"Alight, alight," said I, "bu it's a time of distress, friend Phil--for to-morrow Greenwood is to be sold." He had the same old laugh that he used to have, and he drew a letter, of which the following is a true copy: "To Phil Parker, of Mountain View. "When you receive this, repair immediately to Greenwood, and see whether Oliver Sully, Esq. has the property of the palm tree to grow when weights are appended to him. Take off the weights and make him as easy as a pin stuck in the centre of a circle. A bird came here the other day and my dear Gertrude caught it, and under its purple wing was a paper containing a statement of his debts. This little favor is the more convenient to be done, as the ring has brought Gertrude to Gertrude." "Has she any terra firma ?" "About | once playful Roberta. we bade each other adieu. These were happy days. Then the affections were springing like the buds of the wilderness. But since then the realities of life have given the world a sombre aspect. It is painful to send shadows across the light of these pictures. My life has been so far laid off in circles of thirty-eight years, and to the twenty-third circle my imagination is always on the return. With my difficulties you have had some acquaintance. Greenwood was embellished by the taste of my wife. We had a few Spanish and Italian books. Some pebbles were sent me from the Ilyssus. A nautical friend brought me some lava from Mount Vesuvius and a piece of the rock of Gibraltar, and some spars from the grotto of Antiparos. Another friend brought me a goat from Juan Fernandez and a lama from Peru, whilst an Eastern sultan sent me a Persian gazelle. But Greenwood got into the same predicament with Angler's Rest. It was not agreeable to live in daily expectation of being turned out of house and home, and to see my chair and deer passing into other hands. Thomson might have written of the man who loved to be in difficulties, but he could not have meant me. During the pendency of these embarrassments, Gertrude Ringgold, my eldest daughter, would sometimes pull my gown and say-"Father, tell me one of your tales." My heart was heavy and my mind began to muse on the west. "What," said I, "must Sully lay down his sylvan hatchet and take to the woodman's axe? Shall he demolish prairee hives, after listening so long to the murmuring of the Hyblian bee, or lay down the stone of philosophy for the frock of the boatman?" The prospect was appalling, and the incongruity on a small scale appeared as great as when Rousseau wore his Armenian dress, or when Byron went to fight the Turks. In the meantime my wife kept adding to my grief, by saying--"Don't mind it, Sully--don't mind it. We shall soon, by hook or by crook, get a snug box somewhere else." Such was my plight, when one evening my child Gertrude, came running to me. "Father," said she, "a gentleman and young lady are coming." "Oh," thinks, said I, "it's the sheriff;" when on going to the door who should it be but Phil Parker, and my some accession of fortune from across the water. NED RINGGOLD." finished, when she came to me and with a sweet smile I now told my wife that my Blue Ridge Letters were demanded the steel pen with which they had been written. "Sully," said she, "you must now take to your hay carts, or you will soon be in debt again." "It makes no difference," said I, “as long as Ned Ringgold dear L. shall be raised to some conspicuity, by its copylives." But that pen will be laid aside, after you, my ing a work of mine called "Lorton." INVITATION. Come from thy cold and cloudy clime, And Love's own leafy time is near. Come drink the balmy breath of Spring; To Zephyr's fondly-fanning wing. And Pleasure follow in thy train; MADRIGAL. THE WREATH. A wreath of fair flowers the maid This chain I may venture to take; Will not be so easy to break. EREMUS. THE TUCKAHOE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. Captain John Smith published his General History of Virginia in a quarto volume. He writes like a soldier; his style is rough, uncouth, confused; but as an authentic record of facts, this quaint work is of very high value. Pity that so gallant a knight, like Bayard, "without fear and without reproach," should have 1585. First settlement of Virginia, towards the close of Queen had so unchivalrous a name as John Smith. His history has Elizabeth's reign. 1605. Captain Smith came over and remained three years. 1613. John Rolfe married Pocahontas. 1616. Pocahontas died at Gravesend, England. Note. Pocahontas was a titular name as princess, her private name being Matoax, or Matoaka; but after her conversion to christianity, she was baptized Rebecca. She left one son, John Rolfe, who was educated at Plymouth, England, and afterwards came over to the colony and married, and left an only daughter, who married a Bolling, from whom several respectable families in Virginia claim their descent. INDIAN POPULATION. Captain Smith, in his General History of Virginia, estimates the number of Indians within a circle of sixty miles around Jamestown, at five thousand, of whom fifteen hundred were warriors, being to the aggregate population in the ratio of three to ten. In the expedition which effected a landing at Jamestown, a mutiny broke out at sea, and Ratliffe proposed to tack right about to England. However, as they proceeded along the coast they encountered a storm, which drove them into Hampton Roads. Thirty of them landed at Cape Henry, and were assaulted by five Indians. That night a box containing sealed instructions was opened, and the Council were found to be, President, Edward Maria Wingfield; Councillors, Smith, Newport, Ratliffe, Martin, Kendall. The point selected for the colony was Jamestown, on the north side of the James river. Or landing, they first set them. selves to erect a fort, in shape of a half moon; then all bands went busily to work, felling trees, clearing land, weaving fishing-nets, laying out gardens, and the like. In a few days Newport, Smith and twenty others, ascended the river. In six days they came to Powhatan, a royal village of twelve wigwams, seated on a picturesque range of hills, not far below the falls, or what is now Richmond. Here resided King Powhatan. It is now the seat of a gentleman named Mayo, and is described by Mr. Wirt in the British Spy. Shortly after the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, it was assaulted by the natives. For their better security in future, the English protected the half-moon by a palisado, and mounted some culverin guns. HUGUENOTS. In 1502 a settlement was effected in South Carolina by some French Protestants called Huguenots. They fled from France to escape persecution. This was the first attempt to colonize North America; it was undertaken for the sake of freedom of conscience, and like many similar enterprizes, failed. These refugees, worn out by sufferings, and distracted by dissensions, at their own request, were taken back to Europe in an English ship. NEWFOUNDLAND. 1553. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, brother-in-law to Sir Walter Raleigh, with five ships, set sail for America. He landed at Newfoundland, and claimed it for the British crown. On his return voyage, Sir Humphrey was deplorably lost in a storm at eea. NORTH CAROLINA. 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh, nothing daunted by the loss of his brother-in-law, sent out two ships under Amidas and Barlow. They landed on an island in Pamplico Sound, proceeded up Albemarle Sound, and there landed on Roanoke island. They found the salvages ignorant, simple and friendly. Amidas and Barlow returned to England, with a cargo of furs, sassafras and cedar. They gave Queen Elizabeth a high-colored account of the newly discovered country, and her majesty, charmed with the picture, called it Virginia, either in honor of her own virginity, or because it was a virgin soil. been republished in Virginia, from a London copy of the old quarto, with plates; but as might have been foreseen from the latitude, the publication was attended with considerable loss. A modernized edition might meet with a more favorable reception; but few will be found willing to wade through the impracticable pages of the original. Stith, a Professor of William and Mary College, wrote a his tory of Virginia. He reduced the chaos of Smith to some order, and his style is sufficiently classical, but not the less prolix and papaverous on that account. It is for the most part a digest of Smith, with interminable details of the transactions of the Colonial Company, and of its dissolution by James the First, which is as much labored as if it had been the decline and downfall of an empire. It is now out of print, and a rare book. Beverley also wrote a history of Virginia, and Jefferson ob. serves that Beverley is as much too concise and unsatisfactory as Stith is prolix and dull. Another history is by Chalmers, and the most voluminous of all by Burke, a young Irishman, who falling in a duel before the completion of the work, it was concluded by a Frenchman, Girardin. Burke's style is florid and verbose, making every thing little by an attempt to make every thing great. There are some abridgements, in better taste; but altogether, there is no good history of the Ancient Dominion. Hening's Statutes at Large, the Pandect of Virginia, is a mine of historical materials. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. The life of this great man is peculiarly interesting to Virginians. The biography of him, prefixed to his History of the World, contains a number of curious details; but, according to the spirit of that age, it is immensely tedious. The new life of him, by Mrs. Thomson, is as entertaining as a romance. It appears, from a fac-simile of his autograph, that he spelt his name Ralegh. PROPER NAMES. Cape Henry is called after Prince Henry, son of James the First of England. This Prince was a great friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, and visited him in the tower of London, during his long imprisonment there. He died a minor. Cape Charles, called after Charles, brother of aforesaid Henry, Duke of York, afterwards Charles the First of England. James River, Jamestown, James City County, after James the First of England. James river, called by the aborigines Powhatan. Powhatan was the title of the king; his private name was Wahunsonacock. The Appamattor Captain Smith calls the pleasant river of Apamatuck. The Queen of Apamatuck was a special favorite of his royal highness, Powhatan. Her residence is set down on Capt. Smith's map a few miles from the falls of the Appamattox, in what is now the County of Chesterfield. Pamunkey river Smith spells variouely, but usually Pamaunkee. Dean Swift, in a letter to Hunter, a Governor of New York, rallies him on marrying the Queen of Pomunki,” The Indians had no written language. Smith and the other early historians spell words as they sounded to their ears. It is likely that the Indians of that day would not be able to recognize these words as we now pronounce them. INDIAN WORDS. Aroughcun, Raccoon; Mussascus, Muskrat; Utchunquoyes, Wild-cat; Cattapeuk, Spring; Popanow, Winter; Cohonk, Cry of Wild Geese; Cohattayough, Summer; Messinough, Earing of Corn; Taquioek, Fall of Leaves; Toppohannock, Rappohannock; Patawomeke, Potomac; Sasquesahannocks, Susquehanna; Suckahanna, Water; Messamins, Muscadine Grapes; Asspanick, Young Squirrels; Opassom, Opossum; Mockasins, Shoes; Tomahack, Axe; Weanock, Weyanoke, a place on James River; Wingina, Virginia; Wingandacoa, VirThe historian, Doctor Robertson, has left among his posthu-ginia; Putchamins, Persimmons; Pawcohiccora, Milk of Walmous works a succinct history of Virginia and of the Northern nuts; Ponap, Meal Dumplins; Chechinquamins, Chinquapins; Colonies, from the first settlement down to the Revolution of Matchacomoco, Grand Council; Werowance, a Captain; Cock1775. arouse, a Councillor; Pawcorance, an Altar-Stone; Pericu, a HISTORIES OF VIRGINIA. King-Beaver; Ustatahamen, Hominy. Note. This is said to be an African word. Lord Bacon calls it the cream of maize, and recommends it as an article of diet for the sick. Beverley spells wigwam, wigwang. Indians had no salt but what they obtained from ashes. They were fond of roasting ears, and had them dried. Their spoons held half a pint, and they laughed at the small spoons of the English, that had to be carried so often to the mouth. One month they called the Moon of Stags. Their money was made of conk-shell, and was called either peak, or wampum-peak, or runtee, (which last was a drilled bead,) or finally roenoke, made of cockle-shell. wards it was named after William the Third. It was laid off in the form of a capital W, in compliment to the Prince of Orange. INDIANS. By the treaty of 1677 each Indian town was to pay three Indian arrows for their land, and twenty beaver skins for protection. INDIAN POPULATION. The Indians in 1707 had only five hundred fighting men left, so that the whole Indian population was at that time less than two thousand within the limits of the colony. BREAD. The Indians made bread of sunflower seed. For knives they made use of sharpened reeds or shells. The Indian name for this river was Toppohannock; there is For axes and hatchets, stones sharpened and fastened to a stick, and glued with turpentine. Their bows were made of locust; their arrows were plumed with feathers of the wild turkey, fastened with the glue of the velvet horns of the deer, and headed with a white stone, or the spur of a wild turkey. Beverley had seen one of their canoes thirty feet long. UTTAMUSSACK. Twelve miles above Richmond, near the James river, there were three houses for their idols, and a solid crystal, three or four feet solid cube, called a Pawcorance, or altar-stone, so clear and translucent, that the grain of a man's hand might be seen through it, and it contained silver ore. This the Indians called their altar-stone, and on it they offered their sacrifices. NECKS. The colony of Virginia was divided into necks, the northern neck between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, and the other necks between the other rivers. MOUNTAINS. The Alleghanies Beverley calls the Apalachian mountains. Henry Batt and a party were sent out by Governor Berkeley on an exploration among these mountains. Governor Spottswood was the first man that crossed the Blue Ridge. In consideration of this, the King of England gave him a golden horse-shoe, with a Latin inscription. This horse-shoe has, within a few years, been sold to a jeweller for old gold! MARRIAGE. BOTANY. Beverley mentions the following species as met with in Virginia : Cherries; Plums; Persimmons; Mulberries; Hurts, or Huekleberries; Wild Raspberries, probably Blackberries; Wild Strawberry; Chesnuts; Chinquapins; Hazelnuts; Hickories; Walnuts; Puccoon and Masquaspen, roots with which the natives painted their bodies; Cushaw or Cymlings, called by the northern Indians Squash; Sumach; Sassafras; Jamestowa Weed, a great cooler; Tuckahoe, a tuberous root, growing in marshes. There is a place in New York of this name, and a creek in Virginia, and those living east of it are called Tuckahoes-those west Cohees, perhaps corrupted from the Scotch expression "quoth he." Currants; Cranberries, probably the same with Captain Smith's Rawcomens; six species of Grape; Honey Tree; Sugar Tree, maple-the Indians had made maple sugar time out of mind; Maycocks, Maracocks; Lupines; Myrtle, from which was made a wax, out of which were made candles without grease, never melting, and exhaling a fragrant incense; the Crown Imperial; Cardinal Flower; Indian Corn. PRICES CURRENT IN VIRGINIA, 1703. Beef and Pork, 1d. to 2d.; Pullets, 6d.; Capons, Sd. to 9d.; Chickens, 3s. a dozen; Ducks, 9d. a piece; Geese, 1s.; Turkey Hens, 18d.; Deer, 10s. a head; Oysters and Wild Fowl, cheap. JAMESTOWN IN 1616. Two hundred and eighteen years ago this little colony was the 1609. John Laydon married Anna Burrows, and this was the germ of a future empire, destined to spread from the Atlantic to first marriage in Virginia. the Pacific. The first birth was that of Virginia, daughter of Ananias Dare, born August 18th, 1587. COLONIES. 1609. Jamestown sent out two colonies, one to Nansemond, on James river, thirty miles below Jamestown-the other to Powhatan, six miles below the falls of James river, now the city of Richmond. This last land was purchased from Powhatan for copper. Each colony was settled with one hundred and twenty men. Shortly after another colony was planted at Kiquotan, near what is now the borough of Norfolk, at the mouth of James river, and a fort was there built and called Algernon, since that time made more illustrious by being the cognomen of the patriotic Sidney. A pinnace from England lay off at anchor, rocking on the wa ters of the James. Men were at work upon a palisado, and the clink of the anvil was heard. A mocking bird warbled to the strangers, and occasionally was heard the plunge of the stur geon. With the fatigues, sufferings and perils of a colonial life is mingled a tincture of romance, the curious thirst of adventure, the fresh glow of new images, and the dignity of danger. Here some of the English, oppressed by the heat of an unaccustomed sun, lay reposing in the shade of a tree; while others, with shouts and laughter, played the favorite game of bowls. Among the lookers-on were some of the Powhatan Indians, naked, with keen eyes and raven hair, gazing at the game with a sort of stoical attention. Ah, little did they foresee that from Mulberry island, in the James river, eighteen miles below this speck of cloud a storm would gather to sweep them from the Jamestown. HUGUENOTS. 1699. Eight hundred Huguenot refugees came to Virginia, and settled at Monacan town, south side of James river, twenty miles below Richmond. They made an attempt to tame buffa. loes, by catching them young. They made a strong-bodied claret wine of wild grapes. They found a patron and benefactor in Colonel Byrd. CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS. During the great rebellion in England, several good Cavalier families came over to Virginia; and at the restoration of Charles the Second, some families of the Roundheads came over and settled in the colony, but not many, they being for the most part pre-possessed in favor of the New England colonies. MALEFACTORS. It has been often repeated that the first settlers of Virginia were convicts. This is a mistake; very few of this description were transported to Virginia at any time. WILLIAMSBURG. earth! In the group of the bowling green might be seen "younger sons of younger brothers, poor gentlemen, starveling gallants, ostlers trade-fallen, decayed tapsters-the cankers of a calm world and a long peace." Perhaps a party of Captain Smith's men might be seen firing at a target, to the consternation of the salvages; or on the way to a neighboring forest to fell trees. Perhaps Captain Smith was employed in punishing profanity, by pouring a bucket of water down the coat-sleeve for each oath, or landing a boat load of corn just arrived from Pamaunkee, Were Captain Smith to revisit Virginia, he would find Jamestown in ruins, and no Phenix arisen from the ashes. He would be startled to see the Pocahontas or the Patrick Henry come foaming by with the speed of a race horse. He would find, too, rail-roads running through woods that he first explored, and over rivers that he first navigated. And as the train of cotton bales and hogsheads of tobacco came sweeping by, he would naturally be reininded of his old friends, "the sofisticating This place was at first called the Middle Plantation; after-tobacco-mongers in London." That part of the river which flows among the mountains is remarkably picturesque. I was not fortunate enough to pass the painted rocks in the day time; they are described as a remarkable curiosity, being perhaps a quarter of a mile long and three hundred feet high. The banks are crowned with forests of luxuriant growth, untouched as yet by the civilized axe; the oak, ash, walnut, alder; the sycamore, whose white limbs have been compared to a lady's arm, with her sleeve rolled up; the maple, whose leaves, yielding to the blast, has been likened to a troop of girls in a gale of wind. These trees are some of them overgrown with the clematis and other parasites, which at times embroider the entire trunk, aspire to the topmost boughs, and hang in pendant festoons, adorned with crimson flowers. The river is winding, and its frequent turns serve to slowly unfold the curtain of the scenery. The various combinations of river, and mountain, and woods, will well repay the traveller for a trip along this stream. Much of the country on the banks is the land of the Cherokees, and there is a stillness, a natural grace, a primitive wildness here, that reminds you that the foot of the white man has seldom trod this soil. There is a curious place on this river known by the inelegant name of the Suck. The river here is narrow and very rapid; so much so, that it took us a day or more, with twenty hands at the windlass, to warp up. Green and well-wooded mountains arise on both sides here; on the brow of these mountains a naked ledge of rocks, extending in a line, look like the lofty ramparts of a fort. The river hereabouts is so crooked, that where it is twenty miles around, it is only seven across. The other rapids in the neighborhood of the Suck are known by the culinary names of Pot, Pan, and Skillet, and a place not far above, is called the Tumbling Shoals. Just above these Shoals the view is very fine; the river parts into two streams at an island called Tuskegee; the water tranquil as the surface of a mirror, in which the banks are reflected, with their lofty trees and rich foliage, and mountains rising on each hand; looking up one branch of the river, and you behold the Lookout Mountain, reposing in silent beauty. On the other hand, the river looks like a sequestered lake, embosomed with trees. In the morning a thick veil of mist lay asleep on the mountain tops, until, dispersed by the beams of morning, glancing aslant the declivities, and unmasking rocks and cliffs, that frown down upon the beholder like the gloomy castles of another age and country. There are scarcely any houses along this part of the river; occasionally a log house is to be seen, or a canoe, or a group of children at play on the banks--but for the most part mountains and woods. I have seen the Hudson, and read of the Rhine; and I doubt whether either of these rivers can present a picture better worth seeing than the Lookout Mountain, burnished in the golden colors of descending day, and towering above the Tennessee. THE HALF-BREED. On board the steamboat I found a half-breed Cherokee Indian, who had with him a little daughter, copper-colored and shy. He told me that he had another daughter at home, who wore her hair a yard and a quarter long. In the course of our chat together, I learned from him that he had served in the Creek war under General Jackson, and was in the battle of the Horse-Shoe. The Cherokees in that action were six hundred and fifty in number. They were stationed on the bank of the Talapoosa, and ordered to guard it; but some of them, swimming the river, took possession of the canoes of the Creeks, and no sooner had the Creeks raised the war-whoop, than the Cherokees crossed the river in spite of their officers, My informant said, that for the first half hour of the engagement he was in great alarm, especially from the yelling of the Creeks and whistling of the bullets. After that, however, he felt quite cool and calm throughout the day, the action having lasted from ten o'clock to sundown. He fought in this style: firing his rifle several times-then lying down, wiped her out-rose and fired, and so on all day. It was all bush fighting, the Indians preserving no line. Although he aimed at a particular Creek every shot, yet impossible to tell whether he killed or not, so many firing. The loss of the Cherokees was nineteen killed, fifty wounded. Early in the action, a Cherokee, shot in the head, fell against him, and a bullet passed through his hair. He told me that he was far more alarmed at night, when all was over, and he came to recollect the scenes he had passed through that day, than while fighting. The Cherokees fired over the breast works of the enemy, turn ing the muzzles of their rifles down upon them. General Jackson was not in the heat of the action, but stood behind a little rising ground. The Cherokees, when they met in camp after the battle was over, shook hands and embraced one another. Next, a party of whites and Cherokees visited the battle ground. He saw Sam Houston next morning; he was badly wounded. The leader of the Cherokees was shot in the head, but survived. kees, that went a year or two ago to Washington City, and had He mentioned that he was one of a deputation of four Cheroan interview with General Jackson on the subject of their remothat it was not within his power to prevent their removal-that val. The President cut their remonstrances short, by saying it was demanded by the States, and any interference on his part would cause more blood to be shed than all the wars that have occurred. The Cherokees, he says, think they have some reason to complain of General Jackson's course towards them; and they say that now, in the day of his power, he ought to remember the Cherokees, who stood by him at the Horse Shoe, where, but for them, he would have been beaten. He was, however, reconciled to a removal, on the ground that the Cherokees, being for the most part illiterate and ignorant, are incapable of understanding the laws of the whites. The nation were to remove to the territory west of Arkansas in two years. It was his intention to go too, and as long as he lived, to share the fortunes of the nation of his mother and his wife. NOTES. The fragment of a wall of the old church, standing solitary in a ploughed field, is all that remains of Jamestown. The water hereabouts is gaining on the land, and the time may not be far distant, when the ground on which it stood shall be submerged. As we rode along the strand of the river, I thought perhaps this sand has been imprinted by the foot of Pocahontas. The main street of Williamsburg is bounded at one end by the College, and at the other by the ruins of the Capitol. The College of William and Mary is an antiquated structure, which Mr. Jefferson compared to a brick-kiln with a roof on it. In front of the College stands a statue of Norborne Berkley, Lord Botetourt, one of the colonial governors. He appears in the court dress of that day, with a short sword at his side. Inscriptions on each side celebrate the virtues of his Lordship. The marble is moulded by age, and the Governor's nose has been knocked off. The College Library contains somewhat less than four thousand volumes, of which many are theological. Some of the books were presented by Robert Dinwiddie, and have his court of arms affixed, the crest, an eagle, and the motto, "Ubi libertas, ibi patria." In others was inscribed the name of Major General Alexander Spotswood, another Governor of Virginia. Some were the gift of the former Presidents of the College, and others of the Assembly of Virginia. Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, were given (as appears from a note on the first page, in the hand-writing of Thomas Jefferson) on condition that it should never go out of the College. This work was printed London, 1754, with colored plates, in two vols. folio, in English and French. The Capitol was burnt only a few years since; the walls are still standing, which once resounded with the accents of the "forest-born Demosthenes, whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas." The Old Raleigh is the name of a tavern, one room of which is styled the Apollo, and in it the Assembly at one time met. I saw the General's entry into the city in a long triumphal procession-several thousand troops, at the head of which, on horseback, a great number of officers, all the city trades, &c. The streets along which he was to pass were crowded--theatres were put up-the windows were filled with spectators--the troops glittered by--the bands played martial music. At length appeared an open barouche, drawn by four cream-colored horses; in it sat La Fayette, with his small French cocked-hat in his hand, and Judge Peters with his hat on. The General continually waved his hat, and bowed to the people on all sides, who receiv In the Old Church a few years ago was to be seen the guber-ed him with thrilling cheers, and waving of handkerchiefs, natorial pew of Sir Alexander Spotswood. It was raised from smiles of beauty, and every token of gratitude, and triumph, the floor, covered with a canopy, around the interior of which and joy. his name was written in gilt letters. Two offices, appendages of Lord Dunmore's palace, are still extant, as also the powder magazine, the contents of which were seized by Henry and his company at the dawn of the Revolution. It is a small round brick edifice, with a conical roof, and now converted into a Baptist meeting-house. Leaving Williamsburg, I passed over a level country, which afforded no evidence of being inhabited, except occasionally an old-fashioned farm-house, with its roof picturesquely velveted in green moss. The country appears to be in a state of decay; every thing, like the ponds, appears to stagnant. The country gentlemen have eaten up their estates; their property has gone down their gullets. The hospitality which wastes its substance in riotous livingwhich is generous before it is just-which squanders thousands on strangers, and leaves a legacy of debts to its heir--this it is which has lent its aid to impoverish and depopulate the country. "Fools make feasts, and wise men come to eat them." The water scenery at Yorktown is very fine-the waves of the wide river rippling clear and blue in the splendor of the morning sun. On the opposite side is seen Gloucester point, to which Cornwallis attempted to cross over with his army in boats, and was prevented by the winds. Another day I saw a naval procession. The Governor's wife with La Fayette, entered the navy yard which was quite noisy, as six forty-four pounders were firing not ten steps from them. Here was drawn up a company of marines, whose discipline was the most exact I have ever seen. The corvette John Adams fired a salute of twenty-two guns, and manned her yards. CONVENTION OF VIRGINIA. I attended the debates of this body a fortnight. The Capitol, in which the Convention sat, is a fine building, nobly situatedmore so than any other I have seen in this country. Richmond is a picturesque place; the James looks beautiful there in a spring morning; the rocks, and islands, and foaming rapids, and murmuring falls, and floating mists, all light and glorious, under a clear blue sky. The Convention boasted several men of distinction--Madison, Monroe, Giles, Marshall, Randolph, Leigh, Tazewell, &c. Mr. Madison sat on the left of the Speaker-Mr. Monroe on the right. Mr. Madison spoke once for half an hour; but although a pin might have been heard to drop, so low was his tone, that from the gallery I could distinguish only one word, and that was, The beach of the river is smooth and wide for miles--a charm- Constitution. He stood not more than six feet from the Speaker. ing place for a ride or a walk. There is a cave in the solid mass of stone marl on the river side, called Cornwallis's cave, in which they say, but I do not believe it, that his Lordship took shelter from the American cannon. I entered this wonderful cavern; but alas! there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous--Cornwallis's cave is converted to a hog-pen! When he rose, a great part of the members left their seats, and clustered around the aged statesman, thick as a swarm of bees. Mr. Madison was a small man, of ample forehead, and some obliquity of vision, (I thought the effect probably of age,) his eyes appearing to be slightly introverted. His dress was plain; his overcoat a faded brown surtout. Mr. Monroe was very wrinkled and weather-beaten--ungrace I picked up a fragment of a bombshell within the British en-ful in attitude and gesture, and his speeches only common-place. trenchments. The house of Governor Nelson stood just within the British lines; it was riddled by the American shot. Nothing remains of it but some scattered brickbats. Not more than a stone's throw from the present stage road, I was pointed to a stake, erected on a rising ground in the next field; at that spot the British General surrendered his sword. LA FAYETTE. While I was at College, La Fayette arrived at New York. I remember with what an electric thrill I heard the first note of the bugle that announced his arrival in the village where our College was situated. He came escorted by three hundred horse. For several days we saw a succession of troops, artillery, bag. gage-wagons, &c. passing through the village. La Fayette breakfasted in the refectory of the College; he was surrounded by officers, divines, and other distinguished persons. He ate little, and conversed mostly with the President of the College, who stood near him. La Fayette gave a toast, recalling the recollections which his return to the village inspired. His English was ungrammatical. La Fayette departed in Joseph Bonaparte's elegant barouche, drawn by four greys. He was accompanied by the Governor of the State. Soon after, I had the honor to shake hands with the General, and to have a look at him in a private house. I shook hands with him in the State House, in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The person admitted at the front door passed around this room, along a cordon of officers, committee, &c. to where the General stood, and moving on round, went out at the back door. Just as I came to where La Fayette stood, an old Revolutionary soldier kissed his hand. Mr. Giles wore a crutch-was then Governor of the State. His style of delivery was perfectly conversational--no gesture, no effort; but in ease, fluency and tact, surely he had not there his equal; his words were like honey pouring from an eastern rock. Judge Marshall, whenever he spoke, which was seldom, and only for a short time, attracted great attention. His appearance was revolutionary and patriarchal. Tall, in a long surtout of blue, with a face of genius, and an eye of fire, his mind possess. ed the rare faculty of condensation; he distilled an argument down to its essence. There were two parties in the house; the western, or radi. cal--the eastern, or conservative. Judge Marshall proposed something in the nature of a compromise. John Randolph was remarkably deliberate, distinct and em. phatic. He articulated excellently, and gave the happiest effect to all he said. His person was frail and uncommon-his face pale and withered- but his eye radiant as a diamond. He owed, perhaps, more to his manner than to his matter; and his mind was rather poetical than logical. Yet in his own peculiar vein, he was superior to any of his cotemporaries. Benjamin Watkins Leigh cut a distinguished figure in the Convention as the leader of the lowland party. His diction is clear, correct, elegant, and might be safely committed to print just as spoken. Yet high as he stands, he is not perhaps in the highest rank of speakers. He never lightens, never thunders; he can charm, he can convince, but he can hardly overwhelm. Mr. Tazewell I never saw up but once, for a moment, on a point of order; a tall, fine looking man. P. P. Barbour presided over the body with great dignity and ease. Of these seven extraordinary men, four have since died, to wit: Monroe, Giles, Randolph, and Marshall. Mr. Leigh is now an U. S. Senator, and Mr. Tazewell Governor of Virginia. |