Mr. Weems, in his books, announces himself as the rector of this parish after this period. If some may, by comparison, be called "nature's noblemen," he might surely have been pronounced one of "nature's oddities." Whether in private or public, in prayers or preaching, it was impossible that either the young or old, the grave or the gay, could keep their risible faculties from violent agitation. To suppose him to have been a kind of private chaplain to such a man as Washington, as has been the impression of some, is the greatest of incongruities. But I wish to do him ample justice. Although his name never appears on the journals of any of our Conventions, and cannot be found on the lists of those ordained for Virginia or Maryland by the Bishop of London, so that a doubt has been entertained whether he ever was ordained a minister of our Church, yet I have ascertained that to be a fact. We presume that he was from Maryland, as there are or were persons of that name there, who were said to be his relatives. We will give him credit for much benevolence, much of what Sterne called the milk of human kindness, and of which Mr. Weems delighted to speak in his sermons and writings. In proof of our disposition. to do him ample justice, we present the following account of his boyhood in Maryland, which has been given us by one who knew

him:

"In his youth Mr. Weems was an inmate of the family of Mr. Jenifer, of Charles county, Maryland. They confided in him as a boy of principle, and had no doubt as to his uprightness and morality until about his fourteenth year. When at that age he was seen to leave the house every evening after tea and to be often away until late at night. The family began to be afraid that he was getting into corrupt habits, and, notwithstanding his assurance that he would do nothing that would render him unworthy of their esteem and friendship, they felt uneasy. He scorned the idea of abusing their confidence, but, as he persisted in the practice of going away, at length they determined to find out what was the cause of it. Accordingly one night a plan was laid by which he was tracked. After pursuing his trail for some distance into the pines, they came to an old hut, in which was young Weems, surrounded by the bareheaded, barefooted, and half-clad children of the neighbourhood, whom he had been in the habit of thus gathering around him at night, in order to give them instruction."

I acknowledge that he was in the habit of having the servant, as sembled in private houses, where he would spend the night, and would recite a portion of Scripture, for he never read it out of the book, and perhaps say something to them, or in the prayer about them, but then it was in such a way as only to produce merriment. This I have experienced in my own family and at my mother's, and have

heard others testify to the same. I do not think he could have long even pretended to be the rector of any parish. From my earliest knowledge of him he was a travelling bookseller for Mr. Matthew Carey, of Philadelphia, visiting all the States south of Pennsylvania, and perhaps some north of it, in a little wagon, with his fiddle as a constant companion to amuse himself and others. If he would pray with the servants at night in their owners' houses, he would play the fiddle for them on the roadside by day. One instance of his good-nature is well attested. At the old tavern in Caroline county, Virginia, called the White Chimneys, Mr. Weems and some strolling players or puppet-showmen met together one night. A notice of some exhibition had been given, and the neighbours had assembled to witness it. A fiddle was necessary to the full performance, and that was wanting. Mr. Weems supplied the deficiency.

He was of a very enlarged charity in all respects. Though calling himself an Episcopal minister, he knew no distinction of Churches. He preached in every pulpit to which he could gain access, and where he could recommend his books. His books were of all kinds. Mr. Carey, his employer, was a Roman Catholic, but dealt in all manner of books. On an election or court-day at Fairfax CourtHouse, I once, in passing to or from the upper country, found Mr. Weems, with a bookcaseful for sale, in the portico of the tavern. On looking at them I saw Paine's "Age of Reason," and, taking it into my hand, turned to him, and asked if it was possible that he could sell such a book. He immediately took out the Bishop of Llandaff's answer, and said, "Behold the antidote. The bane and antidote are both before you." He carried this spurious charity into his sermons. In my own pulpit at the old chapel, in my absence, it being my Sunday in Winchester, he extolled Tom Paine and one or more noted infidels in America, and said if their ghosts could return to the earth they would be shocked to hear the falsehoods which were told of them. I was present the following day, when my mother charged him with what she had heard of his sermon, and well remember that even he was confused and speechless. Some of Mr. Weems's pamphlets on drunkenness and gambling would be most admirable in their effects, but for the fact that you know not what to believe of the narrative. There are passages of deep pathos and great eloquence in them. His histories of Washington and Marion are very popular, but the same must be said of them. You know not how much of fiction there is in them. That of Washington has probably gone through more editions than all others, and has been read by more persons than those of Marshall, Ramsey,

Bancroft, and Irving, put together. To conclude,—all the while that Mr. Weems was thus travelling over the land, an object of amusement to so many, and of profit to Mr. Carey, he was transmitting support to his interesting and pious family, at or near Dumfries, who, if I am rightly informed, were attached to the Methodist Church. If in this, or any thing else which I have written, any mistake has been made, I should be glad to receive its correction.

There were three other ministers who occasionally preached at Pohick, and visited Mount Vernon after the death of General and Mrs. Washington, of whom a few words must be said. But, before these few are said, it is proper to speak of the change which took place at Mount Vernon by the death of its illustrious owners. It is well known that Judge Bushrod Washington, the son of General Washington's brother John, inherited Mount Vernon. He was in full communion with the Church when I first became acquainted with him in 1812, having no doubt united himself with it in Philadelphia under Bishop White, while attending the Supreme Court in that place. I know that he was intimate with Bishop White and highly esteemed him. Judge Washington attended one or more of our earliest Conventions in Richmond and was a punctual member of the Standing Committee from that time until his death. He married into the family of Blackburns, of Ripon Lodge, not many miles from Dumfries, and perhaps twelve from Mount Vernon. The first Richard Blackburn of whom our vestry-books speak married a daughter of the Rev. James Scott, of Dumfries. His son was, I believe, the father of Mrs. Bushrod Washington, Mrs. Henry Turner, of Jefferson, Mr. Richard and Thomas Blackburn. The family at Ripon Lodge had long been the main support of the church at Dumfries and Centreville, and their house the resort of the clergy. I have before me a paper drawn up in 1812 for the support of the Rev. Charles O'Neill. The first and highest subscriber is Mr. Thomas Blackburn, who was, I believe, the husband of our excellent friend Mrs. Blackburn, who lived near Berryville for many of the last years of her life. His subscription is fifty dollars. The next highest is that of a Mr. Edmund Denny, twentyfive dollars. The next Dr. Humphrey Peake, for twenty dollars. All the rest much less. Old Mrs. Blackburn, with her four granddaughters,―Jane, Polly, Christian, and Judy Blackburn,—daughters of Mr. Richard Blackburn, were much at Mount Vernon. I became acquainted with them during the years 1812 and 1813, while I was ministering in Alexandria. They were the first-fruits of my

Two of them-Jane

ministry in that place, and very dear to me. and Polly-married nephews of Judge Washington, and settled in Jefferson. One of them-Judy-married Mr. Gustavus Alexander, of King George, and the fourth-Christian-died unmarried. By my intimacy with these four most estimable ladies and with Mrs. Blackburn and her sister, Mrs. Taylor, I have from time to time become acquainted with the state of things at Ripon Lodge and Mount Vernon as to the clergy. The Rev. Mr. Kemp and the Rev. Mr. Moscrope occasionally officiated at Dumfries and Pohick, and perhaps at Centreville, for the want of those who were better. But in order to conceal the shame of the clergy from the younger ones, and to prevent their loss of attachment to religion and the Church, the elder ones had sometimes to hurry them away to bed or take them away from the presence of these ministers when indulging too freely in the intoxicating cup. The doctrine of total abstinence in families, of banishing wine and spirits from the cellar and the table, was not thought of then in the best of families. If the minister chose it, he must drink. The third and last minister, and who died, I think, in 1813, was the Rev. Charles O'Neill, who was an improvement on the two last. The families at Mount Vernon and Ripon Lodge were fond of him. He always spent his Christmas at Mount Vernon, and on those occasions was dressed in a full suit of velvet, which General Washington had left behind, and which had been given to Mr. O'Neill. But as General Washington was tall and well proportioned in all his parts, and Mr. O'Neill was peculiarly formed, being of uncommon length of body and brevity of legs, it was difficult to make the clothes of the one, even though altered, sit well upon the other.*

* In speaking of Mount Vernon, it might be expected that I should say something of this venerable house and beautiful place, and the Washington vault, and that I should have an appropriate pictorial representation of the same; but, as they are to be read of and their similitudes seen in so many books, I shall refer my readers to those books. There was, however, one object of interest belonging to General Washington, concerning which I have a special right to speak,-viz.: his old English coach, in which himself and Mrs. Washington not only rode in Fairfax county, but travelled through the length and breadth of our land. So faithfully was it executed that, at the conclusion of this long journey, its builder, who came over with it and settled in Alexandria, was proud to be told by the General that not a nail or screw had failed. It so happened, in a way I need not state, that this coach came into my hands about fifteen years after the death of General Washington. In the course of time, from disuse, it being too heavy for these latter days, it began to decay and give way. Becoming an object of desire to those who delight in relics, I caused it to be taken to pieces and distributed among the admiring friends of Washington who visited my house, and also among a number of female associations for benevolent

I am happy to be able to add to this article the following extracts from two letters of my old college friend, Colonel Stoddert, of Wycomico House, Maryland, concerning his grandfather, the Rev. Lee Massey:

"My grandfather I remember well. He died in 1814, at the age of eighty-six, a rare instance of physical and mental vigour for so advanced an age. He was the friend and companion of Washington from early youth, and the legal adviser and friend of George Mason. He commenced life a lawyer, having pursued his studies in the office of George Johnston, Esq., than whom an abler lawyer was not to be found in the Northern Neck of Virginia. He married the daughter of Mr. Johnston, and began his professional career with every prospect of success, but retired when a young man, because his 'conscience would not suffer him to make the worse appear the better reason,' and to uphold wrong against right. He tried to follow in the lead of Chancellor Wythe, to examine cases placed in his care and to accept the good and reject the bad. It proved a failure, and he withdrew from practice. He was afterward appointed a judge, but declined it as taking him too much from his family. He recommended to

me to read law, but earnestly opposed my pursuing it as a vocation. often said Mr. Wythe was the only honest lawyer he ever knew.'

He

"General Washington, Mr. Mason, Fairfax, McCarty, -, Chichester, and others urged him to study divinity and become their pastor. He yielded to their counsels and was ordained in London,-Beilby Porteus, Lord-Bishop of London, assisting in the ordination. I have heard him speak of the high oratorical powers of Dr. Dodd, who then preached in the Queen's Chapel, and describe the personal appearance of George III. and his Queen. He witnessed the performances of the famous Garrick, and thought he deserved the high fame he had won. All the clergy of the Church of England then attended the theatre. The loss of his foreteeth impairing his speech was the cause of his ceasing to preach. He then studied medicine as a means of relieving the poor, and announced that he would practise without charge. He said he was soon sent for by all classes, and he had to withdraw altogether and confine his medical aid to giving advice and medicine at his office; and, of course, with few exceptions, his advice was given only in cases of children brought to him. His conversation was rich with anecdotes and reminiscences of the distinguished men of Virginia, and of social customs and manners before the Revolution. He had read deeply the great volume of human nature, and was a good judge of character. He loved virtue, and hated vice intensely, and perhaps had too little compassion for the weaknesses and infirmities of our nature. His social intercourse was influenced greatly and visibly by the moral character of the men he was brought into contact

and religious objects, which associations, at their fairs and on other occasions, made a large profit by converting the fragments into walking-sticks, picture-frames, and snuff-boxes. About two-thirds of one of the wheels thus produced one hundred and forty dollars. There can be no doubt but that at its dissolution it yielded more to the cause of charity than it did to its builder at its first erection. Besides other mementos of it, I have in my study, in the form of a sofa, the hind-seat, on which the General and his lady were wont to sit.