have the above Acts of Assembly in relation to its civil divisions, we find nothing as to its religious concerns. The establishment of a parish or parishes within its bounds is nowhere given us, excep in two lists of the counties in the year 1754, when it is called St Stephen's parish, with Mr. Thomas Smith for its minister, and in 1758, when it is called Wycomico, and has the Rev. John Leland as its minister. In the year 1776, it is said to have two parishes. Wycomico and St. Stephen's,-Mr. John Leland the minister of the former, and the Rev. Benjamin Sebastion of the other. Mr. Leland was ordained by the Bishop of London in 1775, and Mr. Sebastion in 1766. It is, however, confidently affirmed to this day that there were two parishes, called Upper and Lower St. Stephen's, besides Wycomico, and that the glebes can be pointed out.

In the year 1785, we find the two parishes represented in the Convention,-Wycomico by the Rev. Mr. Leland, and as lay delegate T. Gaskins, St. Stephen's by the Rev. Thomas Davis, with Mr. Hudson Meuse as lay delegate. In the year 1786, Wycomico alone is represented by Mr. Leland and Mr. Gaskins. In 1787, Mr. Leland appears for the last time, with Mr. David Ball as lay delegate. In 1789, Mr. Oneriphorus Harvey is lay delegate from Wycomico, and in 1790, Mr. Isaac Besye. In that year the Rev. Thomas Davis represents St. Stephen's parish, and also in 1792. In 1795, the Rev. John Seward, with Abraham Beacham as lay delegate, represents St. Stephen's, while three lay delegates, Messrs. Hopkins, Hardy, and Hurst, represent Wycomico. In the year 1797, Thomas Gaskins and Thomas Hurst are lay delegates from Wycomico, and Mr. William Claughton from St. Stephen's. In 1799, the Rev. Mr. Seward still represents St. Stephen's, while William Davenport and Thomas Harvey are lay delegates for Wycomico. There being no Convention, or, if one, no records of it, until 1805, we are unable to say who ministered in Northumberland in the interim. In that year the Rev. Duncan McNaughton represented St. Stephen's, with John Hull as lay delegate. In the year 1812, the Rev. Samuel Low, with Thomas Gaskins as lay delegate, was in the Convention. Mr. Low was also there in 1813, accompanied by Mr. Joseph Ball. From that to the present time there has, I believe, been no regular minister belonging to either of the parishes of this county, though services have been rendered to them both by the ministers of Lancaster county.

Concerning the church in Wycomico parish, and which was called Wycomico Church, we have something to say from personal knowledge. Bishop Moore and myself both performed services in it,

though to a small number of persons. The last time that Bishop Moore was in the desk, a piece of plastering from its high arched ceiling fell upon his head, which was protected by only a few gray hairs. Judging from the size of the house, there must, at the time of its erection, have been many attendants, for it was the largest of the old churches in Virginia of which I have any knowledge. It was built about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when faithful architecture had already waned. After my last visit to it in 1837, I made the following communication to the ensuing Convention of 1838:

"On Thursday, the 22d instant, I visited Northumberland Court-House in company with the Rev. Washington Nelson, and preached to a respectable congregation in the Reformed Methodist Church. But few Episcopal families are now to be found in this county. There were formerly three large brick churches in it, two of which are entirely gone, and the third will soon share their fate unless speedy means of prevention be adopted. The one yet remaining, called Wycomico Church, was built in the year 1771, not long before the Revolution, and the walls are still firm. The other part of the workmanship was so inferior to that of former times, that the vestry refused to receive it at the hands of the contractor. The roof is now falling in, and the ceiling has given way some years since. Each of the Bishops of Virginia have preached in this decaying house, though not without some apprehension. Its present condition is truly distressing. The doors and windows are gone. The fine bricks which case the windows and doors are gradually disappearing. Along the deserted aisles, and in the pews of this large cruciform church, measuring seventyfive feet in every direction, may now be seen the carriage, the wagon, the plow, the fishing-seine, barrels of tar and lime, lumber, and various implements of husbandry. The cattle have free admission to it, and the pavement of the aisles, and even the marble slab which covers the remains of one of the latest of its ministers, is covered with dirt and rubbish. The old bell which once summoned the neighbours to the house of God is lying in one of the pews near the falling pulpit. In the deserted chancel you look in vain for the Communion-table and the baptismal font, and there is too much reason to fear that these also are used for purposes far other than those to which they were originally consecrated and applied. Some steps have recently been taken toward the repair of this large and venerable building, but whether they will be continued and the work consummated is still doubtful."

At the end of twenty years it pains me to say that my faintest hopes have been more than disappointed, and my worst fears more than realized, since not only every vestige of the house is removed and its site enclosed and cultivated with an adjoining field, but I cannot learn that there is a single family or even individual in the parish still connected with or attached to the Church. The whole population is incorporated with other denominations. That worthy friend and member of our Church, Mr. Joseph Ball, of the old seat

of Ditchley, was near enough to attend Wycomico, and in Romish days would have been regarded and called its patron saint. Some years after my last visit to this falling church, he placed in my hands a rich service of Communion-plate which belonged to it, saying, that as he was the only surviving friend of the old church, and utterly despaired of its revival, he wished me to take charge of it and let it be used in some other parish. This I did, on the condition that if the parish ever revived it should receive back again the property of its ancestry. The vessels are now used in the congregation and church at Millwood, in Clarke county, and the condition of their loan is recorded in the vestry-book of the parish. The following inscription will also show that its date and use were far anterior to the establishment of old Frederick parish, out of which the parish about Millwood has been carved.

They are as follows:-on the tankard, "The gift of Bartholomew Shriver, who died in 1720, and of Bartholomew his son, who died. in 1727, for the use of the parish of Great Wycomico, in the county of Northumberland, 1728." The inscription on the plate is, "The gift of Reynard Delafiae to Quantico Church." We know of no Quantico Church but that which stood near Dumfries, in Prince William county, and suppose that this plate must once have belonged to it. There is no date to the inscription. The cup, as will be seen hereafter, was the gift of Hancock Lee, in 1711.

I sincerely wish that it were in my power to give as good an account of the remnant of the old church itself. The following extract from my report to the Convention of 1841 will tell the history of the disposal of the walls of Wycomico Church:

"Having thus briefly stated my Episcopal duties in the Northern Neck, I must beg leave to advert to a circumstance which was particularly presented to my consideration while near the site of one of our old churches in the county of Northumberland, and which has been not a little misunderstood and even misrepresented in the public prints and on the floor of our Legislature. In the spring of 1840, I received a communication from Mr. Joseph Ball, an old and valued member of our Church in Northumberland, on the subject of the sale of the church in his neighbourhood. It was then just in that condition when, spoliation of the bricks having begun, it would become an object of plunder to all around and soon disappear. One of the neighbours, therefore, proposed to purchase it, and my consent was asked. I replied that I had no right whatever to dispose of it. Visiting that part of the State soon after, Mr. Ball informed me that a gentleman living near the church, and professing an attachment to it, declared that it distressed him to see the church thus treated; that in a short time not a brick would be left; that they would be used for hearths, chimneys, and such like purposes, all the country around; that, if Mr. Ball would consent, he would give five hundred dollars, either to rebuild it or

to take it down, the materials in the latter case being his own; that he had consulted a lawyer, who told him that the head of the Church could dispose of it. As Mr. Ball was an old warden of the parish and the only surviving member, the gentleman thought he might be regarded as the head; but, on being told that the Bishop was so regarded, it was referred to myself. In reply to the renewed proposal, I stated again that I had no right to sell it, and was unwilling to have any thing to do with it, as it might be misunderstood and misrepresented. On its being urged by Mr. Ball that a refusal to give such permission would only encourage great numbers to robbery, I at length said that, if he chose to sell it, I would receive the proceeds, and place them in the hands of the trustees of our Theological Seminary, to be returned should it ever be called for to build a church in its room. I was induced to do this partly by the consideration that our Convention had many years before passed a resolution calling upon persons having church-plate in vacant parishes to send it for safekeeping to the Bishop of the Diocese, liable to be called for should the parishes ever be revived. Such property has been given into the hands of Bishop Moore and myself, and has been lent to other parishes on that condition. I accordingly, in writing, stated my assent to the sale of the walls of the church (nothing else remaining) for five hundred dollars, giving what right I might be thought to have. I looked upon the transaction as an affair between the person proposing it, Mr. Ball, and myself, as friends to religion and the Church, who were desirous to prevent a dishonourable use of the remains of a building not likely to be wanted again, and as an act which would be approved by all good and pious persons. After having paid one-half of the money, the purchaser refused the remainder, on the plea of its having been an improper sale. In order to prevent all future misunderstanding of this transaction, I have thought it best thus to place it among our records. The two hundred and fifty dollars which were paid were expended, I believe, on the Chapel attached to our Theological Seminary, and I hold myself personally responsible for its return whenever any competent authority shall claim it."

I am sorry to add that to this day the remaining two hundred and fifty dollars is unpaid. I trust that the descendants of the purchaser, even to the latest generation, will feel bound to Wyco mico, even as the trustees of the Theological Seminary, for the part which has been used.

NOTICES OF THE LEE FAMILY IN VIRGINIA.

In the county of Northumberland and parish of Great Wycomico, and within sight of the Chesapeake Bay, there is an estate and mansion called Ditchley,-an English name of note,—which has probably from its first settlement, more than one hundred years ago, been the favourite resort of the ministers of the Episcopal Church. Its present owner is Mr. Flexmer Ball. His father, Mr. Joseph Ball, was one of the truest members of our Church. Of his ancestry we have just written in our last article. Many and pleasant have been the hours which, in company with some of the

brethren, I have spent at Ditchley within the last thirty years Ditchley is one of the old residences of the Lees. The mansion called Cobbs, where Colonel Richard Lee, the first of the family, lived for some time, was near to Ditchley, and has only very recently been removed to make place for another, although it must have been built two hundred years ago or more. The first settler,

of whom more will hereafter be said, had many sons, of whom the seventh, Hancock Lee, built and lived at Ditchley. He was twice married,—first to a Miss Kendall, then to a Miss Allerton, by each of whom he had children, whose descendants are among us to this day. He died in 1729, as his tombstone in the family buryingground at Ditchley shows to this day. Both of his wives are buried at the same place. That he was a patron of the church is shown by the fact that he presented a Communion-cup to the parish in 1711. In honour either of himself or father, or the whole family, the parish was then called Lee parish, as may be seen by the inscription on the cup. It was afterward called Wycomico. After the downfall of the parish, Mr. Joseph Ball placed this and other pieces into my hands for preservation, in hope that the day might come when the old Lee and more modern Wycomico parish might. call for it again. It is now used in the church at Millwood, Clarke county, and the source whence it came and the pledge given are recorded in the vestry-book of the same, as has already been said.

The following account of the Lee family is copied from a manuscript in the handwriting of William Lee, dated London, September, 177, the last figure not known, but just before the war, as is evident from the document itself. Its author was one of the six sons of Thomas Lee, so many of whom were active in the Revolution. It is somewhat doubtful whether in the early part of it Mr. Arthur Lee and William Lee, in London, were not as effective as Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee in America. Mr. William Lee, author of the following sketch, was sheriff and alderman in the city of London, and subsequently commercial agent for Congress in Europe and their Commissioner at the Courts of Berlin and Vienna. He married a Miss Ludwell and left three children,William Ludwell, of Greenspring, who is buried in the old churchyard at Jamestown, Portia, who married Mr. William Hodgson, and Cornelia, who married Mr. John Hopkins. The high character of Mr. Lee stamps a value on the following statement:

"Richard Lee, of good family in Shropshire, and whose picture, I am told, is now at Cotton, near Bridgenorth, the seat of Lancelot Lee, Esq., scme time in the reign of Charles I. went over to the Colony of Virginia