Mr. Hooper continued to take a conspicuous part in the legislation of North Carolina, and also pursued the practice of his profession until 1787, when his health began to decline and he retired from public life and from the bar, to enjoy that repose in domestic felicity which had always been more congenial to his mind than public stations, however lofty. In his retirement he carried with him the esteem of his fellow citizens and the gratitude of a nation of freemen. Not a blemish could be found to tarnish the fair fame of his public career or private reputation. He had served his country faithfully and discharged the duties of friend, citizen, lawyer, patriot, husband and father, with fidelity. From the elevated eminence of conscious integrity he looked back upon his past life—with the eyes of faith he looked forward to a crown of unfading glory, and in October 1790, closed his eyes in death and resigned his soul to that God whom to fear is the beginning of wisdom. THOMAS NELSON. Honesty is a virtue that commands universal respect. This term, like many others, has lost much of its original force and is too promiscuously used. When Pope proclaimed an honest man the noblest work of God, he included purpose, word and action in all things, under all circumstances and at all times. He alluded to a man whose purity of heart placed him above every temptation to violate the original laws of integrity which emanated from the High Chancery of Heaven. His imagination pictured a man whose every action through his whole life should pass the moral scrutiny of omniscience unscathed, and stand approved at the dread tribunal of the great Jehovah. Such a man is a noble work indeed, worthy of the highest admiration and closest imitation. The signers of the declaration of independence were remarkable for integrity, and none of them more so than THOMAS NELSON, who was born at York, Virginia, on the 26th of December, 1738. He was the son of William Nelson, whose father was a native of England and settled in York at an early period. The father of Thomas was an enterprising and successful merchant, and eventually became also a wealthy planter. He filled many public stations with great ability, and during the interval between the administration of Lord Bottetourt and Lord Dunmore, presided over the colony _ex officio_, being then president of the executive council.