DANIEL, one of the greatest of modern as assuredly of American statesmen, was born at Salisbury in New Hampshire in 1782. His birthplace was on the very outskirts of the civilized part of the country, and his early education was, therefore, necessarily very defective. He, however, made a good use of the opportunities which he enjoyed, and as his constitution was naturally weak, which disqualified him for robust labour, his father resolved to dedicate him to one of the learned professions. At the age of fourteen, he was placed for some time at a flourishing academy in Exeter; and the next year he was transferred to the charge of a clergyman in the town of Boscawen. While on the way to Boscawen, his father revealed his intention of even giving him what was then exceedingly rare in the States—a college education; and young Webster was so overpowered with a sense of his father's kindness, that he could not speak but laid his head on his father's shoulder and wept. In 1797, he entered the college of Dartmouth, and passed the four years of his attendance there in regular study, occasionally varying the routine of a student's life by efforts at composition. On completing his college course, he entered the office of Mr Thompson to study law, but, unable to maintain himself, he became teacher of an academy at Fryeburg, and supplemented his pittance by copying law-deeds in the evenings for the county registrar. With the money thus honourably procured by unremitting labour, Webster returned to his law studies under Mr Thompson, where, besides mastering Coke and Blackstone, he acquired a considerable knowledge of the Latin classics, of English history, and Shakspeare. In 1804, he removed to Boston, and for a few months pursued his legal studies under the superintendence of Mr Gore—a lawyer of considerable experience, whose counsel he found of the greatest benefit. To his advice on one important occasion the future career of Webster is perhaps owing. Just before he was called to the bar, he was offered the post of clerk in the Court of Common Pleas for one of the counties in New Hampshire, and, at the earnest request of his friends, he was about to accept it, when Gore remonstrated, and, by pointing out the folly of sacrificing all his hopes of advancement, succeeded in inducing him to relinquish what was to him then a tempting offer. On his admission to the bar, Webster, in order to be near his father, who was in very infirm health, established himself at Boscawen, but, on his father's death in 1807, he removed to Portsmouth—the largest town in his native state. Here, for nine years, he applied himself to the routine of a professional life, and gradually acquired the reputation of the ablest lawyer in the state. Up to this period, Webster had taken no share in public business. In 1812, however, he was elected a member of Congress; and, in the important business on which Congress was consulted at its meeting the next year, he received his first initiation into the management of state affairs. All the talent of the States was then to be found in the House of Representatives—Clay, Calhoun, Lowndes, Pickering, and others of minor note, were among the members; yet, even among such rivals, Webster soon became conspicuous for his eloquence and ability; and the discerning eye of more experienced politicians could perceive in him one of the rising hopes of the statesmanship of the country. So highly was he appreciated, that Mr Lowndes said of him, "The North has not his equal, nor the South his superior." The States were then in a ferment from the injury done to their commerce by the notorious "Orders in Council," which the British government had issued; and Webster was one of Webster, the most energetic in advising the increase of the national navy, so as to afford adequate protection to their commerce; and he had, of course, corresponding gratification in witnessing the success which attended the Americans in their early encounters by sea. On many other subjects that came before the house, Webster spoke with distinguished ability; and one important act, known as the "special resolution," which set the currency of the country on a sound basis, was owing, in a great measure, to his eloquent advocacy.

In 1816, Webster removed to Boston, where he devoted himself with unwearied assiduity to his professional duties, and soon became famous for his management of cases in which great constitutional points were involved. One of the earliest of these great cases was that which respected his alma mater, Dartmouth College. The legislature of New Hampshire had passed acts by which the charter of the college was considerably altered. The governors under the original charter appealed against the enactments of the Legislature, and the question was at length carried before the Supreme Court at Washington. Webster appeared as the advocate of the appellants; and a convincing oration, which is described as having produced an extraordinary effect upon all who heard it, procured a decision in his favour, and at once placed him in the foremost rank of American lawyers. From this period (1819), he was retained in almost all the important cases before the Supreme Court; and as most of those on which he was employed involved constitutional questions of general interest, his name was soon familiarly known over the whole Union. In consequence of the prominent position which he now occupied in public esteem, he was selected, in 1820, to deliver at Plymouth, on the 22d of December, the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, an address commemorative of the great event of the day. For the same reason, he was invited to preside at the laying of the foundation-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument in 1825; and the eloquent addresses which, on both these occasions, he delivered, increased the reputation which he deservedly enjoyed. The estimation in which he was held in Boston was sufficiently indicated by his being elected in 1822, by a very large majority, member of Congress for the town; and their confidence was still further exhibited by his almost unanimous re-election to the office two years later. In 1827 he was, by a large majority, elected a member of the Senate; and all eyes were now turned to him as one of the most influential statesmen of the Union. In all the important transactions that came before Congress, he took a leading part; and his speeches on various subjects of national concern were read with interest throughout the States, and do not suffer by comparison with those of any parliamentary orator in our own country. His most famous oration was that delivered in 1830, nominally on a motion about the sale of the State lands, but in reality against what is called in the States the principle of "nullification"—the right, that is, of a particular state to dissolve its connection with the Union by treating the acts of Congress as null. All accounts represent this oration as having produced an extraordinary impression on its delivery; and though its eloquence would be considered too high-flown for a British senate, even the most fastidious taste cannot but admire the patriotic and noble sentiment which flows in such a copious stream from the lips of the impassioned orator.

In 1839, Webster crossed the Atlantic, and made a short tour in Britain and France. His fame had preceded him to this country, and he was accordingly received with a respect not usually accorded to foreigners who come to visit us in an unofficial capacity. On his return to America, he was appointed by the President, Harrison, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The relations of America with this country were then in a somewhat precarious condition. The boundary line between the British possessions and the United States had never been definitively settled, and, both on the north-east and north-west, disturbances were constantly occurring which threatened to involve the nations in war. Through the ability and courtesy of Webster and Lord Ashburton, the British minister, a treaty was negotiated which settled the north-eastern boundary in a manner satisfactory to all parties; and a proposal was at the same time made for the settlement of the Oregon boundary question, which was subsequently carried into effect. Having performed this service to his country, Webster, in 1833, resigned his office and retired to private life. In 1844, however, he again resumed his seat in the Senate, and signalized himself by his opposition to the unconstitutional annexation of Texas, and, of course, to the war with Mexico, which it provoked. In 1848, he was proposed as a candidate for the presidency against General Taylor, the hero of the Mexican war, but failed—for how could a mere civilian, backed only by forty years' reputation for eloquence and sense, stand a competition in popular favour with a conqueror fresh from the field of glory? Though naturally disappointed at the slight, Webster still gave his country the benefit of his talents and knowledge; and in 1850, on the president's death, Fillmore, who succeeded temporarily to the vacant honour, appointed him head of the administration which he formed. This office he retained till his death in 1852, at his estate of Marchfield, in the vicinity of Boston.

His speeches were collected in six volumes at Boston the year before his death, and have been published with a short biographical memoir by Edward Everett. Of his ability as a statesman, only one opinion exists either in this country or America—all agree in placing him at the head of the statesmen which the United States have produced.

John, a distinguished dramatic contemporary and successor of Shakespeare, of whom hardly anything is known, save that, after writing plays in conjunction with Dekker, Drayton, Middleton, Munday, Chettle, Heywood, and Wentworth Smith, he published, on his own account, the powerful dramas of *The White Devil*, in 1612; of *The Duchess of Malfi*, in 1623; and of *Appius and Virginia*, in 1654. If his pathos is sometimes too laboured, and if his command over terror is frequently overstated, he at least pursues the high purposes of the drama throughout with an earnestness which few have equalled. Webster's works were first collected and edited in 1830, by the Rev. Alex. Dyce.

Noah, author of the *New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language*, was born at West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, on the 16th of October 1758. He entered Yale College in 1774, where he graduated in 1778 with much distinction. Though called to the bar in 1781, he did not practise law, but turned aside to the profession of teaching. He wrote a number of elementary educational works, which were much esteemed during their day, besides taking a leading part in the discussion of American politics, of which his *Sketches of American Policy* still afford a monument. The great work of his life, however, was his *Dictionary*, published in 1828, at which he laboured for twenty-one years, and which, in its explanations, was considerably in advance of any English dictionary then in existence, but of which the etymological portion was more showy than profound. After receiving from his college the degree of LL.D., Webster died at Newhaven, May 28, 1843.