Two features of the college to which he contributed survive in their offices for good.

He contributed, in 1870, $1,000 to the Library Fund, and in 1871 founded with a gift of a like sum the "Chancellor Scholarship."

In an address delivered by the Rev. William Stoddert, D. D.,1 in the Chapel of William and Mary College, on the 3d of July, 1876, he made this touching mention:

"The speaker of last night gave some instances of men who had won success in spite of obstacles apparently insurmountable-he mentioned the blind professor of optics at Oxford; Ziska, the Bohemian general, and Milton, both blind; Prescott, nearly so; Byron and Scott, both lame; Beethoven, deaf; and, continuing, said: I might, in this connection, allude to one still nearer, even within these walls, although my words do not reach him. I might speak of his style, with its exquisite attractiveness; of his historic research, which has divined the hidden springs of human movement; of his mind, moulded by classic models until, even in ordinary conversation, his sentences are replete with elegance and strength; of the charm of his narration, beautified by the graces which have given immortality to Herodotus and Zenophon, to Livy and Tacitus; whose intellect seems still to brighten as

i Rev. William Stoddert, D. D. (whose paternal name was legally changed in early manhood); born 1824; died 1886; was the son of Dr. Thomas Ewell, of Prince William County, Va., a loved and distinguished practitioner of medicine; the brother of Richard S. Ewell, Lieutenant-General C. S. Army, and of Colonel Benjamin S. Ewell, LL.D., President Emeritus of William and Mary College after quite two-score years of devoted service as instructor and President. Dr. Stoddert was graduated from Hampden-Sidney College and the Union Theological Seminary, ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and became a most successful preacher, popular lecturer, and esteemed teacher in TennesWilliam and Mary College conferred on him, on the occasion above, the degree of D. D.

see.

After a period of suspension it is most gratifying to note that the grand old college of William and Mary has resumed its useful functions under the able and energetic presidency of the Hon. Lyon G. Tyler, son of a former Chanceller, John Tyler, President of the United States. The number of students in attendance was last reported as 120, with the prospect of increase. With its proud prestige, advantages in healthful and central location, it may be hoped that its expanding usefulness may be even greater and more influential than in any period of its glorious past.

years roll on; whose learning still increases, whose memory still improves, and who is cut off from the sweet converse of friends, so that these words can be uttered as though he were absent, before the Chancellor of William and Mary College, Doctor Hugh Blair Grigsby.'

With the studious devotion and generous spirit of Mr. Grigsby it may be inferred that membership in learned institutions was numerously and gladly conferred on him. The writer has been informed that among such distinctions he was a member of the American Philosophical Society. Circumstances have impelled haste in the preparation of this notice, and the writer has thus been debarred from the desired requisite reference.

Mr. Grigsby's happy and inspiring connection with the Massachusetts Historical Society is with just appreciation attested in the warm utterances of its venerated president as herewith embodied.

It is embarrassing to attempt, without accessible record, an enumeration of the literary contributions of Mr. Grigsby. Mr. Winthrop admiringly alludes to his grace and merit as a voluminous correspondent.

In his own newspaper, in others of his native city and State, and doubtless in other sections of our Union appeared many instructive articles from his pen.

The Virginia Historical Register, the organ of the Virginia Historical Society, and the Southern Literary Messenger, were frequently contributed to. An article in the latter may be referred to in connection with the library of Mr. Grigsby, that on "The Library of John Randolph of Roanoke." (Vol. XX,

1853, page 76).

Among his public addresses, those most often referred to are the following:

Address on the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, delivered in the Athenæum, Richmond, Va., in 1848.

Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1829-30, before the Virginia Historical Society, December 15, 1853.

Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1776, delivered before the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, July 3, 1855. Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1788, before the Virginia Historical Society, February 23, 1858.

Discourse on the Character of Jefferson, at the unveiling of his statue in the library of the University of Virginia, 1860.

Address on the Life and Character of Littleton Waller Tazewell, before the bar of the city of New York, June 29, 1860. Address before the Literary Societies of Washington and Lee University, in 1869.

Address, "Some of our Past Historic Periods bearing on the Present," delivered before the Virginia Historical Society, March 10, 1870.

Address before Hampden-Sidney College, on the centenary of its founding, June 14, 1876.

Of this, the last of such public appearances of Mr. Grigsby, it may be well that the following account should be here given :

"Mr. Grigsby, who had passed beyond the age of three-score and ten, was so pale and appeared so feeble that the audience was not surprised when he asked the indulgence of being permitted, if necessary, to sit while he delivered his address. But his strength seemed to increase as he advanced, and he remained ' on his feet during the whole two hours occupied in the delivery. His historical sketch displayed a familiarity with the persons and events connected with the College sixty years ago, and previously, and was clothed in language so graphic and elegant, and illustrated with anecdote and narrative so apposite, as to render the performance, in the whole, acceptable and delightful in a high degree to his hearers. The enthusiasm kindled by his theme evinced the warmth of his affection for his native State and all that belongs to her glory in the past, and gave the charm of impressive eloquence to his discourse. His plan embraced personal sketches of the six earlier presidents of the College and of the first trustees; but he had not time nor strength to deliver all that he had prepared, and was compelled to withhold a part." The disease which precipitated the death of Mr. Grigsby was incurred in the performance of an affectionate office. In making a visit of condolence to his cousin, Colonel John B. McPhail, who had been bereft of his wife, and who lived some distance from the home of Mr. Grigsby, the latter contracted a deep cold which developed into pneumonia. "During a protracted and painful illness of several weeks' duration, he exhibited an unfaltering patience and resignation to the will of God. When he sup

posed himself to be dying he summoned his immediate family to his bedside, and bade them adieu, telling them at the same time that he had made his preparation for the other world while he was in health. Three days before the final stroke, which fell April 28th, 1881, he was heard to say: "I desire to live; yet I feel submissive to the Divine will." An offering from his friend, Mr. Winthrop, a box of exquisite white flowers, reached him in his last moments and served to decorate his grave.

His remains rest beneath a chaste and stately marble obelisk, erected by his widow, in Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk, Va. It bears the following inscription:

Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL.D.

Born in Norfolk, Va., November 26th, 1806.
Died at "Edgehill," Charlotte county, Va.,
April 28th, 1881.

President of the Virginia Historical Society.
Member of the Virginia Convention, 1829-30.
Chancellor of the College of William and Mary.

Mr. Grigsby left issue two children: i. Hugh Carrington, born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 13, 1857. ii. Mary Blair, born in Norfolk, Va., July 9, 1861; married December 1, 1882, W. W. Galt, Paymaster United States Navy, son of Prof. W. R. Galt (an esteemed educator of Norfolk, Va.,) and nephew of Alexander Galt, the sculptor. Issue: four children: Hugh Blair Grigsby, William R., Robert Waca and Mary Carrington Galt.

At a called meeting of the Executive Committee of the Virginia Historical Society, held at one o'clock P. M. April 30th, 1881-Vice-President William Wirt Henry presiding the following action in tribute to the late President of the Society, the Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL.D., was taken :

WHEREAS, This Committee has just learned of the death of the Hon. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, LL.D., the late President of this Society, which occurred at "Edgehill," his residence, in the county of Charlotte, on Thursday the 28th instant; be it

Resolved, That we cannot too deeply deplore the heavy loss which we have sustained in the death of one whose devotion to the interests of the Society, united to his great learning and accomplishments, have

B

been so effective in forwarding the objects for which this Society was formed.

Resolved, That the Hon. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, LL.D., by his natural endowments, by his passionate devotion to learning in all its forms, by his conspicuous purity of life, and by his invaluable contributions to the literature of his native State, has deserved, as he has enjoyed, the admiration, the love, and the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, and has been recognized beyond the borders of his State as a fitting type of the men who have shed so great a lustre around the name of Virginia.

Resolved, That Dr. Charles G. Barney and George A. Barksdale, Esq., be appointed on behalf of this Society to attend the funeral obsequies of the deceased in the city of Norfolk, and that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to his widow and children, with the assurance of our deep sympathy with them in their heavy affliction.

WILLIAM WIRT HENRY,

Chairman.

At the monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held in the Dowse Library, Boston, May 12th, 1881, the President, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, occupied the chair. In an announcement of the deaths of members of the Society and of other distinguished men, he remarked: "An absence from home of only three weeks, just ended, has been marked for us, gentlemen, by the loss of several distinguished and valued friends, at least two of whom were connected in different relations with this Society. I had been at Washington less than a week when I was summoned as far back as Philadelphia to serve as a pall-bearer at the funeral of the revered and lamented Dr. Alexander Hamilton Vinton. Returning to Washington from that service, I was met by a telegram announcing the death of an honorary member, who was endeared to more than one of us by long friendship and frequent correspondence—the Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL.D., of Virginia. A day or two only had elapsed before the newspapers informed me that the venerable Dr. John Gorham Palfrey had passed away at Cambridge. The papers of a very few days later apprised me that the excellent Charles Hudson had also been released from the burdens of the flesh. Much more time would have been required than the few hours I have had at my command since I reached home on Thursday evening for prepar

j Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1880-81, Vol. XVIII, pp. 419-422.