Conyngham died in Philadelphia, November 27, 1819, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was buried in St. Peter’s churchyard, and on his grave is an odd epitaph in the form of an acrostic built on the name “Gustavus.” [Illustration: The “lost commission.”] But now appears the strangest part of the whole story--one of those remarkable instances that so well prove the old adage of “facts being stranger than fiction.” It is the tragic epilogue to the play--the bitter end of the thread that runs through the whole of the relation. It does not take long to tell, and surely it speaks for itself. Only a short time ago there appeared in the catalogue of M. Charavay, an autograph and print-seller in Paris, among hundreds of other notices, the following: 143 Hancock (John), celebre homme d’Etat américain, gouverneur du Massachusetts, signataire de la Déclaration de l’Indépendence,--Pièce signe comme président du congrès; Baltimore, 1 mars 1777, 1 p. in-fol. obl. Rare. The connection of names and dates of course would attract the attention of any collector. It would be seen that most possibly it had something to do with Franklin’s sojourn in France. It was only the price asked for John Hancock’s signature--in fact, much less than his signature usually brought in the autograph market--ten francs. But what was the joy and surprise of its present possessor, upon opening his new purchase, to find that it was nothing more nor less than the missing commission of the Surprise! Where it had been, what has been its history since it was delivered at Versailles, how it came at last into the possession of a little print-shop, no one can tell; but that it had much to do with the foregoing story any one can see. It lies before the author as he writes, and is reproduced in these pages for the first time, that the court of public print may decide the question. That bold Gustavus Conyngham was badly treated by his country and hardly handled by Fate the reader can perceive. He had helped the cause in the way it most needed help, but, notwithstanding, unrewarded, the man who flew the flag in the Channel went broken-hearted to his grave, and now out of the past, too late, comes the authentic proof of his cause and asseverations. The world is a small one and strange things happen in it, can be the only comment. THE END YOUNG HEROES OF OUR NAVY. Uniform Edition. Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.00. =Reuben James.= A Hero of the Forecastle. By CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY, author of “Paul Jones.” Illustrated by George Gibbs and others. “Nothing could be more absorbing than Mr. Brady’s graphic tale, which forms an eloquent tribute to the heroes of the forecastle, the predecessors of the men who did such gallant work at Manila and Santiago.”--_Cleveland World._ =The Hero of Manila.= Dewey on the Mississippi and the Pacific. By ROSSITER JOHNSON. Illustrated by B. West Clinedinst and others.