Chapter XCI: The Wadsworth Longfellow House, Portland, Maine 400 (8)

The building displaced by the new structure was erected in 1716 by William Levington, and was given to the city in 1745 by "the Gentlemen subscribers for the Play House."

The stone steps on the new building, which are still in use, were brought from England in 1772. A copy of the letter in which William Wilson acknowledged their receipt is in a letter book preserved in the library of the Episcopal Seminary, near Alexandria.

During the Revolution, the patriots were called together, from time to time, by the bell in the picturesque tower. It was fitting, then, that when American independence was celebrated at Williamsburg, on May 1, 1783, the Courthouse was made the rallying place for the people. On receipt of official notice from Governor Benjamin Harrison that the treaty of peace had been signed, the mayor of Williamsburg prepared an "Order of the Procession on the Great Day," which closed with the following direction:

"The Citizens to be Conveyed on Thursday, at 1 o'clock at the
Court-House by a Bellman.

"After the convention of citizens they are to make
proclamation at the C: House, after which the Bells at the
Church, College, & Capitol are to ring in peal.

"From the Ct House the Citizens are to proceed to the
College, and make proclamation at that place, from whence
they are to proceed to the Capitol and make proclamation
there and from thence Proceed to the Raleigh (Tavern) & pass
the rest of the day."

A frequent visitor to the Williamsburg Courthouse was the brilliant lawyer Patrick Henry, whose reputation as an orator was made long before he delivered his "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech at St. John's Church, Richmond.

Some years before the Williamsburg Courthouse was erected, this orator made his first public speech, at Hanover Courthouse, a building that dates from 1735, in the celebrated suit of the clergy demanding the payment of their stipends in tobacco, according to law. In consequence of a short crop the price had increased, and they insisted that it was their right to have the advantage of the increase. Their case had been tried once and won. The attorney of the people thereupon withdrew, and Henry was engaged to appear for them in court.

When the case was called, Rev. Patrick Henry was present, to the regret of his nephew. The lawyer sought his uncle and said that he feared he would be too much overawed by his presence to do his duty to his clients, and added that he would be compelled to say some "very hard things of the clergy." The minister thereupon entered his carriage, and drove away.

William Wirt describes the scene at the opening of the case:

"On the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the most
learned men in the Colony, and the most capable, as well as
the severest critics before whom it was possible for him to
have made his debut. The Court House was crowded with an
overwhelming multitude, and surrounded with an immense and
anxious throng, who, not finding room to enter, were
endeavoring to listen without, in the deepest attention. But
there was something still more awfully disconcerting than all
this; for in the chair of the presiding magistrate, sat no
other person than his own father....

"And now came on the first trial of Patrick Henry's strength.
No one had ever heard him speak, and curiosity was on tiptoe.
He rose very awkwardly, and faltered much in his exordium.
The people hung their heads at so unpromising a commencement;
the clergy were observed to exchange sly looks with each
other, and the father is described as having almost sunk with
confusion, from his seat. But these feelings were of short
duration, and soon gave place to others, of a very different
character.... The spirit of his genius awakened all his
features.... His action became graceful, bold, and
commanding; and in the tones of his voice, but more
especially in his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, a
magic, of which any one who ever heard him will speak as soon
as he is named, but of which no one can give any adequate
description....

"The people, whose countenances had fallen as he arose, had
heard but very few sentences before they began to look up;
then to look at each other with surprise, as if doubting the
evidence of their own senses.... In less than twenty minutes,
they might be seen in every part of the house, on every
bench, in every window, stooping forward from their stands,
in deathlike silence.... The mockery of the clergy was soon
turned into alarm; their triumph into confusion and despair;
and at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invective,
they fled from the bench in precipitation and terror. As for
the father, such was his surprise, such his amazement, such
his rapture, that, forgetting where he was, and the character
which he was filling, tears of ecstasy streamed down his
cheeks without the power or inclination to restrain them."

The case was won. As soon as the verdict was announced the people seized the orator at the bar and bore him out of the courthouse. Then, raising him on their shoulders, they carried him about the yard.

LVIII

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND

WHERE PATRICK HENRY SAID, "GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR GIVE ME DEATH"

In 1611 Sir Thomas Dale founded his town of Henricopolis, the second established settlement in Virginia. It was named in honor of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I. A church was soon after built. The bounds of Henrico parish, to which it belonged, were quite large until 1634, when the parish was made to include the present Chesterfield, Powhatan, and Goochland counties.

Soon after the marriage of Pocahontas she moved to the plantation of her husband, John Rolfe, near Henricopolis, and they were both members of Henrico parish until they left Virginia.

The written records of Henrico parish begin with 1730. At that time the principal church of the parish was on Curle's plantation, on the north side of the James, some miles below the present city of Richmond. Curle's church disappeared during the Civil War. The bowl of the baptismal font in St. John's Church, Richmond, is a relic of the old church. This was removed from the cellar of a house where it had been in use for beating hominy.

Steps were taken in 1737 to build the present St. John's Church, because of the increase of population in Richmond. The first action was recorded as follows:

"At a Vestry held at Curls Church for Henrico parish ye 8th
day of October Anno Dom. 1737 for laying ye parish Levey--

"The Vestry do agree to build a Church on the most convenient
place at or near Thomas Williamsons in this parish to be
Sixty feet in Length and Twenty-five in Breadth and fourteen
feet pitch to be finished in a plain Manner After the Moddle
of Curls Church. And it is ordered that the Clerk do Set up
Advertisements of the particular parts of the Said Building
and of the time and place of undertaking the Same.... It is
ordered that the Collector do receive of every Tithable
person in this parish five pounds of Tobacco after the Usual
deduction to be apply'd towards building the New Church at
Williamsons."

At a later meeting the location and the dimensions of the church were changed. Richmond was decided on, and it was stated that "Richard Randolph Gent undertakes the Said Building and engages to finish the Same by the Tenth day of June, which Shall be in the year of our Lord 1741; for which the Vestry agrees to pay him the Sum of L317 10s. Current Money to be paid by the amount of the Sale of Twenty thousand pounds of Tob'o Annually to be Levyd on the parish and Sold here for Money till the whole payment be compleat."

There is no record of the completion of the building, but probably it was finished at the appointed time. Since that date various additions have been made, yet it is possible to trace the lines of the original structure. The original pews are still in use, though they have been lowered. The hinges of the pew doors are handwrought. The wainscoting and the window sashes are those first put in. The original weather-boarding is still in place. It is fastened by nails whose heads are half an inch broad.

For the new church there were imported from England:

"One Parsons Surples, a Pulpit Cushen and Cloth, two cloths
for Reading Desks, a Communion Table Cloth, and a Dozen of
Cushens--to be of good Purple Cloth, and the Surples good
Hollond, also Large Bible and four large Prayer Books."

An entry in the vestry book on December 17, 1773, shows that the rector, Mr. Selden, received as salary 17,150 pounds of tobacco, worth L125. The clerk of the parish received 1,789 pounds of tobacco, or L13 10s., the sexton had 536 pounds, or L3.10s.7d.

Selden was chaplain of the Virginia Convention which met in the church March 20, 1775. At the closing session of this convention Patrick Henry "flashed the electric spark, which exploded the country in revolution," as Burton says in his history of Henrico Parish. This was the speech that closed:

"Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The
war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the
north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!
Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand here idle?
What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life
so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price
of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not
what course others may take, but as for me, Give me liberty,
or give me death."

Dr. Burton says that the orator "stood, according to tradition, near the present corner of the east transept and the nave, or more exactly, in pew 47, in the east aisle of the nave.... He faced the eastern wall of the transept, where were the two windows. In the more northern of these stood Colonel Edward Carrington. He broke the silence that followed the orator's burning words with the exclamation, 'Right here I wish to be buried!'"

When the British took possession of Richmond in 1781, St. John's Church became a barracks for Arnold's men. And some of them stood on the spot where Patrick Henry spoke the words that had such large part in stirring up the people to drive all British soldiers from the Colonies.

After the close of the war the diocese of Virginia was reorganized in the building, and plans were laid to overcome the difficulties that would soon come through the loss of the property of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which led Edmund Randolph, later Governor of Virginia and Secretary of State in Washington's Cabinet, to speak the famous words:

"Of what is the Church now possessed? Nothing but the glebes
and your affections."

That the affections of the people are a better dependence than rich endowments in money has been shown by the later history of the church, the parish, and the diocese.

LIX

THE NELSON HOUSE AND THE MOORE HOUSE, YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA

MADE MEMORABLE BY THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN AND THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS

One day in 1740 a baby a little more than one year old, whose name was Thomas Nelson, stood by the side of his father, William Nelson, as the father was about to lay the foundation of his new home in York, Virginia. The babe had been stationed there that the brick for the corner might be placed in the little hands; then it could be said in later years that the babe had helped in the exercises of the day. The little fellow became a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, a General in the Revolutionary War, and Governor of Virginia.

William Nelson was a merchant, who had invested his savings in land and had become quite wealthy. When his son was fourteen years old he was able to send him to Cambridge, England, to be educated. Nine years later the young man married Lucy Grymes of Brandon, and took up his residence in the house whose foundation he had helped to lay.

For many years the home of the young people was noted for the hospitality shown there. Whenever the owner could leave his guests, he rode to his plantation near town. He kept a pack of hounds, which were frequently employed in fox hunting.

When discontent against England became pronounced, he was a leader of the patriots. He was a member of the House of Burgesses of 1774 which was dissolved by Lord Dunmore because of the passage of a resolution against the Boston Port Bill, and he was one of the eighty-nine men who met next day at a tavern and took action that led to the first Continental Congress.

On July 17, when the Convention of Virginia delegates gathered in Richmond decided to raise three regiments for home defence, Patrick Henry was named as commander of the first while Nelson was put in charge of the second.

He was among the patriots who sat in the Continental Congress of 1775, 1776, and 1777, and his name was signed to the Declaration of Independence. On August 16, 1777, he retired from public service because of failing health, but when, a little later, the Governor of Virginia, fearing the approach of the British fleet, asked him to serve as brigadier general and commander-in-chief of the forces of the State, he agreed, on condition that he be excused from accepting payment for his services.

During the siege of Yorktown he was at the head of the militia. The sketch of his life as given by Sanderson in the "Biography of the Signers," says: "During the siege, observing his own house uninjured by the artillery of the American batteries he inquired the cause. A respect for his property, was assigned. Nelson ... requested that the artillerists would not spare his house more than any other, especially as he knew it to be occupied by the principal officers of the British Army. Two pieces were accordingly pointed against it. The first shot went through the house and killed two ... officers.... Other balls soon dislodged the hostile tenants." It is said that Nelson gave ten guineas reward to the man who fired the first shot.

Again Thomas Nelson responded to the call of his State when in June, 1781, he became Governor, succeeding Thomas Jefferson. Four months after the beginning of his term as chief executive of the State, George Washington, in general orders, said:

"The General would be guilty of the highest ingratitude, a
crime of which he hopes he shall never be accused, if he
forgot to return his sincere acknowledgments to his
excellency governor Nelson, for the succours which he
received from him and the militia under his command, to whose
activity, emulation, and bravery, the highest praises are
due. The magnitude of the acquisition will be ample
compensation for the difficulties and dangers which they met
with so much firmness and patriotism."

Nelson's term as Governor was shortened by ill health. In November, 1781, he was compelled to resign.

But he was not permitted to rest. Attacks were made on him for certain courses taken during his term as Governor. When he asked and was given permission to defend himself before the State delegates, he was triumphantly acquitted of all blame. On December 31, 1781, this action was recorded:

"An act to indemnify THOMAS NELSON, JUNIOR, Esquire, late
governor of this commonwealth, and to legalize certain acts
of his administration. Whereas, upon examination, it appears
that previous to and during the siege of York, Thomas Nelson,
Esquire, late governor of this commonwealth, was compelled by
the peculiar circumstances of the state and army, to perform
many acts of government without the advice of the council of
state, for the purpose of procuring subsistence for the
allied army under the command of his excellency general
Washington; be it enacted that all such acts of government,
evidently productive of general good, and warranted by
necessity, be judged and held of the same validity, and the
like proceedings be had on them as if they had been executed
by and with the advice of the council, and with all the
formality prescribed by law. And be it enacted that the said
Thomas Nelson, jr., Esquire, be and he hereby is in the
fullest manner indemnified and exonerated from all penalties
and dangers which might have accrued to him from the same."

Nelson lived more than seven years after this act approving his emergency actions. But three years were spent in comparative poverty. Most of his property was sold to satisfy the debts incurred by paying two regiments out of his own pocket, and by going security, with the State, for two million dollars needed to carry on the war. Sanderson says of these acts of generosity:

"He had spent a princely fortune in his country's service;
his horses had been taken from the plough, and sent to drag
the munitions of war; his granaries had been thrown open to a
starving soldiery, and his ample purse had been drained to
its last dollar, when the credit of Virginia could not bring
a sixpence into her treasury. Yet it was the widow of this
man who, beyond eighty years of age, blind, infirm, and poor,
had yet to learn whether republics can be grateful."

On the simple gravestone in Yorktown, erected to the memory of the patriot, is this eloquent inscription:

Thomas Nelson,
Governor of Virginia.
He Gave All for Liberty.

Not far from the grave is another historic house that should be named with the Nelson house. This is the Moore house, on Temple farm, then less than a mile from Yorktown. In this house, which was built in 1713, the terms of the surrender of Cornwallis were drawn up. It was once the summer home of the colonial governor, Alexander Spottswood.

LX

THE JOHN MARSHALL HOUSE, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

WHERE THE CHIEF JUSTICE CARED FOR HIS WIFE AND ENTERTAINED HIS FRIENDS

An old book, "Richmond in By Gone Days," says that John Marshall was noted in Richmond for his unpretending manner. "His dress was plain even to negligence. He marketed for himself and might be seen at an early hour returning home with a pair of fowls, or a basket of eggs in his hand, not with ostentatious humility, but for mere convenience."

It is related by Flanders that Marshall "was one morning strolling through the streets of Richmond, attired in a plain linen roundabout and shorts, with his hat under his arm, from which he was eating cherries, when he stopped in the porch of the Eagle Hotel, indulged in some little pleasantry with the landlord, and then passed on." Just then a man from the country, who wished a lawyer to appear for him in court, was referred by the landlord to Marshall, as the best advocate he could have, but the countryman declined to have anything to do with the careless young man. In court he asked the clerk for a lawyer, and was once more recommended to take John Marshall. Again he refused. Just then a dignified old man in powdered wig and black coat entered. He was at once engaged, on his appearance. After a time the inferiority of the black-coated lawyer was so apparent that the countryman sought Marshall, told him of the mistake he had made, said that he had left but five dollars of the one hundred dollars he had set aside for lawyers' fees, and asked Marshall if he would assist on the case. The lawyer laughingly agreed.

In 1781, when Marshall was twenty-five years old, he walked from Virginia to Philadelphia, to be inoculated for smallpox. "He walked at the rate of thirty-five miles a day. On his arrival, such was his shabby appearance, that he was refused admission into one of the hotels; his long beard, and worn-out garments, probably suggesting the idea that his purse was not adequate to his entertainment. And this in the city which had seen much of the young man's heroic services during the Revolution!"

Before the close of the war, while visiting his father, Colonel Marshall, who was the commanding officer at Yorktown, Virginia, he met Mary Willis Ambler, a daughter of Jacqueline Ambler, the treasurer of Virginia. "She was just fourteen years of age at the time, and it is stated to have been a case of love at first sight." Even when Marshall called to see her he was not prepossessing in appearance, yet he was well received, "notwithstanding his slouched hat, and negligent and awkward dress," for his amiable manners, fine talents, and especially his love for poetry, which he read to them with deep pathos, led them to forget his dress.

The young people were married on January 3, 1783. After paying the fee of the minister, the groom's sole remaining fortune was a guinea!

Mrs. Marshall was for many years a nervous invalid. Bishop Meade says, "The least noise was sometimes agony to her whole frame, and his perpetual endeavor was to keep the house and yard and out-houses from the slightest cause of distressing her; walking himself at times about the house and yard without shoes." The attitude of the people of Richmond to the husband and wife is shown by the fact that "on one occasion, when she was in her most distressing state, the town authorities manifested their great respect for him and sympathy for her, by having either the town clock or town bell muffled."

On his marriage John Marshall took his wife to one of the best houses then available in the village of Richmond, a two-room frame building. In 1789 he bought two acres of ground on Shockoe Hill, and here, in 1793, he built a nine-room brick house. One of the rooms was a large apartment, in which he gave his famous "lawyer dinners."

When Marshall was not in Washington, he lived in this comfortable house, which was near the home of his father-in-law. He had also a farm a few miles from Richmond. Bishop Meade says that one morning, between daybreak and sunrise, he met Marshall on horseback. He had a bag of clover seed lying before him, which he was carrying to his farm.

An English traveller who spent a week in Richmond in 1835 gave his impression of the Richmond home:

"The house is small, and more humble in appearance than those
of the average of successful lawyers and merchants. I called
there three times upon him; there is no bell to the door.
Once I turned the handle of it and walked in unannounced; on
the other two occasions he had seen me coming, and had lifted
the latch and received me at the door, although he was at the
time suffering from severe contusions received in the stage
while travelling on the road from Fredericksburg to
Richmond."

Chief Justice Marshall frequently attended the Monumental Church. The narrow pews troubled him, for he was quite tall. "Not finding room enough for his whole body within the pew, he used to take his seat nearest the door of his pew, and, throwing it open, let his legs stretch a little into the aisle."

The death of his wife was a great grief to him. "Never can I cease to feel the loss and to deplore it," he wrote on December 25, 1832, the anniversary of her death. "Grief for her is too sacred ever to be profaned on this day, which shall be, during my existence, marked by a recollection of her virtues."

He survived Mrs. Marshall less than five years. In June, 1835, he went to Dr. Physic in Philadelphia, seeking relief for a disability that had been aggravated by the road accident of which the English visitor wrote, as already quoted. There he died, July 6, 1835. On July 4 he wrote the inscription which he wished placed above his grave:

"John Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born on
the 24th of September, 1755, intermarried with Mary Willis
Ambler the 3rd of January, 1783, departed this life the ----
day of ---- 18 ---- ."

The Marshall house is now in possession of the Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, having been purchased a few years ago from the Misses Harvie, the granddaughters of Chief Justice Marshall. They had lived in the house until they sold it to the city of Richmond.

LXI

FIVE OLD HOUSES OF TIDEWATER, VIRGINIA

SABINE HALL, WESTOVER, SHIRLEY, BRANDON, AND CARTER'S GROVE

The five houses mentioned briefly in this chapter are noteworthy, not only because of their beauty, but because the stories of those who lived in them show how the leading families of old Virginia intermarried until the various relationships became a puzzle that delights the genealogist.

On the Rappahannock, in Richmond County, Virginia, Landon Carter, son of Robert ("King") Carter, the ancestor of the Carter family of Virginia, built Sabine Hall in 1730. He was a great lover of the works of Horace, and it was quite natural that he should adopt for his mansion the name of the Roman poet's Sabine Farm.

Until his death in 1778 he was a recognized leader in both Church and State. Robert A. Lancaster quotes an unnamed writer who says that he was "a high-minded public servant and a finished scholar, indulging a taste for science and a love for letters," and was considered "one of the most notable of the pre-Revolutionary statesmen of the Colony," and was "looked up to by the younger generation as a Nestor among his compatriots." He was a friend of Washington, and received many letters from him, some of which have been preserved.

Landon Carter's second wife was Maria Byrd, of Westover. Her portrait, as well as those of the other two wives, the husband and "King" Carter, are hanging to-day on the walls of Sabine Hall. The estate of four thousand acres descended to his son by his third marriage with Elizabeth Beale, Robert Wormeley Carter, who was a member of the Virginia Assembly. The property is still in the possession of the descendants of the original owner.

Westover, where Landon Carter courted Maria Byrd, is on the James in Charles City County, not far south of Sabine Hall. The mansion was built in the same year as Sabine Hall, 1730, by William Byrd, II, whose father came from England about 1674.

William Byrd, of Westover, was famous as a literary man and as a statesman. At one time he was President of His Majesty's Council. But perhaps his greatest fame came to him because he was the father of Evelyn Byrd, who was a reigning belle. When, at the age of eighteen, she was presented at Court, it was reported that the king of England complimented her by saying he was glad Virginia could produce such "beautiful Byrds."

Evelyn's brother, William Byrd, III, was the heir of the estate. He married Elizabeth Hill Carter, of Shirley, a neighboring estate. He was a member of the Virginia Council and attained distinction by his service as a colonel in the French and Indian War.

During the siege of Yorktown some of the French officers made frequent visits to Westover. One of them, Marquis de Chastellux, said that this was the most beautiful place in America.

Two armies have halted at Westover. In April, 1781, Cornwallis passed that way, and, during the Civil War McClellan's army camped on the grounds. A war-time picture shows something of the havoc wrought by the soldiers.

When Elizabeth Hill Carter, of Shirley, came to Westover, she gave up one beautiful home for another. Her father's Charles City County mansion was probably built late in the seventeenth century, though the exact date is not known. One of the estate's claims to distinction is that it has never been offered for sale. Colonel Edward Hill, the builder, Colonel Edward Hill, II, his son, and Colonel Edward Hill, III, his grandson, were leaders in the life of the county. At the death of Colonel Hill, III, his sister, Elizabeth Hill, became heir to the estate. She married John Carter, of Corotoman, son of Robert ("King") Carter, who was Secretary of the Colony. It was his daughter who married William Byrd, III, of Westover. Her brother, Charles Carter, who was a patriot of prominence, was the father-in-law of Light Horse Harry Lee, and the grandfather of General Robert E. Lee.

Carter's Grove, another seat of the Carter family, is also on the James, in Charles City County, not far from Shirley. The builder was Carter Burwell, and the house dates from 1751. The work was done by slaves, under the direction of a foreman who received L140 for his work. In the construction of the house 25,000 feet of lumber, 40,000 shingles, 15,000 laths, and 460,000 bricks were used. The total cost was only L500.

Carter Burwell was the son of Elizabeth, daughter of Robert ("King") Carter, who married Colonel Nathaniel Burwell.

Across the James, in Prince George County, is Brandon, whose builder was Nathaniel Harrison. The house dates from early in the eighteenth century. His son, also Nathaniel Harrison, married, as his second wife, Lucy the daughter of Robert ("King") Carter of Corotoman. Benjamin Harrison, the son by the first wife, Mary Digges, married Evelyn Taylor Byrd, of Westover. When she went to Brandon she took with her the Byrd portraits, which are to-day one of the attractions of the mansion.

Brandon has always been in the possession of descendants of the original owner.

LXII

GUNSTON HALL, VIRGINIA

THE HOME OF GEORGE MASON, "THE PEN OF THE REVOLUTION IN VIRGINIA"

Four miles from Mt. Vernon, on the Potomac, is the well-preserved mansion, Gunston Hall, built in 1758 by George Mason, the great-grandson of George Mason, who fled to America after the Battle of Worcester, where he was in arms against the king of England. The first mention of the name of this George Mason occurs in the Virginia patent of land which he secured in March, 1655.

George Washington and George Mason were not only near neighbors, but they were warm friends. Frequently Washington drove to Gunston Hall for a talk with Mason; or sometimes he floated down the stream in his four-oared gig, manned by his own slaves. Sometimes the men roamed together through the woods or the fields; on one of these walks they sought to define the boundaries between their estates.

Gifts of various kinds passed back and forth between the two manors; one day in 1785, when Mason was driven from Mt. Vernon in Washington's carriage, he sent back by the driver some young shoots of the Persian jessamine and Guelder rose.

A few days later a hogshead of cider was broached at Gunston Hall, and a liberal sample was sent to Washington. A note dated "9th November, 1785," addressed to Washington, begins, "The bearer waits on you with a side of venison (the first we have killed this season), which I beg your acceptance of."

At one time both Washington and Mason were members of the vestry of Truro parish. Washington's list of the vestrymen shows that his friend was elected by two hundred and eighty-two votes, while he himself received but fifty-one votes.

Mason was as often at Mt. Vernon as Washington was at Gunston Hall. After a visit made on Christmas Day, 1783, one of the other guests, Miss Lewis, of Fredericksburg, wrote:

"Among the most notable of the callers was Mr. George Mason,
of Gunston Hall, who was on his way home from Alexandria, and
who brought a charming granddaughter with him.... He is said
to be one of the greatest statesmen and wisest men in
Virginia. We had heard much of him and were delighted to look
in his face, hear him speak, and take his hand, which he
offered in a courtly manner. He is slight in figure, but
not tall, and has a grand head and clear gray eyes."

To the home of George Mason other men of note delighted to come. In the guest room Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee, as well as Washington, slept more than once. Patrick Henry, too, was a welcome visitor at Gunston Hall. George Mason had as high an opinion of the orator as Patrick Henry had of the statesman. "He is by far the most powerful speaker I ever heard," Mason once said of Henry; "every word he says not only engages but commands the attention; and your passions are no longer your own when he addresses them. But his eloquence is the smallest part of his merit. He is in my opinion the first man upon this continent, as well in abilities as public virtues, and had he lived in Rome about the time of the first Punic War, when the Roman people had arrived at their meridian glory and their virtue not tarnished, Mr. Henry's talents must have put him at the head of that glorious commonwealth."

The orator returned the compliment by calling Mason one of the two greatest statesmen he ever knew.

George Mason's statesmanlike vision was seen in 1766, when he warned the British public of the results that would follow coercion. "Three millions of people driven to desperation are not an object of contempt," he wrote. Again he proved a good prophet when he wrote to George Washington, on April 2, 1776, after the General took possession of Boston:

"I congratulate you most heartily upon this glorious and
important event--an event which will render George
Washington's name immortal in the annals of America, endear
his memory to the latest posterity, and entitle him to those
thanks which heaven appointed as the reward of public
virtue."

Mason was of a retiring disposition, and he would have preferred to remain at home. But he was forced into the councils of the Virginia Convention, and during his service there he prepared the marvellous Bill of Rights which was later made a part of the Constitution of that State and was the model for similar documents in many other States. He was also the author of the Constitution of Virginia, and the designer of the State seal. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he proved himself "the champion of the State and the author of the doctrine of State Rights." Because the Constitution as finally drafted by the convention contained so many provisions that he felt were dangerous, he refused to sign the document, "declaring that he would sooner chop off his right hand than put it to the Constitution" whose provisions he could not approve.

After the Constitutional Convention for more than four years the statesman lived quietly at Gunston Hall. When he died in October, 1792, he asked to be buried by the side of his first wife, whose death in 1773 had been a grievous blow to him. Over her tomb he had inscribed:

"Once She was all that cheers and sweetens Life;
The tender Mother, Daughter, Friend and Wife:
Once She was all that makes Mankind adore;
Now view the Marble, and be vain no more."

No monument was ever raised over his own grave. A grandson planned to set a stone inscribed to "The Author of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of Virginia," but he was unable to do as he wished.

Gunston Hall still stands, though it has passed through many hands since the death of him whom George Esten Cooke called "one of the most remarkable men, not only of his Country, and of his epoch, but of all Countries and all time."

LXIII

THE WASHINGTON COLLEGE BUILDING, LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA

HOW GEORGE WASHINGTON SOLVED A DELICATE PROBLEM

Even before the treaty of peace with Great Britain was signed, George Washington was making plans for the development of the West. He was especially impressed with the possibilities of the Potomac and James rivers, if improved by canals, as a means of communication with the Ohio. Companies were organized to the work. In both enterprises he was a stockholder. On August 13, 1785, he wrote to Edmund Randolph:

"The great object for the accomplishment of which I wish to
see the inland navigation of the River Potomack and James
improved and extended is to connect the western territory
with the Atlantic states.... I have already subscribed five
shares to the Potomack navigation; and enclosed I give you a
power to put my name down for five shares to that of James
River."

In 1785 Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, wrote to Washington that the General Assembly of the State had voted to give him one hundred shares in the James River Company, "it being their wish, in particular, that those great works of improvement, which, both as springing from the liberty which he has been so instrumental in establishing, and as encouraged by his patronage, will be durable monuments of his glory, may be made monuments also of the gratitude of his country."

Washington replied that he could not accept money for his services to his country. Then he added: "But if it should please the General Assembly to permit me to turn the destination of the fund vested in me, from my private emolument, to objects of a public nature, it will be my study in selecting these to prove the sincerity of my gratitude for the honor conferred on me, by preferring such as may appear most subservient to the enlightened and patriotic views of the legislature."

Of course the legislature granted the desired permission, indicating that the gifts might be made either during Washington's life, or by bequest.

Some years passed before Washington fixed on a proper recipient for the canal shares. In 1798, however, he gave them to the trustees of Liberty Academy, at Lexington, Virginia, which had been incorporated in 1782. In recognition of the gift the trustees asked the legislature to change the name of the school to Washington Academy. In 1813 the name was once more changed to Washington College.

This, the first large gift received by the institution, is still yielding an income of three thousand dollars. During many times of crisis the income provided in this way has been of signal use to the institution, notably in 1824, when the Washington College building was begun. This structure is two hundred and fifty feet long, is built of brick, and each of its three porticoes is supported by white colonial columns.

For more than seventy-five years after Washington turned over the canal shares, the institution's sole endowment amounted to only about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The seventy thousand dollars added to the canal shares came from sources that were influenced by Washington's confidence in the institution.

The beginning of the larger life of the college was the election of General Robert E. Lee as president. The keynote of his five years of service was sounded in the letter which he wrote to the trustees on receiving notification of his election. He feared that, in view of his military history, he might cause harm to the college. He was never greater than when he said:

"I think it is the duty of every citizen, in the present
condition of the country, to do all in his power to aid in
the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way to oppose
the policy of the State or General Government directed to
that object. It is particularly incumbent upon those charged
with the instruction of the young to set them an example of
submission to authority, and I would not consent to be the
cause of animadversion on the College."

Following the death of General Lee, which came after five years of remarkable development under his leadership, the name of Washington College was changed to Washington and Lee University, that it might continue forever a memorial to its two greatest benefactors.

LXIV

BRUTON PARISH CHURCH, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

"THE COURT CHURCH OF COLONIAL VIRGINIA"

Jamestown was the capital of Virginia until 1699. Then Williamsburg became the seat of government. Six years earlier the latter town had taken on some importance because of the founding there of William and Mary College, and for more than sixty years efforts had been made to persuade the people to make their homes in the place. The records of the Colony show that in 1632 rewards were offered to those who would locate in what seemed a promising situation for a town.

The date of the building of the first church in Williamsburg is not known. The first entry in the vestry book of Bruton parish was made in April, 1674, but the parish dates from 1658. In that year Harrop and Middle Plantation parishes were united, though the new parish was not called Bruton for some time. The name was given because Sir James Ludwell, who afterward left a legacy of twenty pounds to the parish, was born in Bruton, England.

A building (that it was not the first is shown by the mention in the records of the Old Church) was completed in 1683, and the first service was held on January 6, 1684. The cost was "L150 sterling and sixty thousand pounds of good sound, marketable sweet, scented Tobacco." The minister, "Mr. Rowland Jones," was "paid annually ye sum of sixteen thousand, six hundred and sixty pounds of Tobacco and Caske."

The removal of the capital to Williamsburg brought so many new people to town that the church became too small for the congregation. In 1701 the parish records show that there was talk of a new building.

On October 1, 1706, the vestry decided to levy a tax of twenty thousand pounds of Tobacco as a beginning of the building fund. Four years later the members of the vestry made known their hope that the House of Burgesses would assist in the expense, which, they thought, would be about five hundred pounds. To the Burgesses a message was sent indicating that the vestry "do not doubt in the least but the House of Burgesses would show their Pious and Generous Spirits by their Liberall Donation towards soe Necessary and good a worke and that they would assure them to the best of their Judgment they would appropriate the same according to the true Intent thereof."

The Burgesses offered "to take Care of the wings and intervening parts," if the vestry would build the ends of the church. They also agreed to build the pews for the Governor, the Council, and themselves. With their help, the building was completed and occupied in 1715. The tower was added in 1769.

Rev. James Blair, who was minister of Bruton parish at the time of the erection of the new building, had been instrumental in organizing William and Mary College. The early history of that institution is bound up with that of the church. Some of the most notable conflicts between Church and State in the old Colony took place during the years of Mr. Blair's activity. He died in 1743, after serving the church as minister for thirty-three years, William and Mary College as President for fifty years, and the Colony as Commissioner for fifty-three years.

Among the famous names on the vestry rolls are those of Henry Tyler, great-great-grandfather of President Tyler, who was first mentioned on "The Seaventh day of April, 1694," and George Wythe, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Patrick Henry, and George Washington later worshipped with the congregation.

When Virginia was about to go to war with Great Britain, the House of Burgesses, on May 24, 1774, ordered that "the members of the House do attend in their places, at the hour of ten in the morning, on the first day of June next, in order to proceed with the Speaker and the mace, to the church," for fasting, humiliation, and prayer. During the Revolution the members of the church were noted for their loyalty to the Colonies.

To-day the building is about as it was during the troubled days of the war. No change has been made in the exterior, but in 1839 the interior was changed in many important particulars. In 1905, however, it was restored as before. The pulpit was put in the old place. The canopy and curtain which had long stood above the pew of Governor Spotswood, were found and again put in position. King Edward VII gave the new pulpit Bible, and President Roosevelt provided the lectern.

LXV

WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

THE ALMA MATER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, JAMES MONROE, AND JOHN TYLER

Three years before John Harvard left a legacy for the founding of the college that bears his name, the first bequest for public education made by a resident of Virginia was recorded, though this was used for a secondary school, rather than for a college.

The project of a college, proposed in 1617 and 1618 by the London Company, and in 1619 at the first session of the General Assembly, languished until 1685, when Rev. James Blair came to the Colony as a missionary and settled in Henrico County, where it had been proposed to found the college sixty-eight years earlier. For five years he brooded over the need of a college and in 1690 he made to a convention at Jamestown "Severall Propositions for a free school and college, to be humbly presented to the consideration of the next general assembly." Later, by authority of the Assembly, Dr. Blair appealed to the Merchants of London, "especially such as traffick with Virginia," and three thousand pounds were pledged.

On the occasion of Dr. Blair's visit to England in 1691, he had an audience with King William, at which he presented the petition for "a charter to erect a free school and college." The king replied, "Sir, I am glad that the Colony is upon so good a design, and will promote it to the best of my power." Queen Mary also showed her interest in the college.

To the endowment in lands and taxes provided by royal order, Dr. Blair secured an appreciable addition in an ingenious manner. Learning that, some time before his arrival, the authorities had promised forgiveness to pirates who, before a set day, should confess their crimes and give up a portion of their booty, and that three famous pirates had come in after the appointed day, so that they were arrested, he visited them in jail and offered to use his influence in their behalf, if they would consent to give to the college a portion of their booty. They gladly agreed; Dr. Blair's efforts were successful, and they were given their liberty together with their treasure, minus the promised gift to the Virginia College. Another much larger gift was secured from the executor of an estate which held money devised indefinitely for "pious and charitable uses." The income from this portion of the endowment was to be used "to keep as many Indian children in meat, drink, washing, clothes, medicine, books and education, from the first beginning of letters till they should be ready to receive orders and be sent abroad to convert the Indians."

In connection with the charter for "the College of William and Mary," which was dated February 8, 1693, authority was given to use the seal described as follows: "On a green field a college building of silver, with a golden sun, showing half its orb, rising above it." This is said to be the sole instance of a college, either English or American, which has a seal of such high origin.

Sir Christopher Wren, the designer of St. Paul's Cathedral, made the plan for the original building, which was to be two stories and a half high, one hundred and thirty-six feet long, and forty feet wide, and with two wings sixty feet long and twenty-five feet wide. In 1697 it was reported to the governor of the province that the front and north side of the proposed rectangle had been completed at Williamsburg, and that funds were exhausted. The walls were more than three feet thick at the base, and contained 840,000 bricks, the product of a brickyard nearby.

For some years subscriptions were paid slowly, and interest in the college languished, but conditions improved when King William sent to Governor Nicholson a proclamation urging him "Yt you call upon ye persons yt have promised to contribute towards ye maintenance of ye sd college, to pay in full the severall Contributions."

The first of the disasters that have visited the main building came in 1705, when the interior was burned. The college was rebuilt on the old walls, as was the case after the fire of 1859. Thus, after much more than two hundred years, the venerable building looks almost as it did when the first students entered its doors. A number of other structures have been erected since, including the Brafferton building in 1723, the house now occupied by the president, which dates from 1732, and the chapel, begun in 1729. Interest must always centre about the central structure, however.

During the Revolution the president was James Madison, second cousin of the future President of the United States. The president's house was occupied by Cornwallis in 1781. After his surrender French officers lived there. During their occupancy the house was badly damaged by fire, but it was repaired at the expense of the French Army.

Three events of the years of the war are of special moment in the history of higher education in America. On December 5, 1776, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the first intercollegiate fraternity in the United States, was organized. On December 4, 1779, the college was made a university, the first in the country, and the same year marked the beginning of the Honor System of college government which worked such a revolution in other colleges more than a century later. When Thomas Jefferson, who was a student at William and Mary in 1760-62, founded the University of Virginia, the Honor System was successfully inaugurated in the new institution.

Other famous men who have been connected with William and Mary included George Washington, who was chancellor in 1794; Chief Justice John Marshall, student in 1779; Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, student in 1766; James Monroe, student in 1775. John Tyler was also educated there. It is a remarkable fact that the presidents who are responsible for adding to the original territory of the country Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and most of the western territory, were products of William and Mary.

LXVI

THE MONUMENTAL CHURCH, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

ON THE SITE OF A THEATRE WHOSE BURNING MOVED THE ENTIRE COUNTRY

"Last night the playhouse in this city was crowded with an
unusual audience. There could not have been less than 600
persons in the house. Just before the conclusion of the
play, the scenery caught fire, and in a few minutes the whole
building was wrapt in flames. It is already ascertained that
61 persons were devoured by that most terrific element. The
Editor of this paper was in the house when the
ever-to-be-remembered, deplorable accident occurred. He is
informed that the scenery took fire in the back part of the
house, by raising of a chandelier; that the boy, who was
ordered by some of the players to raise it, stated, that if
he did so, the scenery would take fire, when he was commanded
in a peremptory manner, to hoist it. The boy obeyed, and the
fire was instantly communicated to the scenery."

This story the editor of the Richmond (Virginia) _American Standard_ told in the columns of his paper on Friday, December 27, 1811. He added the fact that among those who perished were the Governor of the State, as well as many of the leaders in the business and social life of the city.

By order of the city council the remains of the victims were buried on the site of the burned building, which was bought for the purpose. At the same time it was ordered that "no person or persons should be permitted for and during the time of four months ... to exhibit any public show or spectacle ... within the city."

By ordinance it was also decreed that a monument should be erected on the site. Later it was suggested that there should be built there, by public subscription, "an edifice to be set apart and consecrated for the worship of God," and that this should be the monument.

Accordingly, on August 1, 1812, the corner stone of the Monumental Church was laid, the lot having been purchased by the city for $5,000. The building was consecrated as a Protestant Episcopal church in May, 1814. In April, 1815, the subscribers to the fund for the building, who had organized under the title, "The Association for building a Church on Shockoe Hill," were notified that one-half of their subscription money would be returned to them on application at the Bank of Virginia.

In the middle of the front or main porch of the church a white marble monument was erected to the memory of the victims of the fire.

To the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal church, which assembled in Philadelphia on May 18, 1814, report was made that "a magnificent church has sprung up in Richmond from the ashes of the Theatre; it has the patronage and support of men of the greatest talents and highest rank in Virginia."