lamented author of Hadad, remem ber the deeds of the chieftain, who " came to us during our life-struggle in his own ship, freighted with muni tions of war, which he gratuitously distributed to our army ; clothed and put shoes on the feet of the naked, suffering soldiers ; equipped and armed a regiment at his own expense ; received no pay, but expended in our service, from 1777 to 1783, the sum of 700,000 francs ; and whose name, wherever the pulse of free dom beats, should be pronounced with benedictions."
Literary reputation, as well as scientific attainment, are highly appreciated in Paris. Intellect, and the
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