deaths of Macintosh and Scott affected him
deeply. He had had occasion, during the
illness of the latter, to allude to him in the
House of Commons; and he did this with so
much beauty and delicacy, with such manly
admiration of the genius and modest
deference to the opinions of his great Tory
friend, that Sir Robert Peel made a journey
across the floor of the house to thank him
cordially for it.

The House of Commons nevertheless was
not his natural element, and when, in 1834, a
vacancy in the Court of Session invited him to
his due promotion, he gladly accepted the
dignified and honourable office so nobly earned
by his labours and services. He was in his
sixty-second year at the time of his appointment,
and he continued for nearly sixteen
years the chief ornament of the Court in
which he sat. In former days the judgment-
seats in Scotland had not been unused
to the graces of literature: but in Jeffrey these
were combined with an acute and profound
knowledge of law less usual in that connection;
and also with such a charm of demeanour,
such a play of fancy and wit sobered to the
kindliest courtesies, such clear sagacity,
perfect freedom from bias, consideration for all
differences of opinion; and integrity,
independence, and broad comprehensiveness of
view in maintaining his own; that there has
never been but one feeling as to his judicial
career. Universal veneration and respect
attended it. The speculative studies of his youth
had done much to soften all the asperities of his
varied and vigorous life, and now, at its close,
they gave to his judgments a large reflectiveness
of tone, a moral beauty of feeling, and a
philosophy of charity and good taste, which
have left to his successors in that Court of
Session no nobler models for imitation and
example. Impatience of dulness would break
from him, now and then; and the still busy
activity of his mind might be seen as he rose
often suddenly from his seat, and paced up
and down before it; but in his charges or
decisions nothing of this feeling was perceptible,
except that lightness and grace of
expression in which his youth seemed to linger
to the last, and a quick sensibility to emotion
and enjoyment which half concealed the
ravages of time.

If such was the public estimation of this
great and amiable man, to the very termination
of his useful life, what language should
describe the charm of his influence in his
private and domestic circle? The affectionate
pride with which every citizen of Edinburgh
regarded him rose here to a kind of idolatry.
For here the whole man was known—his kind
heart, his open hand, his genial talk, his ready
sympathy, his generous encouragement and
assistance to all that needed it. The first
passion of his life was its last, and never was
the love of literature so bright within him as
at the brink of the grave. What dims and
deadens the impressibility of most men, had
rendered his not only more acute and fresh,
but more tributary to calm satisfaction, and
pure enjoyment. He did not live merely
in the past, as age is wont to do, but drew
delight from every present manifestation of
worth or genius, from whatever quarter it
addressed him. His vivid pleasure where his
interest was awakened, his alacrity and eagerness
of appreciation, the fervour of his
encouragement and praise, have animated the
hopes and relieved the toil alike of the
successful and the unsuccessful, who cannot
hope, through whatever chequered future may
await them, to find a more generous critic,
a more profound adviser, a more indulgent
friend.

The present year opened upon Francis
Jeffrey with all hopeful promise. He had
mastered a severe illness, and resumed his
duties with his accustomed cheerfulness;
private circumstances had more than ordinarily
interested him in his old Review; and the
memory of past friends, giving yet greater
strength to the affection that surrounded him,
was busy at his heart. ' God bless you! ' he
wrote to Sydney Smith's widow on the night of
the 18th of January; ' I am very old, and have
many infirmities; but I am tenacious of old
friendships, and find much of my present
enjoyments in the recollections of the past.' He
sat in Court the next day, and on the Monday
and Tuesday of the following week, with his
faculties and attention unimpaired. On the
Wednesday he had a slight attack of bronchitis;
on Friday, symptoms of danger appeared; and
on Saturday he died, peacefully and without
pain. Few men had completed with such
consummate success the work appointed them
in this world; few men had passed away to a
better with more assured hopes of their reward.
The recollection of his virtues sanctifies his
fame; and his genius will never cease to
awaken the gratitude, respect, and pride of
his countrymen.
                HAIL AND FAREWELL!

THE YOUNG JEW OF TUNIS.

PEOPLE are glad to be assured that an
interesting story is true. The following
history was communicated to the writer by a
friend, residing in the East, who had it from
the French Consul himself. It reminds one
of the Arabian Nights.

In the year 1836, a Jewish family residing
in Algiers were plunged in the greatest
distress by the death of the father. A son, two
daughters, and a mother were by this calamity
left almost destitute. After the funeral, the
son, whose name was Ibrahim, sold what
little property there was to realise and gave it
to his mother and sisters; after which,
commending them to the charity of a distant
relative, he left Algiers and departed for Tunis,
hoping that if he did not find his fortune, he
would at least make a livelihood there.

He presented himself to the French Consul