Page:A memoir of Lewis David von Schweinitz.djvu/44

Rh which ever shone in his life and actions; with a distinct perception that the treasures accumulated in a life devoted to science, are not for individual possession, but, in order to produce their due effect, must, in some degree, be imparted as a common inheritance to the heirs of his genius and spirit; with these and similar characters which time might fail us to enumerate, did our deceased fellow labourer fill up the measure of his usefulness, and win for himself a title to the lasting gratitude of his fellow beings.

We should not dare to undertake the delicate task of assuaging that grief which the* loss of so much merit must, have occasioned. It is, fortunatley, to be drawn from a source more elevated than our feeble voice: The remembrances of a well spent life, are to the bereaved heart, assurances more strong and consoling than the loftiest eulogies of man,—and there is no support to the virtue of orphanage more sure than the noble example of that personal excellence to which the orphan's memory is taught, habitually, to revert. Happily for the domestic circle of our departed associate, they need not desire a firmer guarantee for their hopes, nor a brighter example for their imitation, than are to be found in the character of