Rt a rising from a setting sun. 'I have,' said he, 'often and often in the course of the session and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting sun.'" It was, however, the setting sun for Franklin. The few years that remained to him were peaceful and noble; but his old maladies increased on him, until at the last he was confined to his bed. Yet through it all he showed the same untiring energy. He wrote against the study of the classics, against the abuse of the liberty of the press, and from his very deathbed sent out a stinging letter against slavery. The end was come: at eleven o'clock at night, April 17, 1790, he passed away. Philadelphia knew that she had lost her most distinguished citizen, and he was followed to the grave by a procession including all that was honorable in the city. In closing this brief Life of a great and good man we cannot do better than quote the words sent to him by America's greatest citizen: "If to be venerated for benevolence, if to be admired for talent, if to be esteemed for patriotism, if to be beloved for philanthropy, can gratify the
