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Show especially on horse bnrk, he maintained his vigor unimpaired until two yean ago when he began to fail. Hi end wat foreseen but nevertheless It is deplored de-plored as that of a man who has sbed an undying lustre upon his country. AMERICAN HISTORIANS. Whatever claim other nations may make in the realm of litcruture, it is certain that in the fluid of history the United States vies with the foremost of them in pre-eminence. Gibbon and Mc-Cauley, Mc-Cauley, Thiers and Gui.ot, Hanke and Kogler, are towering names, but they do not surpass those of Motley and I'res-cott I'res-cott and Bancroft. The latter especially especial-ly whose death was announced on Saturday, Sat-urday, ranks high, particularly in the estimation of his countrymen, for while Motley wrote the history of the Netherlands Nether-lands and Trescott the history of Mexico, Mex-ico, Bancroft wrote tho history of America, a life work of surpassing excellence. ex-cellence. It is but little over two months ago since the country celebrated the ninetieth nine-tieth birthday of George Bancroft, a son of Massachusetts of illustrious ancestry. an-cestry. His father was a Unitariau minister who early discoyered the signs of his son's genius and sent him to Harvard and afterwards to Gottlngen and Berlin, where he studied under suc'i celebrities as Humboldt, Schleiermaeher, Varn-hagen Varn-hagen von Ense and other famous scholars. He Was also a friend of the poet Goethe. No wonder be soon developed de-veloped a versatility truly marvelous and it was vouchsafed him in a long spun of years to lead in many luove- ments of great moment to this country. Under l'olk he was secretary of tho navy and as such he established the observatory ob-servatory at ., Washington now conducted con-ducted by President Newcomb, today the foremost of the world's astronomers, astronom-ers, and the naval academy in Annapolis. Annapo-lis. Subsequently he became the American Amer-ican minister in England and whea already far past seventy he tilled the same office in Germany. It is probable that his bend for politics poli-tics moved him to forsake philology for the more congenial task of history which ho begun while still in London where he collected invaluable material for bis history of America, as the result of which he published in 1834-40 two works entitled respectively the History of the Revolution in North America and the History of the Colonization of the United States of North America, the whole of which he included in the comprehensive history of America which Is the chief monument of his career. For many years George Bancroft was a notable figure in the learned society of Washington and bis genial face was known to every child not only in the capital but throughout the country from the numerous prints iesued of him. By dint pt healthful exercise.. |