HUGH SWINTON LEGARÉ, a distinguished scholar and essayist of South Carolina, was born at Charleston, January 2d, 1789. His attention as a writer was divided between the classical studies, of which he was fond, and politics, into which as one of the best-educated men of his State, during its formative period, he was almost necessarily drawn. He represented South Carolina in Congress from 1837 to 1839, retiring to serve as Attorney-General and Secretary of State from 1841 to his death in June, 1843. His style as a prose writer is a valuable illustration of the evolution of American prose through forms derived from oratory.