of the last gentlemen of opulence in Virginia whose horses graced the turf. His celebrated mares, Vanity and Reality, own sisters, were trained by the late Mr. W. R. Johnson, of such turf celebrity as to need no further mention by me. I ought not to omit a notice of Mr. De Lancey, of New Yorkanother gentleman of the old school, connected with the best blood of England. The present Bishop De Lancey is of his family; also the wife of J. Fenimore Cooper, Esq. Having thus run over, in review, the article you have published, I have to apologize for occupying so much of your space and time, with the garrulity of age, and on subjects perhaps of but little interest to "Young America," that is going ahead in the race of progress, "under any kind of leaders," unmindful, if not forgetful, of ancestry, of which some may be proud, as not owing their elevation to others, but to their own efforts. But the Hon. D. Webster says: "It is wise occasionally to recur to the sentiments and to the character of those from whom we are descended. Men who are regardless of their ancestry and of their posterity, are very apt to be regardless of themselves. The man who does not feel himself to be a link in the great chain to transmit life and being, intellectual and moral existence, from his ancestry to his posterity, does not justly appreciate the relations that belong to him. The contemplation of our ancestors and of our descendants ought to be within the grasp of our thoughts and affections. The past belongs to us by affectionate retrospect, and the future belongs to us no less by affectionate anticipation of those who are to come after us. And then do we ourselves justice, when we are true to the blood we inherit, and true to those to whom we have been the means of transmitting that blood." The author of "What is Gentility?" remarks, on the subject of our aristocracy, that it ought to be regarded as having its origin with the patriots of the Revolution, from whom all should be proud to trace their descent. The best description of a gentleman, according to my understanding, of the term, is found in the 15th Psalm of our PrayerBook: "Lord, who's the happy man," &c.; or, if not so elevated, one who respects the rights and the feelings of others as he would his own. As an accomplished and graceful man, the late King George IV, of England, was proud to be regarded "the first gentleman in his dominions." For one, I would wish to see revived the days of gentlemen of the olden time, as nearly as they can be approached under existing circumstances. II. My former article concluded with the remark of a "wish to see revived the gentlemen of the old school," whose words were as their bonds. Their truth, their honor, and their integrity, were not to be questioned. Courage, generosity, and hospitality, were their sterling virtues. The distinguished Gouveneur Morris, of Morrisania, near the city of New York, who was a gentleman by birth, education, and the most lofty bearing, on being asked for the definition of a gentleman, replied, in the words of the Psalmist: ""Tis he whose every thought and deed Whose generous tongue disdains to speak Who never did a slander forge, His neighbor's fame to wound; Nor hearken to a false report Who vice in all its pomp and power Who to his plighted words and trust Has ever firmly stood; And, though he promise to his loss, Whom no rewards can ever bribe [This Psalm was copied by Mr. Jefferson, in the smallest hand and neatest manner, in his commonplace book.] In our trading and money-loving community how many can stand this test? It is to be feared that but few gentlemen are to be found, according to this standard, among our merchants, lawyers and politicians. However refined may be their manners, or however great and varied their accomplishments, it seems indispensable to the character of a true gentleman that he should respect the rights and the feelings of others; to do to them "as you would they should do unto you." Having touched upon some few of the gentlemen of Virginia of "the olden time," I am prompted to furnished you with an extract from a late letter from "an old lady," dated "Locust Farm, Westmoreland County, Virginia," respecting "the birthplace of the Revolutionary heroes of Virginia:" "I am now away down here in the Northern Neck of Virginia, and not far from the spot on which Washington was born; and scattered here and there, and all around me, are the birthplaces of Madison, Monroe, and Richard Henry Lee. Yesterday I was on the ground on which rest the ruins of (Chantilly) the residence of Richard Henry Lee. All that stands upright of that (once) imposing mansion is the kitchen chimney. In front, scarce half a mile distant, is the shore of the lordly Potomac, here about nine miles across, upon whose beach roll its billows. Lee is gone, his house is in the dust, his garden a wild; but here are the same sky, the same lands, the same Potomac, and the same dirge that of yore broke in murmurs on the shore. The remains of Lee lie in the midst of a cornfield, some five miles distant, over which, I am told, is a stone, with his name engraved upon it. What a leveller is Time! Talk of that ancient personage as you may, his footprints, although as soft as down, crumble the hardest substances, and bury all things. 'Where is Carthage?' "From a ride over the grounds once cultivated by Lee, we took the road home by the old Yeocomico Church. I wish I could send you a drawing of the inside as well as out. It was built 'Anno Domini 1706,' some twenty-six years before the birth of Washington *** What a ruin is this church! It would seem, to look at its glazed and unglazed bricks, its many timbers, and its brick door and passage-ways, that Time could not in a thousand years have worked so mighty a change in it. But it has required only the years I have named to effect so signal a change. The tombstones mark the spot where the dead lie, and those that remain are so broken up and scattered, and have the inscriptions so effaced, as to render them useless. The name of Carter is on the stone that has suffered the least *** How melancholy is all this, and what a lesson it teaches *** Our fathers find their graves in our short memories, and sadly tell us how we may be buried by our survivors. How true it is, as Cowper says: "We build with what we deem eternal brass- And who was this "Carter," buried in the Yeocomico churchyard? Was this all that remains of the once mighty "King Carter," of Lancaster, whose lordly domains spread over so many counties, from the highlands above the tidewater of the Potomac to the fertile lowlands of the Rapahannock and James River?* Or, was this the grave of the other patrician, "Councillor Robert Carter" (member of the Council, under the Crown), of Nomini Hall? In the whole Northern Neck, one alone of that illustrious family connection, Colonel Robert Wormeley Carter, of Sabine Hall, on the Rappahannock, still occupies the halls of his ancestors. Three miles from his residence, Sabine Hall, on an eminence overlooking the plantation and an extensive curve of the river, stands Mount Airy, the ancient and beautiful mansion of the Tayloe family, now occupied by a worthy and hospitable member of it, William H. Tayloe, Esq. Higher up on the river, some forty miles, eligibly situated, are the handsome but modern residences of Colonel Edward T. Tayloe, and of the widow of the late Charles Tayloe, Esq. Opposite the latter, on the south side of the Rappahannock, *The tomb of Robert [King] Carter is at Christ Church, Lancaster Co. is Port Tobago, the ancient residence of the Lomaxes, now passed into other hands. A few miles lower down is Blandfield, the ancient family mansion of the Beverleys, now occupied by Colonel W. B. Beverley, who unites the blood of the Tayloes and the Byrds with that of Beverley. Lower down the river still, not far from its mouth, the venerable mansions-once the abode of elegance, refinement, high mental culture, and hospitality, and graced by the Hon. Ralph Wormeley, of Rosegill,* and the accomplished Colonel Grymes, of Brandon-have totally disappeared. As the Rappahannock is ascended, on the south side, one meets the stately mansions of the late Paine Waring, Esq., of Essex; and in Caroline County, between Port Royal and Fredericksburg, the fine estates and comfortable houses of the Bernards, the Lightfoots, of Mr. Taylor (the successor to the Hon. John Taylor, of Hazlewood), and of James Parke Corbin, Esq., of Moss Neck. At Fredericksburg the mother of Washington spent her last days, and now sleeps beneath a monument, yet unfinished, that was erected, nearly to completion, through the munificence of a gentleman of New York, Silas Burrows, Esq. Descending from Fredericksburg, the north shore of the Rappahannock, in about twelve miles, is met the land of the Taliaferros, of whom the venerable John Taliaferro, of Hagley, now in office at Washington, was, perhaps, a greater length of time in Congress than any other member of the House; he entered it when Mr. Jefferson came into power, and retired only a few years ago, in the vigor of health and of mind, though an octogenarian. May he long continue to enjoy both, as he does the esteem of his many friends. But we are wandering from our subject. The Northern Neck was an ancient grant from the Crown to Lord Fairfax. The title became extinct with the death of one who never claimed it, Thomas Fairfax, Esq., of Fairfax County, who died there only a few years ago. George Washington was descended from this family. The place of his birth, Wakefield, on the Potomac, near Pope's Creek, *Rosegill, or half of it, still stands. †The title did not become extinct. Fairfax, 12th Baron born 1870. See Meade, 1, 373. It descended to Albert Kirby |