Memoirs of the life of William Wirt

Front matter

O .

V .r>

A'

Preface To The New Edition

The rapid sale of the first edition of these Memoirs brings a very agreeable testimony to the appreciation "which the public has made of the character of him whose life I have attempted to illustrate.

In the preparation of the present edition, I have found necessity and opportunity for a revision of my work, which has enabled me to make some emendations ; to correct some errors, both of the printer and my own ; and now to offer it to the public in a condition, I hope, more worthy of that kind reception it has already met with.

. J. P. KENNEDY.

Baltimore, December, 1849.

GOER GEO. BENKEFCT, Jr.

POST ,516, VETERANS

OF FOREIGN WARS

FarmiDgdale, L.I.

CORP. GEO. BENKERT, Jr.

POST #516, VETERANS

OF FORKIQH WARS

FarmingdaJt, L- 1.

CONTENTS,

VOL. I. '

Introduction 13

Chapter I

Parentage of William Wirt.— His Birth.— Will of mony. — Autobiographical Memoir of Ten Years. —

Schoolmaster. — Mother and Aunt. — A Thunderstorm Bladensburg. — The Dancing-Master. — A Ghost Story Slack Wire. — Lee's Legion.^The Youno^ Drummer.- in Georgetown. — Mrs. Schoolfield, — Mrs. Love and Life and its Images. — Mr. Dent's School. Charles Campbell. — The Peace. — Day Dreams. — Colonel Lee. in Montgomery. — Early Acquaintances. — Music. — A

Jacob Wirt. — Patri- Bladensburg. — The — Old Inhabitants of — Performance on the —Mr. Rogers' School her Family. — Rural County. — Alexander — Mr. Hunt's School

Fox Hunt 15

CHAPTE'S'lIr

Imaginative Temperament -H is St udies. — Wholesome Influence of Mr

Hunt. — His Library. — Sketches by Cruse. — Verse Making. — First Literary Effort, a Prose Satire on the Usher. — Its Consequences. — A School Incident. — A Victory. — Visit to the Court-Housc of Montgomery. — Mr. Dorsey — The Moot Court. — Its Constitution. — School Exercises 41

(Vii)

Viii CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Friends.— Peter A. Games.— Benjamin Edwards.— Ninian Edwards.— Becomes a Tutor in Mr. Edwards' Family.— Useful Employment of his Time. — Studies. — Journey to Georgia. -=- Returns to Montgomery and Studies Law with W. P. Hunt.— Removes to Virginia.— Studies with Mr. Swann.— Is admitted to Practice by the Culpeper Court 49

Chapter IV

His Library. — First Case. — Difficulties attending it. — Is assisted by a Friend. — A Triumph. — His Companionable Qualities. — Habits of Desultory Study. — Practises in Albemarle 57

Chapter V

Albemarle Friends.— Dr. Gilmer.— Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe. — James Barbour, — Marries Mildred Gilmer. — Pen Park. — Dr. Gilmer's Library.— Hospitality of the Country. — Dangers to which he was exposed. — Character of the Bar. — His Popularity and Free Habits. — Francis Walker Gilmer. — Thomas W. Gilmer, late Secretary of the Navy. — Dabney Carr and his Family.— Anecdote of Barbour, Carr, and Wirt.— State of Flu. — Death of Dr. Gilmer. — Rose Hill. — Letter to Carr. ... 63

Chapter VI

Happy Life at Pen Park.- Misfortune.— Death of his Wife.— Religious Impressions. — Determines to remove to Richmond. — Elected Clerk to tlie House of Delegates. — New Acquaintances. — Patrick Henry. — Resolutions of Ninety-Eight. — Re-elected Clerk at two succeeding Sessions. — Temptations to Free Living. — Trial of Callcnder for a Libel under the Sedition Law. — Wirt, Ilay and Nicholas defend him. — Course of the Trial. — A Singular Incident. — Judge Chase. — Nullification. — Fourth of July Oration. — Embarrassed Elocution 73

CONTENTS. ix

Chapter VII

Elected to the post of Chancellor. — Value of this Appointment. — Reasons for Accepting it. — Col. Robert Gamble. — Courtship. — A Theatrical Incident. — Second Marriage. — Removes to Williamsburg. — Letters to Carr. — Resigns the Chancellorship and determines to go to Norfolk. . 86

Chapter VIII

Commences Practice in Norfolk. — Professional Success. — Letter to Pope. — Comments on the Parsimony of Judicial Salaries, — Birth of his Eldest Child. — Religious Sentiments. — Trial of Shannon. — Singular Case of Circumstantial Evidence. — Removes his Residence to Norfolk. ... 98

Chapter XV

Public Agitation. — The Affair of the Leopard and Chesapeake. — Expectation of War. — Fourth of July. — Letter to Judge Tucker Wirt Projects the Raising of a Legion. — Correspondence with Carr in regard to it. — The Project meets Opposition. — Finally Abandoned. — War Arrested. — The Embargo 190

Chapter XVI

Increasing Reputation. — Mr. Jefferson Proposes to him to go into Congress. — He Declines. — Determines to Adhere to his Profession. — He Defends Mr. Madison Against the Protest. — Letters of " One of the People." — Unexpectedly put in Nomination for the Legislature. — Letter to Mrs. W. on this Event. — His Repugnance to it, — Is Elected. — Correspondence with Mr. Monroe. — Letters to Carr and Edwards 207

Chapter XVII

His Service in the Legislature.— Preference for Private Life. — Letters to Edwards. — Literary Dreams. — Acrimony of Party Politics. — Educa- Hon. — Misgivings in regard to the Government 235

CONTENTS. XI

Chapter XVIII

Resumes the purpose of Writing the Biography of Patrick Henry. — Consults Mr. Jefferson on this Subject. — Letters to Carr. — New England Oratory. — The Sentinel. — Letter to B. Edwards. — Death of Col. Gamble.— The Old Bachelor. — Letters Concerning it 248

Chapter XIX

The Old Bachelor. — Contributors to it. — Character of the Work. — Amusing Correspondence between Wirt and Carr in Reference to it. — Carr's Promotion to the Bench. — The post of Attorney-General vacant. — Wirt spoken of — His Thoughts upon it. — Letter to his Daughter. — Employed by Mr. Jefferson in the Batture Case. — Correspondence with Mr. J. in reference to Duane. — Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin 263

Chapter XX

The War. — Its Excitements. — Wirt Declines a Commission in the Army. — Volunteer Soldiery. — Life of Henry. — Burning of the Richmond Theatre. — Governor Smith. — Carr Appointed Chancellor, and Removes to Winchester.— Letters to him. — W. attempts to write a Comedy. — Judge Tucker's Opinion of the Influence of such Literature on Professional Character. — Difficulty of Comedy. — Professional Dignity. — Richmond Bar. — Anecdote of a Trial between Wickham and Hay. — Epigram. — Warden. — Letter to Carr. — Tired of the Old Bachelor. — Biography. — Letter from Judge Tucker on this Subject. — Incidents of the War. — British ascend to City Point. — Wirt Raises a Corps of Flying Artillery. — Letter to Mrs. W. — To Dabney Carr. — Gilmer, a Student of Law. — Letter of Advice to him 297

Chapter XXI

Contentment. — Prosperous Condition. — Letters to Carr. — To Mr. Lomax. — Opinion of Cicero. — Views of the War. — Extravagant Opinions. — Letter to Gilmer. — Campaigning. — Insubordination of the Militia. — Visit to Washington. — Congress. — Unfavourable Aspect of Affairs. — Madison. — Webster. — Aversion to Public Life. — Engagement in the Supreme Court. — Postponed 325 ta

CONTENTS.

Chapter XXII

Visits Washington to Attend the Court. — Returns. — Peace Restored by the Treaty of Ghent. — Letter to Gilmer. — Resumes the Biography of Henry. — Diflaculties of this Work. — Scantiness of Material. — The Author weary of it. — Letter to Carr on the Subject. — Dabney Carr the Elder. — The Origin of the Continental Congress. — Peter Carr. — Letters to Carr and Gilmer. — George Hay Resigns the Post of District Attorney. — Wirt Recommends Upshur to the President. — Moderation of Political Feeling. — Mr. Madison Appoints Wirt to the Office. — Correspondence in Reference to this Appointment. — Makes his Debut in the Supreme Court. — Encounters Pinkney. — His Opinion of Pinkney. — Letter to Gilmer. — Letter to Carr on " The Path of Pleasure," and his Opinion of this Dramatic Attempt. — Correspondence with Mr. Jefferson on the Subject of the Biography. — Letter to Richard Morris 341

CO

-i-j. JL.

^ OF FOREIGN ^WAf.§

F?.rmii4^iiiUi

COUP. GEO. L^ElS'Ivi^i^-^'. ^i'-

POST ,>516, VETERANS

OF FOREIGN WARS

Introduction

A NARRATIVE of the life of "William Wirt will present us the career of one who, springing from an humble origin, was enabled to attain to high distinction amongst his countrymen. Whether the incidents of that career are sufficiently striking to communicate any high degree of interest to his biography, the reader will determine for himself in the perusal of these pages. Mr. Wirt's life was, in great part, that of a student. His youthful days were passed in preparation for his profession. His manhood was engrossed by forensic labours. Old age found him crowned with the honours of a faithfully earned juridical renown.

His social life was one of great delight to his friends. It was embellished with all the graces which a benevolent heart, a playful temper and a happy facility of discourse were able to impart. With mankind, beyond the circle of his personal friends, he had no great acquaintance. He was not ' much of a traveller. Occasionally touching upon the confines of political life;,'* he' was, nevertheless, but scantily entitled to be called a statesman. !For twelve years Attorney General of the United States, and consequently a member of the Cabinet through three Presidential terms, his participation in government affairs went very little beyond the professional duties of his office. He had a strong talent and, with it, an eager inclination for literary enterprise. To indulge these was the most ardent wish of his mind; but the pressure of his circumstances kept him under a

14 ' '""''iNfRobucfioN.

continual. interdict. Wliat he has given to the world, therefore, in this kind,' is small in amount, art's '^'en-^nder conditions that should almost disarm criticism. The few works which he has left behind, however will be found to merit, as in his lifetime they received, the praise due to the productions of an instructive and pleasant writer.

A life confined to the pursuits indicated in this sketch, may not be expected to charm the reader by the significance of its events. It is much more a life of reflection than of action ; more a life of character than of incident. I have to present to the world a man greatly beloved for his social virtues, the illustrations of which are daily fading away with the fading memories of contemporary friends, now reduced to a few survivors : a man of letters and strong literary ambition, but who had not the leisure to gratify a taste in the indulgence of which he might have attained to high renown : a public functionary, who had no relish for politics, and who was, consequently, but little identified with that public history which so often imparts the only value to biography : a lawyer who, with a full measure of contemporary fame, has left but little on record by which the justice of that fame might be estimated.

These are the chief impediments to the success of the task I have assumed. Yet I do not doubt that, from the material at my disposal, I shall be able to furnish an agreeable image of a man whose character will win the affections of the generation which succeeds him, as it did of those amongst whom he lived.

POST ^516, VETERANS

OF FOREIGN WARS

Farmingdale, Ij* I.

LIFE OF WILLIAM WIRT.

Chapter I. 1772—1783

PARENTAGE OF WILLIAM WIRT. HIS BIRTH. — AYILL OP JACOB

WIRT. PATRIMONY. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OP TEN

YEARS. BLADENSBURG. — THE SCHOOLMASTER. MOTHER AND

AUNT. A THUNDERSTORM. — OLD INHABITANTS OP BLADENS- BURG. — THE DANCING MASTER. — A GHOST STORY. PERPORM-

ANCE ON THE SLACK WIRE. LEE's LEGION. THE YOUNG

DRUMMER. MR. ROGERS' SCHOOL IN GEORGETOWN. MRS.

SCHOOLFIELD. MRS. LOVE AND HER PAMILY. RURAL LIPE

AND ITS IMAGES. MR. DENt's SCHOOL, CHARLES COUNTY. — .

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. THE PEACE. DAY DREAMS, — COLONEL

LEE. MR. hunt's SCHOOL IN MONTGOMERY. EARLY AC

QUAINTANCES. MUSIC. A POX HUNT.

Those who best remember William Wirt, need not be reminded bow distinctively bis face and figure suggested bis connection with tbo German race. Tbe massive and bold outline of bis countenance, tbe clear, kind, blue eye, tbe ligbt bair falling in crisp and numerous curls upon a broad forebead, tbe bigh arcbing eyebrow, tbe large nose and ample cbin, might recall a resemblance to tbe portrait of Goethe. His height rather above six feet, bis broad shoulders, capacious chest and general fullness of development, were equally characteristic of his Teutonic origin. The ever-changing expression of bis eye and lip, at one moment sobered with deep thought, and in the next radiant with a rich, lurking, quiet humour that might be seen coming up from the depths of his heart and provoking a laugh before a word was said — these were traits which enlivened whatever might be supposed to be saturnine in the merely national cast of his features.

16 PARENTAGE AND BIRTH. , :i772— 1783.

HLs father, Jacob Wirt, was from Switzerland:* his mother, Henrietta, was a German. Jacob, with his brother Jasper Wirt, had settled in Bladensburg, in Maryland, some years before the war of the Revolution. Jacob had six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom William was the youngest. He had gathered some little property in Bladensburg, and supported his family there chiefly by keeping a tavern, the avails of which, together with some small rents accruing from a few lots in the village, enabled him, in an humble way, to maintain a comfortable household.

William was bom on the 8th of November, in the year 1772. In less than two years after this date, Jacob Wirt died, leaving a small heritage to be divided between his wife and children. His will, which is on record in Prince George's county, assigns to his wife Henrietta " one half lot of ground in Bladensburg, No. 5, on which the billiard room is built, and on which I am now building a new house." After her death this lot was to " be appraised and to descend to my eldest son, Jacob Wirt, provided he pay out of the appraised value of said house and half lot, to each of my other children, one equal part, share and share alike, to wit : to my daughters Elizabeth, Catharine and Henrietta, and my son Uriah-Jasper and William, — to each and every of which I give and bequeath one equal part of the appraised value of the above premises." The will mentions, besides this property, "the brick store in Bladensburg," rented at twenty-five pounds sterling per annum to Cunningham and Co. ; — and " my tavern in which I now reside, with the back buildings, stables and lot, also the counting house before the tavern door and the smith shop." We have also a reference to two lots of ground in " Hamburg near Georgetown," and some personal estate.

This k? a summary of all the worldly goods which Jacob Wirt, in the year 1774, left to be divided between his wife and six children. Henrietta Wirt, the mother of the family, died before William attained his eighth year. How much of the property we have enumerated remained in the family at that period, we have no means of knowing. The whole value of these Bladensburg and Hamburg lots, we may

• The name of Wirt or Wirth is familiar to tlie annals of Switzerland. The reader conversant with the liistory of the Reformation, will remember" the unhappy fate of Adam Wirth, the deputy bailiff" of Stammheim, and his two sons, John and Adrian, at Baden in 1524.

Chap. I.] PATRIMONY— AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 17

conjecture, amounted to no great sum, — perhaps not more than three or four thousand dollars. Divided, it afforded but small provision for each of the children.

It is probable that William was born iu the little hotel of the village, mentioned in the will ; and as this building is directed to be rented out, we may suppose that the family moved, after the death of Jacob Wirt, to the "new house" on lot No. 5. I have, in vain, endeavoured to ascertain in the village, from its present inhabitants, the truth of these conjectures, or to identify either of the houses ■ referred to.

There are but few memorials of the family left. Humble labour with its lowly roof and frugal board may find a happy fireside, but it has few chroniclers. What is accessible to us of the history of that fireside, in whose rays the infancy of William Wirt found a cheerful and healthy light, we owe chiefly, almost wholly, to a pleasant and playful memoir which the subject of it, then Attorney General of the United States, wrote at the request of his children, in 1825, to amuse them with recollections which, it is easy to discern, still more delighted himself.

This little fragment of autobiography runs over the fii'st ten years of the author's childhood. It is a homely, warm-hearted remembrance of a simple time, sketched, with a lively pencil, by one who never lost sight in the zenith of a brilliant fame of his obligations to those who watched his fii'st steps and protected his earliest infancy.

I shall extract from the se_remin iscences what I find useful to my present purpose,_wi thout ventur ing^ to submit the whole to the eye_ of the p ubhc^ They dwell upon incidents which, however grateful in the telling to that affectionate circle to whom the memoir was addressed, and who could find in it a thousand memories of family endearment, would, I am fearful, be considered sometimes too trivial to excite the interest of those who are strangers to the genial spirit and household mirthfulness of the writer. Even for the extracts which I may submit, I must deprecate, on this score, the too rigid criticism or fastidious comment of my reader, — asking him to remember that a father, discoui'sing to his children assembled around their own hearth, on topics which derive their agreeable savour from their love to him, may claim a dramatic privilege from the critic, to

I have his performance judged by its adaptation to the scene, the time, the place and the persons.

"With this endeavour to forestall the judgment of the reader, — indeed to bespeak his good nature — towards what it is proposed to disclose of the memoii', I would remark, by way of comment on the greater portion of these extracts, that Mr. Wirt's character was, to the latest period of his life, singularly impressed by the %ivacity of his imagination. He was greatly sensitive to the influence which this predominance of the ideal had in shaping his career, and has endeavom-ed in the memoir, to trace the source of some distinctive ciu-rents of his life to the impressions made upon his imagination in childhood. Every one has felt these influences in greater or less degree, and most persons may be able to find in their own history some particular complexion of mind or form of habit and opinion traceable to such causes. In Mr. Wh't the effect of such influences was visible, in a very striking degree, to his friends. This may, perhaps, appear also to the reader in the course of this biography.

Bladensburg has been, for many years past, a quiet, — I may even say, without meaning unfriendly disparagement — a drowsy and stagnant little village, well known by its position on the wayside of a great thoroughfare to the national metropolis, from which it is but a few miles distant. It is somewhat famous in our annals, not only as a neutral ground where many a personal combat has decided what the world has chosen to call a point of honour, but also as the field where higher questions were put to mortal arbitrement, when the British army, in 1814, disputed with an American host for the possession of the capital. For many years past, — from a date before the commencement of the present century, — this village has been not only stationary in its gTOwth, but even falling gradually away under the touch of time. During a great portion of this period, it was enlivened by the daily transit of some half dozen or more mail coaches, plying through to and from the capital of the United States. Twice a day the silence which brooded over its streets was broken by the blowing of horns, the clamour of stable-boys hurrying with fresh relays of horses to the doors of rival stage houses, and by the rattle of rapidly arriving and departing coaches. But even these transient glories have vanished. The rail-road, which touches only on the border of

Chap. I.] THE SCHOOLMASTER. . 19

the village, has now displaced the old stage-coach, and the village slumbers are no Ioniser broken.

Previous to the Revolutionary war this village had a different fortune. It was then a thrifty, business-driving, little sea-port, profitably devoted to the tobacco trade, of which it constituted, at that day, quite an important mart. It was inhabited by some wealthy factors who had planted themselves there in connection with transatlantic houses, and whose mode of living, both in the character of their dwellings and in the matter of personal display, communicated a certain show of opulence to the town.

Whilst it was yet in its flourishing era, William Wirt was one of the children most familiar to its firesides — a lively, shrewd, pleasanttempered and beautiful boy, upon whom many eyes were turned in kindly regard, though with little foresight, perhaps, of that rising fortune to which he was destined.

Touching these days he shall now speak for himself.

His reminiscences begin at some three or four years of age, when he was first sent to school. It does not often fail that our strongest recollection of infancy goes back to the schoolmaster, — that high authority whose lineaments are indelibly stamped upon the memory of childhood. Who does not remember the awe and reverence with which his young imagination invested the pedagogue beneath whose sceptre he was first taught to bow ? To the child who, yet callow, looks tremblingly upon all beyond the roof-tree, the image of the schoolmaster is the embodiment of all power and all knowledge — teacher, sage, seer, magician. The trace he leaves of his form and face, his gait, his voice, his vestments, his uprising and down-sitting, incoming and outgoing, is not a thing of memory merely, — it is an assimilation of something into our organism, an incorporation of his identity with our own, which we perceive as we perceive ourselves some half century back.

• Our present reminiscence, in the memoir, naturally begins with this image.

" The schooDiouse was across the street at the farther corner of the opposite square. The schoolmaster was Elisha Crown, an Englishman; a middle-sized man, stoop-shouldered, spare, rather thin-faced and of a dark complexion. He wore a suit of blue cloth, coat, waistcoat and small-clothes, with black horn buttons, an old-fashioned cock-and-pinch hat, the pinch in front, far projected and sharp, a pair of silver shoe-buckles, — and was a very respectable looking oldfiishioned gentleman." This picture may remind us of Hogarth's ''Politician," with "the pinch" so far projecting that the candle burns a hole through it.

"The school was transferred about a mile into the country, on what was then the road from Bladensburg to Georgetown, "■ Jlr. Crown's house being on one side of the road and the school-house on the other — both of them log houses. The dwelling-house, or a house built on the same site, is now (1825) standing, and the foundation of the old sehoolhouse is still visible. The land and house belonged to my uncle Jasper Wirt, whose eldest daughter Mr. Crown had married, and whose dwelling, a single-storied brick house, was not more than a quarter of a mile off, and is also still standing."

We pass now from the schoolmaster and his concerns, to an incident connected with this dwelling of Jasper Wu-t, and to a pleasant family picture. The minute recollection of this incident will illustrate that sensitiveness of imagination to which we have referred.

" My mother had come over from Bladensburg, one summer evening, on a visit to my aunt, and after school I went down to join her. My aunt dwells upon my memory in strong colours. She was a tall and rather large-framed woman, with a fair complexion ^nd a round face, that must have been handsome in her youth. She was a native of Switzerland, and had a cast of character that made her worthy of the land of William Tell. A kinder being never lived. She was full of all the charities and courtesies of life, always ready to suggest excuses for the weaknesses and frailties of others, yet without any frailty or weakness of her own that I could discover.

" She was religious, a great reader of religious books ; and had a large, old folio German Bible, bound either in wood or hard black leather, with silver or brass clasps. Often have I seen her read that book with streaming eyes and a voice half choked with her feelings.

" On the evening that I am speaking of, there was one of the most violent thunderstorms I have ever witnessed. My aunt got down her Bible and began to read aloud. As the storm increased she read louder and louder. IMy mother was exceedingly frightened. She

Chaf. I.J A THUNDERSTORM. 21

was one of the most tender and affectionate of beings ; but she had the timidity of her sex in an extreme degree, — and, indeed, this storm was enough to appal the stoutest heart. One flash of lightning struck a tree in the yard and ripped off a large splinter, which it drove towards us. My mother shrieked aloud, flew behind the door and took me with her. My aunt remained fii'm in her seat and noticed the peal in no other way than by the increased energy of her voice. This was the first thunderstorm I remember. I never got over my mother's contagious terror until I became a man. Even then, and even yet, I am rendered much more uneasy by a thunderstorm than, I believe, I should have been if my mother had, on that occasion, displayed the firmness of my aunt. I could not have been more than five or six years old when this happened. The incident and its effect on me show the necessity of commanding our fears before our children."

Another incident —

" On our way home from the schoolhouse to Bladensburg the road passed by an old field, on the outer margin of which a negro man had been buried who, it was reported, had been whipped to death by his master. Besides the boys, who went to this school from Bladensburg, there were several from the neighbourhood, and, amongst others, one whom I remember only as Zack Calvert. This boy had one evening been detained at school after all the rest of us had gone home, and had to pass the old field after daylight was gone. The next morning — full well do I remember how he made my flesh creep and my hair rise, by telling us that, in passing the field, the night before, he heard a whip-poor-will, which sate upon the gravestone of the negro, cry out ' whip him well — • whip him well — whip him well,' — and that he could hear a voice answering from below, ' Oh pray ! ' — It was the first time that a superstitious emotion entered my mind, and I now recall how dreadfully sublime it was. My heart quaked, and yet there was a sort of terrible pleasure in it which I cannot define. It made my blood creep with horror to believe it : yet I would not have had it false. That terrible field was never afterwards passed at twilight without a race, in which I, as being youngest, was always behind, and consequently most exposed to the danger and proportionally terilfied. I do not yet hear a whip-poor-will, without some of these misgivings of my childhood."

22 OLD INHABITANTS. [1772—1763.

These are trifles in the review of them; though not without some small interest in connection with the person who has thought them worth recollecting. They call to memory some characteristics which his personal friends will not fail to recognise.

We have some pleasant descriptions of several merchants of Bladensburg of the old time; — of Mr. Christopher Lowndes — the <' tall, spare old gentleman, in blue broadcloth and plush, and cocked liat" — remarkable for his politeness and suavity: — of Mr. Robert ^ Dick, the silent, thoughtful man of business, residing in a beautiful mansion, "■ a long white house with wings, which stood on the summit of the Eastern Ridge which overlooks the town :" — Mr. Sidebotham, a stirring, busy, successful merchant, rosy from good living, who, in the old fashion of Maryland, had his bowl of toddy every day — a thorough John Bull, "proud, rough, absolute, and kind." "We have shorter notices of Mr. Henderson, Mr. Huett, and Doctor Ross, Messrs. Campbell and Rruce, factors, with good capital at command. — Mr. Ponsonby was one of the magnates of the village, — a handsome man, graceful, lively, well-informed, and somewhat of the most noticeable for his beautiful bay horse, bright silver spurs, stirrups, bridle bit and whip mountings, all of glittering silver — very taking to the eye of William Wirt and the other children of the village.

In the humbler range of the inhabitants he has other equally pleasant memories.

" At the lower end of the town, towards Baltimore, the house nearest the Eastern Branch was occupied by old Mr. INIartin, whom we used to call Uncle Martin — why, I know not. The Eastern Branch is subject to heavy freshets, which have flowed up to Mr. Martin's house, and sometimes overflowed the whole village. One of the most surprising and interesting spectacles to me, in those days, was this old man wading up to his waist, during a freshet, and harpooning the sturgeon. It was a whale fishery in miniature, and not less interesting to me at that date. ' The old man himself was an odd fish. He used to get fuddled and amuse himself with singing 'The Cuckoo's nest,' and attempting to dance a hornpipe to the tune of it. He was fond of me and petted me a good deal. I remember him with kindness. I became myself a hornpipe dancer by an occasion I will presently mention, and the old man was delighted to see me dance to