Although Smithson died in 1829, the United States Government was not advised of the gift until six years afterward, when the life estate fell in, and the will was thrown into chancery. It was then that Richard Rush was appointed, by President Jackson, special representative of the government to pursue and secure the property. He was successful, and returned to this country, in August of 1838, with the legacy, amounting to upwards of half a million of dollars. Nothing was done for quite eight years toward carrying into effect the bequest of Smithson, except to ask advice, from eminent scholars and educators, as to the best means of fulfilling the testator’s intention. The consensus of opinion was in favor of a university or school for higher education, but Mr. Rush objected to a school of any kind, and proposed a plan which more nearly corresponded, than any other of the early ones, with that which was finally adopted. Thus, both in securing the legacy, and directing the curriculum of the institution, Richard Rush took a most important part. Mr. Rush’s last official service was as minister to France, during the eventful years of 1847 to 1851 and he was the first representative of a foreign power to recognize the new republic. He had a fine literary sense, which he did not fail to cultivate, and his “Narrative of a Residence at the Court of London,” and “Washington in Domestic Life,” from the papers of Tobias Lear, are standard works. It may not be without interest to add that Mr. Rush was the author of the famous game “Twenty Questions,” which has been thought worthy of the consideration of some of the brightest minds in Europe and in America. [Illustration] XV _Edwin Forrest_ For many years Edwin Forrest was regarded as the greatest of American tragedians, his nearest rival being his namesake Edwin Booth. Now that the great leveller, death, has claimed them both, it may be questioned if Forrest’s supremacy is maintained. The animal was so uppermost in Forrest’s nature and person that he was unsuited to the delineation of the finer types of character, and therefore his greatest achievements were in robust parts requiring physical power, where he could rant and rage at will. In youth he must have had a singularly handsome face, and he was but twenty-one, in 1827, when Browere made his life mask. It was during an engagement at the old Bowery theatre, New York, when Forrest was playing “William Tell.” It will be observed that the head, which is finely classical, of the Roman type, appears to be bald, while Forrest took great pride in his [Illustration: EDWIN FORREST Age 21]