Collony who departed this life ye 24th day of March in ye year of our Lord 1707 in ye thirty sixth year of her age. At Rosewell. Here lyeth interred ye body of ye Honourable Colonell Matthew Page Esq one of his Maj'ies most Honourable councel of the parish of Abington in the county of Glocester in the Collony of Virginia son of the Honourable Colonell John & Alice Page of the parish of Burton & ye county of Yorke in the aforesaid Collony who departed this life the 9th day of January Anno Dom 1703 in the 45th year of his age. Matoax.-Matoax is situated on the North side of the Appomattox river, above the falls and about a mile from the town of Petersburg. Matoax, (or Matoaca) it is said, was the private appellation of Pochahontas, this last having been merely titular. It is well known that Powhatan was the title of the great chief, and that his individual name was Wahunsonacock. John Randolph, Sr., of Roanoke, father of John of Roanoke, the orator, resided some time at Matoax and died there in 1775. His widow, (whose maiden name was Frances Bland,) married secondly St. George Tucker, whereby To the right of Washington's remains, repose Matoax fell into his possession, and he came to those of his Lady, in a similar sarcophagus, bearlive there during the revolutionary war. January ing the following inscription: 5th, 1781, upon the approach of the British towards Petersburg, Mr. Tucker was compelled, suddenly, to remove his lady from Matoax, she having been but five days mother to Henry St. George Tucker. John Randolph, it has been said, alluded to this in Congress, upon occasion of replying to Mr. Tucker then likewise a member, thus, "The first time, sir, I can recollect having the pleasure of meeting with that gentleman, we were trying to get out of the way of the British." John Randolph (the orator) was, as I believe, not born at Matoax, but certainly passed his boyhood there. It is said that, in after years, when involved in the turmoil of politics, he was heard to recur with fond regret, to his early days spent at Matoax, and in particular to his angling amusements there. To the East of the site of Matoax house, on a rising ground, under a clump of oaks, are to be seen the tombstones of the parents of John Randolph, the orator, from which the following inscriptions have been copied : Johannes Randolph. Arm. Ob. xxviii Octo. Æt xxxiv Non ossibus urna, nec mens Virtutibus absit. [Translated.] John Randolph Esq died 28th October 1775 aged 34. Let not a tomb be wanting to his ashes, nor memory to his virtues. This Stone was given by his Excellency Francis Nicholson Esq Lieutenant & Governor General of Virginia in Memory of Peter Heyman esq Grandson to Sir Peter Heyman of Summerfield in ye county of Kent-he was collector of the customes in ye lower district of James River and went voluntarily on board the king's Ship Shoreham, in Pursuit of a pyrate who greatly infested this coast-after he had behaved himself 7 hours with undaunted courage, was killed with a small shot, ye 29 day of April 1700. In the engagement he stood next the Governor upon the Quarter deck and was here honorably interred by his order. The two stones from which the above were transcribed, are of black marble, lying flat on the ground near each other, being six feet long, and three feet wide, and each surmounted with a coat of arms. Of the capture of the pirate referred to, Beverley, in his history of Virginia, gives a circumstantial account. Epitaph, copied from a marble slab, inserted in and Sir Thomas Lunsford Kt, in memory of whom this the wall of the old church at Williamsburg. Near this marble lyes ye Hon'ble Daniel Parke of ye county of Essex, Esq, who was one of his ma'ties counsellors and sometime Secretary of the Colony of Virginia. He dyed ye 6th of March Anno 1679. His other felicities were crowned by his happy marriage with Rebbecka the daughter of George Evelyn of the county of Surry, Esq. He died the 2d of January Anno 1672 at long Ditton, in ye county of Surry and left behind him a most hopefull progeny. Epitaph copied from the old church at Williamsburg. MDCCLII. Inscribed to the memory of Doctor William His Hon friend Alex'r Spotswood Esq The Virginia Coat of Arms.-There were three designs for a Coat of Arms of Virginia proposed, one by Dr. Franklin, another by M. De Cimetiere of Philadelphia, the third by George Wythe. This last was adopted. The figures were taken from Spence's Polymetis. The Coat is as follows: Virtue, the genius of the Commonwealth, dressed like an Amazon, resting on a spear with one hand, and holding a sword with the other, and treading on Tyranny, represen ted by a man prostrate, a crown fallen from his head, a broken chain in his left hand and a scourge in his right. In the exergon, the word Virginia over the head of Virtue, and underneath “Sic semper tyrannis." On the reverse, a group; Libertas with her wand and Pileus in the middle; on one side, Ceres with the Cornucopia in one hand, and an ear of wheat in the other; on the other side, eternitas with the Globe and Phoenix. In the exergon, " Deus nobis hæc otia fecit," In October 1779, an act was passed by the Virginia Assembly, authorising the foregoing to be engraved, only changing the motto on the reverse to Perseverando. Inscription taken from the yard of the Old Church at Williamsburg. Epitaph of Thomas Ludwell, Esq. marble is placed by order of Philip Ludwell Esq [Son] of It was about an half hour after sunset, one of the finest days in August, that I alighted at the "Lake House," from the Saratoga stage covered with dust and disappointment. We had left the springs soon after breakfast and made twenty-seven miles of the sandiest road I ever remember encountering. The way-bill had promised a more expeditious ride, and we had wished to see Lake George burnished with the shifting splendors of the sun's golden decline. But so it was. Stage agents are sanguine, the Swiftsure was a misnoand we probably arrived with better appetites for supper in consequence. mer, My first glimpse of the Lake was from the top of the coach (I always ride with the driver,) on a gentle eminence some three quarters of a mile from Caldwell. What had before been to me but an exquisite engraving in the scenery of America was now a beautiful reality, stretching away, engirdled by mountains, as far as the eye can reach in the fading hues of twilight. I had little time, however, for observation. Rattle went the stage with the rapidity it assumes in entering a village, and in ten minutes more, the waiters at the hotel were making with the clothes-brush as many sixpences as usual. The traveller, in New-York, is struck with the never-ending variety of its lovely landscapes, at one time presenting the blue, bold majesty of the Catskills, at another, the undulating region of the Genesee. On its western border he is overpowered with the indescribable sublimity of stupendous Niagara, while to the north, the St. Lawrence is winding through his "Thousand Islands." The glassy loveliness of the Hudson, contrasted with the wildness of its banks and highlands, has elicited from some tourists a warmer admiration than the castellated Rhine. Everywhere throughout the broad dominions of the Empire State, we feel the force of Bishop Berkeley's couplet, that "art by Nature seems outdone, And fancied beauties by the true." The sun was just dissipating the mist which hung above the tree-tops, as if detained by their branches, when I arose and looked out of the window the morning after my arrival. The prospect was enchanting. Below, the lake lay like a sheen of of Somerset, in the kingdom of England and departed this silver, the dark mountains mirrored on its surface. life in the year 1698: and near this place lye the bodies of The village seemed reposing in the stillness of Richard Kemp Esq, his Predecessor in ye Secretary's office, primeval solitude, a chosen spot where man might Under this marble lieth the body of Thomas Ludwell Esq. Secretary of Virginia, who was born at Bruton, in the county retire from the turmoil of cities and the agitation | a continued discharge of artillery. The rumbling of conflicting interests to meditate in silence. But noise leaped I was interrupted in my reflections by the breakfast bell. So I went down and ate heartily of trout taken two hours previous from the blue depths of their native element. "From peak to peak the rattling crags among," when suddenly it died away and some seconds intervened, followed by an explosion, apparently at a great distance, and as loud as at first. At 8, A. M., we embarked on a little steamer One would suppose that by the margin of Lake of graceful proportions to ascend the lake: we, George, the turbulent passions of men would be that is, a party consisting of four Southern gentle- softened and subdued; that he must be callous, inmen en route for Canada, an eminent clergyman of deed, who feels not "an impulse from a vernal New-York City, a family from New-England and wood," and who could disgrace humanity by his a Northern youth just from the recitations of the offences in view of such exquisite scenery. Lecture-Room, "Ten precious souls and all agog To dash through thick and thin.” On the whole, it was perhaps the most sociable set that was ever thrown together by accident. But no rock breaks upon the eye, that is not intimately connected with some legend of battle, or story of crime. Here were fought engagements of the most sanguinary character. The butchery of Montcalm was enacted near the sweetest cove of The scenery, on the Lake, becomes more and the Lake and the shrieks of the slaughtered maimore bold as you ascend. The views change as den, Jane McRea, for mercy rang through the with the rapidity of phantasmagoria. Wildness woods which surround it. Deeds, which are withand serenity seemed blended together in sweet out a parallel in history for atrocity, were here of union. When the French settled in the neighbor-frequent occurrence in the old French war. hood, they gave this Lake the name of Sacrament, A book is kept on the steamboat for the contrifrom the singular purity of its waters, which they butions of travellers, which contains much that is used for the purposes of the chapel and made poetical, and more that is ridiculous. Our colle"holy" by the Catholic Ritual. The idea is scarce- giate friend was deeply engaged in its perusal, ly less poetic than the Indian fancy that, like the and pointed out a jeu d'esprit, at which he was much pool of Bethesda, Lake Horicon extended a heal-diverted. Some wag, as an instance of the bathos, ing and sanative influence over those who bathed Surely if the fountain of rejuvenescence be ever discovered, its stream cannot be more pellucid. The pebbly bottom could be seen frequently from the deck of the steamboat as we glided along, and the fish were sporting in conscious security around us. To the intrinsic beauty of this placid expanse was added all the grandeur which mountains ever infuse into a picture. Towering several hundred feet above the gleam of the water, they serve to remind us forcibly of our own insignificance, and inspire in it. a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, which leads us from the music of the ripple and had written, "Tourist gaze with me into this emerald Lake and say—can you see anything green.” The reply of some other wit was "Yourself reflected there." We added our quota to the bulky volume for the amusement of those who should come after us. The sail, occupying three hours over a distance of thirty-six miles, was one that I shall not easily forget. May the utilitarian spirit of improvement (?) erect no factories to mar the banks of Horicon, but in America let 66 Each lake and rill, "HOW CHEERING THE THOUGHT!" What struck me particularly, on Lake George, ham and have been set to appropriate music, by Professor The first two of the following stanzas are by Cunningwas its tideless tranquillity. Its 365 Islands are Webb of New-York. The last four stanzas have been covered with verdure to the brink, a sufficient indi-added by a Southern gentleman, under the inspiration of cation that it maintains invariably the same level an accomplished young lady, who thought the song too and is never ruffled by waves. The water-lily abrupt in its termination.-[ Ed. expands her snowy petals on the bosom of the lake and seems to spread out a fairy carpet. It is said, that when wintry winds are howling around the adjacent hills, the Lake is still as ever, and so continues until locked up by the fetters of frost. Near the northern extremity is the remarkable echo. A swivel was fired and the effect was like "How cheering the thought that the spirits in bliss, And lay him to rest in the arms of his God." They come, when that pilgrim has rested from woe, Their pinions, now fanning the fever of Care, Prayer mounts on their wings in its heavenward flight, Oh! blessings upon them, wherever they fly, EDITOR'S TABLE. forbid! Our delicate senses couldn't possibly stand the shock. Then come with your tools and timber, your Grecian art and "Roman cement," and let us rather improve, adorn and extend it up into the regions of fame. From its summit, what a commanding view will then be had of the rich and varied fields of Literature, laid off with purest taste, smiling in perennial beauty and fragrant as the Southern isles! Their flowers it will not only be yours to look upon and admire; but you can dip your vases into the 'pure wells of English undefiled" and sprinkle them with the dews of fresh thought, until they assume new and more beauteous forms and shed richer fragrance upon the bouy ant air. In our late excursion to the North, we were delighted at finding that the Messenger had quite a towering reputation there; and some of the Literati and excellent judges said it was about the best periodical in the Country. “It is true," they said, "it has not the run of some others, and doesn't go for pleasing with pictures, but its matter is solid, its aims are high, and its literature is pure." This was the style that some of the most sensible ones used, from Washington to Boston. This didn't redound to our credit, for we did not wish to appropriate what was due to our worthy predecessor. So with a good word to his memory, we very modestly declared that we thought it the best in the TO THE EDITORS AND PUBLISHERS OF PER!- Union, from Georgia, where it has its base, to Maine, where ODICALS. For the sake of diffusing the current news, political and commercial, a liberal Government has deemed it right to allow the Editors of Newspapers to receive all their papers free of postage. This favor, however, is so closely restricted to political, commercial and general news, that even newspaper Editors are compelled to pay postage on all periodicals that they receive. It can not be believed, that the Government, if appealed to, would continue to make this unworthy distinction between Literature and the returns of elections and the price of produce. If it be to the interest of the public that the conductors of the newspress should enjoy this privilege; may it not be said, even much more is it due to the public to grant the same facility and immunity to those who diffuse Literary intelligence and sound knowledge amongst the people. It is indispensable that every periodical publisher should receive periodicals and papers, from all parts of the country. The newspapers are his necessary coadjutors in his work and must be taken to carry out his plans. Thus a heavy tax is constantly laid upon him, diminishing his reward and often injuriously, to himself and his patrons, restricting the range of his general intelligence. The next Congress would not fail to remove this tax, and to this end, an united movement on the part of periodical publishers is here respectfully proposed to be made. PLUS AND MINUS. Be not afraid, most gentle readers, of a prosing disquisition upon Algebraic signs. Such a bugbear can not be farther from your wishes than it is from our intention. The plus and minus of the Mathematician are but the pro and con of the Logician, the for and against of every judicious man, the ups and downs of human life. We have high authority for the wisdom of building no tower without first counting the cost. This must hold good whether the tower be of porcelain, substantial brick, or unsubstantial paper; whether spiritual or material. Which plainly meaneth, whether you build a church steeple, or publish a magazine, "count the cost." its summit rises up among the new settlers on the Arostook. We had, too, some agreeable chat with these enterprising Editors, in Philadelphia, who sell so many pictures every month. "What are the prospects of your work? Won't your Southern people sustain such a magazine? I'm sure they ought." How could we differ from such just opinions? Those were our sentiments exactly. But "what are your prospects," has been sounded in our ears by every friend, who has cared to inquire about our enterprise. This put us to ealculating, and, shuddering one day at the thought of recurring to the dreaded "Calculi," we cast a startled glance at divers mathematical books reposing in hitherto undisturbed dust upon the shelf. Our eye fell upon the " Differential" and we were horror struck at the vision of the "ghosts of departed quantities." What a difference, thought we, will" departed quantities" speedily make in the subscription list! But close by the side of the Dif ferential was its companion and the restorer to life of its departed shades, which soon called Hope back to her aliding place. It seemed to assure us, that if we would only perform the functions of an industrious and active Editor, we would receive an expansion far beyond Taylor's or Maclauren's conception. From that time was formed the determined resolution to "go the Integral." You must not wonder at our being so Scientific, in these matters, for we always had a passion for the mixed mathematics only, for the sufficient reason that we had no tact at separating its quantities which often disturbed our temper. We had, however, an important problem to solve. Before us stood in bold phalanx many items pretty well known, and some others rather strongly anticipated, whilst opposite to them were drawn up unknown ones, whose name was "Legion." Well, this grand problem was to be solved and we tried it, for some time, in vain; when suddenly a smile of joy lit up our lengthened phiz, and a loud ɛvonka (Eureka) proclaimed a brilliant thought. Plus and Minus will settle the difficulty; the question shall be stated and propounded "to all whom it may concern." On the side of minus must be placed all the known and anticipated things, which constitute deductions and drawBut here the French adage comes with its proffered con-backs; in other words the visible obstacles in the field of solation, "c'est premier pas qui coute." But what is "the our prospects. On the other side must be arrayed what is first step"? "Ah! there's the rub." Has it not been taken positively unknown, though strongly desired and hoped for. already? We have succeeded to a "tower" reared by others. To begin, then, with the negatives, the most pregnant is the Shall it tumble about our ears? All ye builders and props large indebtedness to printers, binders, paper dealers, land The supposed indifference and supineness of Southerners to enterprises like that in which we are engaged is another negative. We have no disposition to libel you, and therefore will not subscribe to any such notion. Your blood is too warm and your pride too justly great for this to be true. Those in the North, who would very willingly afford you a substitute, all say that the South ought to have a magazine of its own. It is not possible that they can see your interest and honor more plainly than you do. We do not dread that supineness, which when it wishes to indulge itself will take the Messenger in its hand, to sweeten its elegant ease. lords, (who despise the common Law privilege of "tenant to the Gulf: they alone could give splendor enough to please by the courtesy,") and other classes of worthy citizens, the most fastidious. But theirs is not all the light that will which is necessarily incurred; to say nothing of the debt be shed upon our pages. Some of the Northern galaxy will to one's self, which is by no means inconsiderable when lend their lustre. But the most celebrated Northern wrihe labors diligently and finds himself. ters are professional authors, and must be remunerated, and those who wish to see their productions in the Messenger must supply the quid pro quo. The Messenger, so long as we have the control of it, shall be a distinctive, but not exclusive, Southern periodical. As such, the North can be expected the more readily to receive it; whilst the South will uphold it, as identified with herself. To our own loved region we look principally for support; from her we desire to receive it. We heard that a gentleman of Philadelphia expressed a fear that we we were not a true Southerner. His fears are groundless, as we will demonstrate. We have only been out of the Old Dominion enough to know how to prize her and her sisters. We invite that genOne of the things we anticipated was the withdrawal of tleman and all others to assist us in giving our northern many subseribers. To be sure some have discontinued; friends some hearty whacks, whenever they deserve it, and but not near so many as we feared, or even expected, in repelling the onsets made upon us from whatsoever which proves that the attachment of its patrons to the quarter. We wish, however, our contests to be literary and Messenger is decidedly stronger than we had imagined; conducted with fairnes, and all the mildness consistent and that it has a firm hold upon many hearts. Another with true boldness. In these views we look for a consideminus is the absence of engravings. There is a great rush rable offset to the aforesaid negatives. at present made after pictures. The absence of them is Next, as to the discontinuances: they have been already a minimum with us; but they are a maximum with others. nearly, if not quite neutralized by new comers. A friend Some of our most enterprising publishers have many capi-meets us and says, "send me the Messenger." Now, we tal writers and the influence of some great names-yet reason, that as the friends, with whom we have met, take they are running the engraver's tools into the ground. We are fond of pictures and like to see the beautiful art of engraving encouraged. But we go for improving your minds, not the skill of the engraver. Still the ill-natured may say "the grapes are sour." Such grapes are beyond | our reach, we admit, and yet some kinds, at eertain seasons, are very sweet, and we would like, now and then, to add them to the feast we endeavor to prepare. But to be plucking them in every stage, ripe, green and shrivelled, and offering them as a taste of the fine arts, is not to our taste. this sensible view of the matter, why will not those at a distance? They are only waiting for the commencement of a new year. Then, in will come their names with those of the new recruits enlisted by their zeal. Upon an extensive acquaintance with young men, who have enjoyed the advantages of Education, expectations have been founded. Entering into our new pursuit with an ardor derived from the same sources as theirs, incited once by the same instructors and now by the same inducements, we felt authorized to calculate upon their aid and influence. Will they not give them? Flattering evidences of their willingness have been received from some and many others may have been preparing a response to our first appeal. Let it come in speedily, and may it be worthy of themselves and the cause of Letters. Another minus is the sharp competition between the numerous periodicals, of every grade of price and of every possible plan, from weeklies to quarterlies, original and selected, with and without illustrations. Hence, the circulation of the Messenger in the North, even to a limited ex Our next dependence is upon the press, which has such tent, is most flattering, Its merits alone can force its way vast influence in our free country. Its conductors have alamong the multitude of attractive publications to be met on ready been exceedingly generous and have given us even every hand. The class of its readers there, too, is a source more than we deserve. They will doubtless continue their of pride. We found it in the hands of the most intelli- coöperation and will ever receive our thanks. The young gent, in the reading rooms of flourishing Library Associa- politician, too, who is ambitious of oratorical fame, can mount tions, in Athenæums and University Libraries. We found the stump and, with his Literary documents in his hand, hait at Cambridge and, before this, Brown University has pro- rangue the people upon the merits of the candidates we bably added it to its catalogue of foreign and domestic pe- have nominated, for the Presidency and Vicepresidency riodicals. The glory of the North is her public and private of the REPUBLIC OF LETTERS. There is a virtue in this Institutions for the promotion of knowledge. In some of nomination that no other possesses. It will suspend the her cities all classes have the opportunity of attending heated contests between the friends of the different candicourses of lectures, such as few of our Colleges afford. dates, allay the asperitics and bickerings of party and har Now, let us turn to the positive side and ascertain how monise with the feelings and principles of all. the balance is likely to result. To meet the indebtedness And now, what are our prospects! Not so bright as they spoken of, the subscription list must be amply sufficient, or lately appeared in a dream to a friend; but there is before us our tower will be like that of Siloam; and the subscrip- a fair field of laudable exertion, in endeavoring to call forth tions must come in according to the "terms," in order for the powers of the genius of the South, and to improve her financial matters not to embarass the intellectual labors of literature. To this honorable task we cheerfully devote the Editor. The whole plus side of the question, then, is ourselves; and, forgetting its difficulty, shall strive for its resolved into an inquiry concerning future patronage. “E pluribus unum," i. e. one of the pluses, is the "cloud capped" reputation of the work. Can this be sustained? Give it a trial and judge for yourselves. accomplishment. These exertions can not but be appre. ciated, and whilst success and usefulness will be their chosen reward, a generous public will not suffer them to want that which is necessary to perpetuate them. Why The ablest of Southern writers are manfully enlisting in should not the Messenger have ten thousand patrons, as her behalf. The stars of the Sunny clime shine benig- easily as one. Ten thousand, just such persons as those who nantly and brightly on her path. We can confidently pro-now encourage the work, would be but a small portion of the mise contributions from the best writers from the Potomac communities in which it circulates and it addresses to them |