She was

admiration of the old world as well as the new. beautiful in person, lovely in disposition, gentle in manners. The latter quality she had in common with Beatrice, Desdemona and Eve. It is to be regretted the latter did not transmit her gentle qualities to her strongminded daughters of our age. The day following my nocturnal visit to the royal wigwam, mine host took me to Williamsburg. This was the seat of Government during the Colonial period, but, at that time in a very dilapidated condition, and supported solely by William and Mary College. Beside the College building there was but little to attract attention. The old Government House, a small two-story brick building, and the Raleigh Tavern of the same character of building, were the two most prominent objects, with both of which were connected interesting incidents. From William and Mary College I went to Halifax county, Virginia, to study law with my uncle William B. Banks, a man of genius, learning and eloquence. His speeches at the bar, sometimes in behalf of oppressed innocence, sometimes in behalf of the liberty and life of the citizen, filled me with an ardent desire to imitate, and even to rival him in the art of oratory. With that view I became for the first time in my life, a close student. Hitherto I had not known what it was to reason or to think seriously or profoundly. I had not realized that out of thought alone arises knowledge, which is power. My uncle was the intimate personal friend and neighbor of John Randolph of Roanoke, and through him I became acquainted with that eccentric genius. Of him, however, I will speak in the proper

place, when giving my reminiscences of distinguishedmen, which will constitute the principal part of this book

During the two years I remained with my uncle I read law, history, commentaries on government, the great speeches of the great men of the world on law and civil polity; likewise the poems of Homer, Virgil, Dante, Camoens, Shakspeare, Milton and Byron; many of the striking portions of which still remain in my memory Once my uncle came into my office about eleven o'clock at night and found me reading the history of Charles I, of England. He inquired whether I had ever seen the epitaph found on the tombstone of John Bradshaw, President of the Regicides. I replied that I had not He said that he had heard President Madison read it from a letter containing it, which he had received from a friend in England. He repeated it to me, and being a very remarkable composition, I deem it worthy of repetition here; I give it from memory:

"Here lies deposited the dust of John Bradshaw, who presided in that illustrious band of patriots, and who, nobly superior to all selfish regards, disdaining alike the pageantry of power, the blasts of calumny, and the terrors of Royal vengeance, fairly and openly adjudged Charles Stuart, tyrant of England, to a public and ignominious death, thereby exhibiting to the astonished world, and transmitting down through applauding ages, the most glorious example of the love of freedom and impartial justice ever exhibited on the blood-stained theatre of human actions. Oh, reader! pass not on till thou hast

blest his memory, and never, Oh, never, forget that resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

The two years confinement in my uncle's law office was too severe a tax upon my nervous system, and my health gave way. I spent one summer at the White Sulphur Springs, receiving but little benefit; the next in Culpepper among my relatives; and in October, 1824, I joined a party of three hundred persons who chartered a boat at Alexandria, Virginia, to take us to Yorktown to welcome the Marquis De La Fayette on the plains of York, on which Lord Cornwallis surrendered his sword to the American arms on the 19th of October, 1781. Nearly fifty thousand people had assembled to pay their homage to the General who had voluntarily given his money and his services to aid us in our struggles for lib. erty. Forty-seven years had elapsed since he drew his sword in our cause, and many of his compatriots were sleeping the sleep that knows no waking. Their sons and grandsons were led thither by a light that illuminates without dazzling, and were animated by a warmth that invigorates without consuming. It was the light of truth that guided them; it was patriotic ardor that warmed them. It was on this occasion that Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, said, “Let Virginia, like the mother of the Gracchi when called upon for her jewels, point to her sons." La Fayette was at this time sixty-seven years of age; he was about five feet ten inches in height, his features strongly marked and coarse, without variety of expression, and evincing but little animation. Judging from his appearance I should never have taken him for

one of the great actors in the drama of human life, and yet he was one of the most remarkable men of the age in which he lived. By mere force of principle, by incorruptible integrity, and by uniform consistency, he passed through greater extremes of fortune than almost any man that ever lived. He acted a controlling part in two of the most important revolutions the world has ever seen, without a stain of dishonor, professing the same principles amid the ruins of the Bastile, in the Champ de Mars, under the despotism of Bonaparte, and in the dungeons of Olmutz. His family was one of the most ancient of the French nobility. His father was killed in battle in Germany at the age of twenty-five years, and his mother died shortly after, leaving him an infant, the heir to an immense estate. At nineteen years of age he was an officer of the French Guards and a Captain of Dragoons. The States General, which became the constituent Assembly, met in May, 1789, formed and controlled by La Fayette. Two days after the fall of the Bastile he was appointed Commander in Chief of the National Guards of Paris, which embraced three millions of men, and which became the controlling power of the country. Although a royal subject, he was in principle a Republican, and defended the freedom of the King as he defended the freedom of the people. His courage and coolness saved the lives of the King and the Queen from the mob that took possession of the Palace of Versailles. He offered to assist Napoleon in his escape to America, after demanding his abdication, and after refusing a Peerage offered by Napoleon.

Hearing that the American colonies had declared their independence, he resolved to draw his sword in the cause of American liberty. Accordingly he purchased a vessel, and with a few officers put to sea. He landed in South Carolina and proceeded by land to Philadelphia, where Congress was then in session. He addressed a letter to the President of Congress asking leave to enter the army as a volunteer and to serve without pay. Leave was granted, and he was commissioned Major General of the army of the United States, lacking more than a month of being twenty years of age. He was shot through the leg at Brandywine, but was not aware of it until reminded by his aid that the blood was running out of his boot. His gallantry on that and other similar occasions, was such as to induce General Washington to invite him to become a member of his military family.

The State of Virginia had invited John Marshall, Major Gabriel Long and Captain Philip Slaughter to accompany La Fayette through the State. They met him at Yorktown and proceeded to Richmond, the Capitol of the State, and the residence of John Marshall. Multitudes called to pay their respects to the patriot hero who was the companion of their grand sires and the guest of the grand children-the connecting link of the two generations. From Richmond the accompanying party proceeded to the interior of the State, receiving the same cordial welcome. At the dinner in the county of Orange, Mr. Madison offered the following toast: "Give me that iberty which has patriotism for its guest and gratitude for its feast."