p236-162 CHAPTER XIV. MY GRAND UNCLE.

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My grand uncle Edward Hazard, the father of
Walter, was, from all accounts, a man of an active,
speculating turn. He was always busy in schemes
to improve his estate, and, it is said, threw away a
great deal of money by way of bettering his fortune.
He was a gentleman who had spent a considerable
portion of his life in England, and when he settled
himself, at last, in possession of his patrimony at
Swallow Barn, he was filled with magnificent projects,
which, tradition says, to hear him explain, would
have satisfied any man, to a mathematical demonstration,
that with the expenditure of a few thousand
pounds, Swallow Barn would have risen one hundred
per cent in value. He was a very authoritative
man, also, in the province; belonged frequently
to the House of Burgesses; and was, more than
once, in the privy council. The family now look
up to my grand uncle Edward, as one of the most
distinguished individuals of the stock, and take a
great deal of pride in his importance: they say he
was a most astonishing rake in London, and a wonderful
speaker in the provincial legislature.

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Connected with these two developments of his
character, there are two portraits of him at Swallow
Barn. One represents him in an embroidered coat
without a cape, a highly worked cravat, tied tight
enough round his neck to choke him, which makes
his eyes seem to start from their sockets; an inordinately
bedizened waistcoat, satin small-clothes, silk
stockings, and large buckles in his shoes. His complexion
is of the most effeminate delicacy, and his
wig seems to form a white downy cushion for a
small fringed cocked-hat. By the portrait, he could
not have been much above twenty years of age; and
his air is prodigiously conceited. The second picture
exhibits only his bust. It presents a gentleman
with a fine, bluff, and somewhat waggish face, past
the meridian of life, arrayed in brown, with the oratorical
expression of one about to make a speech.

Now it must be made known, that the tract of
land, called the Brakes, belonging to the Tracy
family, lies adjacent to Swallow Barn. In old times
the two estates were divided by a small stream that
emptied into the James River, and that is still known
by the name of the Apple-pie Branch. This rivulet
traverses a range of low grounds for some miles, occasionally
spreading itself out into morasses, which
were formerly, and in some places are now, overgrown
with thickets of arrow-wood, nine-bark, and
various other shrubs, the growth of this region. The
main channel of the stream through these tangled
masses, was generally distinct enough to be traced
as a boundary line, although the marsh extended

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some distance from each bank. In the course of
this stream there is one point where the higher ground
of the country stretches in upon the bed of the marsh,
from either side, so as to leave a gorge of about a
hundred yards in width, from both of which eminences
the spectator may look back upon the low
lands of the swamp for nearly a mile.

Just at that period of the life of my grand uncle
when his fever of improvement had risen to its
crisis, and when he was daily creating immense
fortunes,—in his dreams,—it struck him, upon looking
at the gorge I have described, that with very little
trouble and expense, he might throw a stout
breastwork from one side to the other, and have as
fine a mill-dam as any man could possibly desire.
It was so simple an operation that he was surprised
it had never occurred to him before. And then a
flour mill might be erected a short distance below,—
which would cost but a trifle,—and the inevitable
result would be, that this unprofitable tract of waste
land would thereupon become the most valuable
part of the estate.

I am told that it belonged to the character of my
grand uncle to fall absolutely in love with every new
project. He turned this one over in his mind for
two or three nights; and it became as clear to him as
daylight, that he was to work wonders with his mill.

So, reflecting that he had but sixteen irons in the
fire at this time, he went to work without a moment's
delay. The first thing he did was to send an

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ordr to Bristol, (for he never had any opinion of
the mechanics at home,) for a complete set of mill
machinery; and the second, to put up a house of
pine weather-boards, for the mill. Contemporaneously
with this last operation, he set about the
dam; and, in the course of one summer, he had a
huge breastwork of logs thrown across the path of
the modest, diminutive Apple-pie, which would have
terrified the stream even if it had been a giant.

As soon as this structure was completed, the waters
began to gather. My grand uncle came down
every day to look at them, and as he saw them gradually
encroaching upon the different little mounds
of the swamp, it is said he smiled, and remarked to
his son Walter, whom he frequently took with him,
“that it was strange to see what results were produced
by human art.” And it is also told of him,
that he made his way, during this rising of the waters,
to a tree in the bed of the dam, to notch with
his penknife a point to which the flood would ultimately
tend; that, while stooping to take a level
with the breast of the dam, he lost his balance, and
was upset into a pool, formed by the encroaching
element; and that, when Walter expected to see
him in a passion at this mishap, he rose laughing,
and observed, “that the bed of the dam was a
damned bad bed;” which is said to be the only pun
that ever was made in the Hazard family, and therefore
I have put it on record.

In a few days, with the help of one or two rains,

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the dam was completely full; and, to the infinite
pleasure of my grand uncle, a thin thread of water
streamed over one corner of the dam,—the most
beautiful little cascade in the world; it looked like a
glossy streamer of delicate white ribbon. My grand
uncle was delighted. “There, my boy,” said he to
Walter, “there is Tivoli for you! We shall have our
mill a-going in a week.”

Sure enough, that day week, off went the mill.
All the corn of the farm was brought down to this
place; and, for an hour or two that morning, the
mill clattered away as if it had been filled with a
thousand iron-shod devils, all dancing a Scotch reel.
My grand uncle thumped his cane upon the floor
with a look of triumph, whilst his eyes started from
his head, (so as to produce a wonderful resemblance
to his youthful picture,) as he frequently exclaimed to
the people about him, “I told you so; this comes of
energy and foresight; this shows the use of man's
faculties, my boy!”

It was about an hour and a half, or perhaps two
hours,—as my authority affirms,—after the commencement
of this racket and clatter in the mill, that
my grand uncle, and all the others who were intent
upon the operation, were a little surprised to discover
that the millstone began to slacken in its speed;
the bolting cloth was manifestly moving lazily, and
the wheels were getting tired. Presently, a dismal
screech was heard, that sounded like all the trumpets
of Pandemonium blown at once; it was a

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prolonged, agonizing, diabolical note that went to the
very soul.

“In the name of all the imps of Tartarus, and
blackguard fiends of Acheron!—(a famous interjection
of my grand uncle,) what is that?” “It's only
the big wheel stopped as chock as a tombstone,”
said the miller, “and it naturally screeches, because,
you see, the gudgeon is new, and wants grease.”
Hereupon a court of inquiry was instituted; and,
leading the van, followed by the whole troop, out
went my grand uncle to look at the head-gate.
Well, not a thing was to be seen there but a large
solitary bull-frog, squatted on his hams at the bottom
of the race, and looking up at his visiters with
the most piteous and imploring countenance, as much
as to say, “I assure you, gentlemen, I am exceedingly
astonished at this extraordinary convulsion, which
has left me, as you perceive, naked and dry.” Then
the court proceeded upon their investigation towards
the dam, to observe how that came on.

I can readily imagine how my grand uncle looked,
when the scene here first presented itself to his view.
It must have been just such a look as Sir Peter Teazle
is made to put on, when the screen falls: a look
of droll, waggish, solemn, silent wonder, which, for
the time, leaves it a matter of perfect doubt whether
it is to terminate in a laugh or a cry. In the first
place, the beautiful ribbon cascade was clean gone.
In the second, there were all the little tussocks of the
swamp, showing their small green heads above the

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surface of the water, which would hardly have covered
one's shoe-top; and there were all the native shrubs
of the marsh, bending forwards, in scattered groups,
like a set of rose bushes that had been visited by a
shower; dripping wet, and having their slender stalks
tangled with weeds; and there was, towards the
middle, a little line of rivulet meandering down to
the edge of the dam, and then holding its unambitious
course parallel with the breastwork, deploying
to the left, where it entered the race, and tripping
along gently, down to the very seat of the bull-frog.
“Hoity, toity,” cried my grand uncle, after he had
paused long enough to find speech, “here is some
mistake in this matter!”

Now, it is a principle of physics, that an exhausted
receiver is the worst thing in the world to make a
draught upon. The mill-dam was like a bank that
had paid out all its specie; and, consequently, could
not bear the run made upon it by the big wheel,
which, in turn, having lost its credit, stopped payment
with that hideous yell that wrought such a
shock upon the nerves of my grand uncle.

In vain did the old gentleman ransack the stores
of his philosophy, to come at this principle. He
studied the case for half an hour, examined the dam
in every part, and was exceedingly perplexed.
“Those rascals of muskrats have been at work,”
said he. So, the examination was conducted to this
point; but not a hole could be found. “The soil is
a porous, open, filtrating kind of soil,” said the old
gentleman.

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“It seems to me, master,” said an arch looking
negro, who was gaping over the flood-gate upon the
muddy waste, “that the mill's run out of water.”

“Who asked you for your opinion, you scoundrel?”
said my grand uncle in a great fury,—for he
was now beginning to fret,—“get out of my sight,
and hold your tongue!”

“The fellow is right,” said the miller, “we have
worked out the water, that's clear!”

“It's a two-hour-mill,” added the negro, in a voice
scarcely audible, taking the risk of my grand uncle's
displeasure, and grinning saucily but goodhumouredly,
as he spoke.

It is said that my grand uncle looked up at the
black with the most awful face he ever put on in his
life. It was blood-red with anger. But, bethinking
himself for a moment, he remained silent, as if to
subdue his temper.

There was something, however, in the simple observation
of the negro, that responded exactly to my
grand uncle's secret thoughts; and some such conviction
rising upon his mind, gradually lent its aid to
smother his wrath. How could he beat the poor fellow
for speaking the truth! It was,—and he now saw
it written in characters that could no tbe mistaken,—
it was, after all his trouble, and expense, and fond anticipations,
“a two-hour-mill.”

“Stop the mill,” said my grand uncle, turning
round, and speaking in the mildest voice to the miller,
“stop the mill; we shall discontinue our work
to-day.”

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“'Squire,” replied the miller, “the mill has been as
silent as a church for the last hour.”

“True,” said my grand uncle, recollecting himself;
“come Walter, we will mount our horses, and
think over this matter when we get home. It is very
extraordinary! Why did'nt I foresee this? Never
mind, we will have water enough there to-morrow,
my boy!”

He slowly went to the fence corner, and untied
his horse, and got up into his saddle as leisurely as if
he had been at a funeral. Walter mounted his,
and they both rode homeward at a walk; my grand
uncle whistling Malbrouk all the way, in an under
key, and swinging his cane round and round by the
tassel.

p236-171 CHAPTER XV. THE OLD MILL.

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It fortunately happened that a tolerably wet season
followed this first experiment of the mill. But
with all the advantages of frequent rains, the mortifying
truth became every day more apparent, that my
grand uncle's scheme of accommodating the neighbourhood
with a convenient recourse for grinding
their corn, was destined to be baulked, in the larger
share of its usefulness, by that physical phenomenon
which was disclosed to him on the first day of his
operations; to wit, that his capacious reservoir was
emptied in a much more rapid ratio than it was
filled. It was like a profligate spendthrift whose
prodigality exceeded his income. The consequence
was that the mill was obliged to submit to the destiny
of working from one to two hours in the morning,
and then to stop for the rest of the day, except
in the very wet weather of the spring, (and then
there was no great supply of corn,) in order, by the
most careful husbandry, to wring from the reluctant
little water-course a sufficient fund for the next day's
employment.

This was a serious loss to the country around;

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for my grand uncle had talked so much about his
project, and extolled his benefaction so largely, that
the people had laid out their accounts to take all their
grist to his mill. They came there, all through the
summer, in crowds; and nothing was more common
than to see a dozen ruminative old horses, with as
many little bare-legged negroes astride upon them,
with the large canvass mill-bags spread out for saddles,
all collected of a morning round the mill door,
each waiting for his turn to get his sack filled.
Sometimes these monkeys were fast asleep for hours
on their steeds; and sometimes they made great
confusion about the premises with their wild shouts,
and screams, and rough-and-tumble fights in which
they were often engaged. But it invariably fell out
that at least half were disappointed of their errands,
and were obliged to attend the next day. In the
dry spells the mill stopped altogether. These things
gave great dissatisfaction to the neighbourhood, and
many good customers abandoned the mill entirely.
I am told, also, that the old gentleman was singularly
unfortunate in his choice of a miller. He had
a great giant of a fellow in that station, who was remarkable
for a hard-favoured, knotty, red head, and
a particularly quarrelsome temper. So that it often
happened, when the neighbours expostulated in
rather too severe terms against the difficulty of getting
their corn ground, this functionary, who was a
little of the mould of the ancient miller in the mother
country, made but few words of it, and gave the remonstrants
a sound threshing, by way of bringing

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them to reason. Then again, the dam formed a
large pestilent lake, and, by its frequent exposure of
the bottom to the sun, engendered foul vapours that
made the country, in the autumn, very unhealthy.

These circumstances, in process of time, worked
sadly to the disparagement of my grand uncle's profits,
and set the people to talking in harsh terms
against his whole undertaking. They said the worst
thing they could of it, “That it was a blasted thundergust
mill, and not worth a man's while to be
fooling about it with his corn, as long as he could
get it ground any where else, if it was ten miles
off!”

In process of time the miller was turned away:
and then the machinery got out of order, and my
grand uncle would not repair; and so that mill came
to a dead halt. Following the course of nature, too,
the dam began to manifest symptoms of a premature
old age. First, the upper beams decayed by the action
of the sun upon them; after these, the lower
parts of the structure broke loose. But what with
drift wood, and leaves, and rubbish, the mound, which
constituted the breastwork, remained sufficiently
firm to support the pond for some years. It was a
famous place for black snakes and sun fish in summer,
and wild ducks in winter. All this time the
stream found a vent through an opening that had
been worn in the breastwork; and, consequently,
the race had become entirely dry, and grown over
with grass.

Year after year the surface of the pond grew

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gradually less. It retreated slowly from its former edge,
and became narrower. At length, at the breaking
up of one unusually boisterous, wet and surly winter,
there came on, in the month of March, a week of
heavy and incessant rain. This celebrated week
closed with one of the most furious tempests ever remembered
in that part of the country. The heavens
poured down their wrath upon the incontinent mill-dam;
the winds rushed, with a confounding energy,
over this desolate tract, driving the waters before
them in torrents; and away went the rickety old
breastwork, with all the imprisoned pool behind it.

The next morning the tempest subsided. The
sun smiled again over the chilly scene; and there
was the fuming and affrighted little Apple-pie, in all
its former insignificance. Not a trace of the breastwork
was left; and there was to be seen the foul
and slimy bed of the mill pond, exposed in shocking
nakedness to the eye. Long green tresses of weed,
covered with the velvet of many years' accumulation
beneath the surface of the water, lay strewed about,
wherever any stubborn shurb occurred to arrest their
passage; huge trunks of trees, moss-grown and rotten,
were imbedded upon the muddy surface; briers,
leaves, and other vegetable wrecks were banked up
on each other in various forms, mingled, here and
there, with the battered and shapeless carcasses of
the smaller vermin that frequented the pond. The
wind swept with a brisk and whistling speed over
this damp bottom, and visited, with a wintry rigour,
the shivering spectators whom curiosity had

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attracted to witness the ravages of the night; but, in
the midst of all, the feeble and narrow Apple-pie
shot hastily along, with a turbid stream, pursuing his
course through, under, and around the collected impediments
in his path, as near as possible in the very
same channel which, ten or fifteen years before, he
had been wont to inhabit; as if unconscious that this
disturbance in the face of nature could be attributed,
in the slightest degree, to such an inefficient and trifling
imp as himself: by no means an unimpressive
type of the confusion and riot which the most sordid
and paltry passions may produce in the moral world,
when suffered to gather up and gangrene in the system.

As I have introduced this narrative to make my
reader acquainted with the merits of the controversy
relative to the boundary line, it is necessary that I
should inform him, that when my grand uncle first entered
upon this project of the mill, he immediately
opened a negotiation with Mr. Gilbert Tracy, his
neighbour,—who was at that time the proprietor of the
Brakes,—for the purchase of so much of the land, or
rather of the marsh, which lay eastward of the Apple-pie
Branch, as was sufficient for the projected mill-dam.
I have already told my readers that the Branch
itself was the dividing line between the two estates;
and, consequently, my grand uncle was already in
possession of all westward of that line. In his communications
with Mr. Gilbert Tracy on this subject,
he unfolded his whole scheme, and, without the
least difficulty, obtained the purchase he desired.

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There were several letters passed between them,
which stated the purpose contemplated; and the
deed that was executed on the occasion also recites,
that “Edward Hazard, Esquire, of Swallow Barn,
conceiving it to be a matter of great importance to
the good people residing on, frequenting and using
the lands in the vicinage of the stream of water,
commonly known and called by the name of the
Apple-pie Branch, that a convenient and serviceable
mill, adapted to the grinding of wheat, rye, and
Indian corn, should be constructed on the said Apple-pie,
&c.:” And also, “that the said Edward Hazard,
Esquire, having carefully considered the capacity,
fall, force of water, head and permanency of the said
Apple-pie Branch for the maintenance and supply
of a mill as aforesaid; and being convinced and certified
of the full and perfect fitness of the same, for
the purposes aforesaid;” the said Gilbert Tracy
transferred, &c., a full title “to so much of the said
land as it may be found useful and necessary to occupy
in the accomplishment of the said design, &c.;
the said Edward Hazard paying therefor at the
rate of one pound, current money of Virginia, for
each and every acre thereof.”

By this conveyance, the western limit of the
Brakes was removed from the channel of the Branch
to the water edge of the mill-pond, as soon as the
same should be created.

My grand uncle, after the failure of his scheme,
could never bear to talk about it. It fretted him

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exceedingly; and he was sure to get into a passion
whenever it was mentioned. He swore at it, and
said a great many harsh things; for, I am told, he
was naturally a passionate man, and was not very
patient under contradiction. He would not even go
near the place, but generally took some pains, in his
rides, to avoid it. When they told him that the storm
had carried away the dam, he broke out with one
of his usual odd kind of oaths, and said, “he was
glad of it; it was a hyperbolical, preposterous abortion;—
he must have been under the influence of the
moon when he conceived it, and of Satan when he
brought it forth; and he rejoiced that the winds of
heaven had obliterated every monument of his folly.”
Besides this, he said many other things of it equally
severe.

The date of this freak of the old gentleman was
somewhere about the middle of the last century.
The ruin of the mill is still to be seen. Its roof has
entirely disappeared; a part of the walls are yet
standing, and the shaft of the great wheel, with one
or two of the pinions attached, still lies across its appropriate
bed. The spot is embowered with ancient
beech trees, and forms a pleasant and serene picture
of woodland quiet. The track of the race is to be
traced by some obscure vestiges, and two mounds
remain, showing the abutments of the dam. A range
of light willows grows upon what I presume was
once the edge of the mill-pond; but the intervening
marsh presents now, as of old, its complicated

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thickets of water plants, amongst which the magnolia,
at its accustomed season, exhibits its beautiful
flower, and throws abroad its rich perfume.

Before the period of the Revolutionary war, Gilbert
Tracy paid the debt of nature. The present proprietor,
his eldest son, inherited his estate. Old Edward
Hazard figured in that momentous struggle,
and lived long enough after its close to share, with
many gallant spirits of the time, the glories of its triumph.
Isaac, the son of his old friend, preserved a
neutral position in the contest; and, being at heart
a thorough-going loyalist, the intercourse between
him and the family at Swallow Barn grew rare and
unsocial. The political principles of the two families
were widely at variance; and, in those times,
such differences had their influence upon the private
associations of life. Still it is believed, and I suppose
with some foundation for the opinion, that the good
offices of my grand uncle, secretly exerted, and without
even the knowledge of Mr. Tracy, had the effect
to preserve the Brakes from confiscation,—the common
misfortune of the disaffected in the war: An
affectionate remembrance of his old friend Gilbert,
and the youth of the successor to the estate at that
time, being imagined to have actuated Edward Hazard
in this manifestation of kindness.

My grand uncle, very soon after the peace, was
gathered to his fathers, and has left behind him a
name, of which, as I have before remarked, the family
are proud. Amongst the monuments which
still exist to recal him to memory, I confess the old

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mill, to me, is not the least endearing. Its history
has a whimsical bearing upon his character, illustrating
his ardent, uncalculating zeal; his sanguine temperament;
his public spirit; his odd perceptions;
and that dash of comic, headstrong humorousness
that, I think, has reappeared, after the shifting of
one generation, in Ned.

I, accordingly, frequently go with Ned to this spot;
and, as we stretch ourselves out upon the grass, in
the silent shade of the beech trees, or wander around
the old ruin, the spot becomes peopled to our imaginations
with the ancient retainers of Swallow Barn;
the fiery-headed miller; the elvish little negroes who
have probably all sunk, hoary-headed, to the grave,
leaving their effigies behind, as perfect as in the days
when they themselves rode to mill; and last of all,
our venerable ancestor.

Out of these materials, we fabricate some amusing
and touching stories.

p236-180 CHAPTER XVI. PROCEEDINGS AT LAW.

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It was about the year 1790, that my uncle Walter
began to turn his attention to the condition of the
Apple-pie frontier.

Until this time, ever since the miscarriage of the
unfortunate enterprise of the mill, this part of the domain
had been grievously neglected. It was a perfect
wilderness. No fences had ever been erected,
on either side, to guard the contiguous territories
from encroachment; and there were numerous cowpaths
leading into the thickets, which afforded a
passage, though somewhat complicated, from the
one estate to the other. The soil was cold and barren,
and no cultivation, therefore, was expended upon
this quarter. In fact, it may be said to have belonged
to the colts, pigs, heifers, racoons, opossums and
rabbits of both proprietors. The negroes still consider
it the finest place in the whole country to catch
vermin, as they call the three latter species of animals;
and I myself, frequently in my ranges through this
region, encounter their various gins and snares set in
the many by-paths that cross it.

The tract of marsh land, occupied by the dam in
old times, did not exceed, on the Tracy side of the

[figure description] Page 164.[end figure description]

Branch, above thirty acres. It was a slip of about
half a mile in length, and perhaps, at its widest part,
not more than two hundred yards broad, that bordered
on that side of the Branch. This slip, of course,
constituted the subject matter of my grand uncle's
purchase from Mr. Gilbert Tracy.

It occurred to Walter Hazard, about the period I
have referred to above, that this bottom might be
turned to some account, if it were well drained,
cleaned of its rank growth of brushwood, and exposed
to the sun and then set in grass. It would
doubtless, he thought, make an excellent pasture for
his cattle; and, at all events, would contribute to
render the surrounding country more healthy.

If my uncle Walter had been a man in the least
degree given to superstitious influences, he would
have seen, in the ill-fated schemes of his father in
this direction, the most inauspicious omens against
his success in his contemplated achievement. But
he was a man who never thought of omens, and was
now altogether intent upon adding a rich and convenient
meadow to his estate.

It seemed that the Apple-pie was to be the fountain
of an Iliad of troubles to the Hazard family.

When Walter Hazard was ready to go to work,
somewhere about midsummer, he turned in twenty
hands upon the marsh, and forthwith constructed
some rectangular ditches, traversing it upon both
sides of the branch, sufficiently near to carry off the
water. Whilst he was employed at this work, and
not dreaming of any other obstacles than those that

[figure description] Page 165.[end figure description]

were before his eyes, he was exceedingly surprised
to receive a letter from Mr. Isaac Tracy, which, in
the most friendly and polite terms, intimated that the
writer had just been made acquainted with Captain
Hazard's (my uncle always bore this title after the
war,) design of draining the marsh; and regretted to
learn that he had assumed a proprietary right over a
portion of the domain that appertained to the Brakes.
The letter proceeded to acquaint my uncle that this
infringement involved a question affecting the family
dignity; and, therefore, it was suggested, that it became
necessary to remonstrate against it, more from
considerations of a personal nature, than from any
regard to the value of the soil thus brought into dispute.

Now it so happened that Mr. Tracy had, for
some time past, been revolving in his mind this subject,
to wit,—the right of ownership over the bed of
the mill-dam, after the accident that brought it again
into the condition in which it existed before the erection
of the mill. He had examined the deed from
his father, part of which I have recited in a former
chapter, and that document favoured the conclusion,
that as the grant had been made for a specific purpose,
the failure of that purpose restored the original
owner to all his former prerogatives.

This brought him to studying the law of the matter,
and he soon became perfectly assured that he
understood all about it. In short, he took up a bold,
peremptory and dogged opinion, that he was in,—as
he remarked,—of his former estate: that it was a

[figure description] Page 166.[end figure description]

grant durante the existence of the mill-pond; a feoffment
defeasible upon condition subsequent, and a
dozen such other dogmas which tickled the worthy
gentleman excessively, when they once made a lodgment
in his brain. There is nothing in the world, I
believe, that produces a more sudden glory in the
mind, than the first conceits of a man who has made
some few acquisitions in an abstruse science: he is
never at rest until he makes some show of his stock
to the world; and I have observed that this remark
is particularly applicable to those who have got a
smattering of law. Mr. Tracy ran off with the thing
at full speed. He affected to consult his lawyer
upon the matter, but always silenced all attempts of
that adviser to explain, by talking the whole time
himself, and leaving him without an answer.

It was in the height of this fevour that he received
the information of my uncle's proceedings; and it
was with a kind of exultation and inward chuckling
over the certainty of his rights, that he sat down and
addressed Captain Hazard the letter of which I have
spoken. There was another sentiment equally active
in Mr. Tracy's mind to spur him on to this action.
The lord of a freehold coming by descent
through two or three generations, and especially if he
be the tenant in tail, is as tenacious as a German
Prince of every inch of his dominions. There is a
segniorial pride attached to his position, and the invasion
of the most insignificant outpost conveys an
insult to the lawful supremacy; it manifests a contemptuous
defiance of the feudal dignity. Mr. Tracy

[figure description] Page 167.[end figure description]

felt all this on the present occasion, and, perhaps,
rather more acutely in consequence of the partial
alienation between his own and his neighbour's family,
produced by the late political events, and which
was, at this period, but very little removed.

The letter came upon my uncle like a gauntlet
thrown at his feet. He was somewhat choleric in
temper, and his first impulse was to make a quarrel
of it. It seemed to him to imply a dishonest intrusion.

However, when he came to consider it more
maturely, he could find no fault either with its tone
or its temper. It was a frank, polite and seemly
letter enough: “If it was Mr. Tracy's land,” said
my uncle, “he certainly had a right to say so:” and
in truth, as he thought more about it, he came to
the conclusion that it looked well to see a gentleman
inclined to stand by his rights: it was what every
man of property ought to do!

In this feeling, my uncle wrote his reply to Mr.
Tracy's letter, and filled it with every observance of
courtesy, but, at the same time, steadily gainsaying
his neighbour's opinions of the right, and desiring
that the matter should be investigated for their mutual
satisfaction. This communication was followed
by the instant withdrawal of his people from the
debatable ground, and, for the time, with an abandonment
of the meadow scheme.

Never were there, in ancient days of bull-headed
chivalry, when contentious monk, bishop or knight
appealed to fiery ordeal, cursed morsel, or wager of

[figure description] Page 168.[end figure description]

battle, two antagonists better fitted for contest than
the worthies of my present story. My uncle had
been a seasoned campaigner of the Revolution, with a
sturdy soul set in an iron frame, and had grown, by
force of habit, a resolute and impregnable defender
of his point. Mr. Tracy, I have already described
as the most enamoured man in the world of an argument.
And here they were, with as pretty a field
before them as ever was spoiled by your peace-makers.
The value of the controversy not one groat;
its issue, connected with the deepest sentiment that
lay at the bottom of the hearts of both,—the pride
of conquest!

Mr. Tracy's first measure was to write a long
dissertation upon the subject, in the shape of an epistle,
to my uncle. It was filled with discussions upon
reversionary interests, resulting uses, and all the jargon
of the books, plentifully embellished with a prodigious
array of learning, contained in pithy Latin
maxims, in which the lawyers are wont to invest
meagre and common thoughts with the veil of science.
It was filled, moreover, with illustrations and
amplifications and exaggerations, the fruit of a severe
and learned study of his case by the writer.

Then followed my uncle's reply, in which it was
clear that he did not understand a word of the argument
that was intended to prostrate him. After this
came rejoinder and surrejoinder, and reduplications
of both, poured in by broadsides. Never was there
so brisk a tourney of dialectics known on the banks
of the James River! The disputants, now and then,

[figure description] Page 169.[end figure description]

became sharp, and my uncle, whenever this was
the case, obtained a decided advantage by a certain
caustic humour, that he handled with great dexterity.

Eventually, as it might have been foreseen, they resolved
to go to law, and institute an amicable ejectment.
Here a difficulty arose. It was hard to determine
which should be plaintiff, and which defendant;
since it was not quite clear who was in possession.
Mr. Tracy insisted, with all imaginable politeness,
upon making my uncle the compliment of appearing
as the plaintiff in the action, which the latter obstinately
refused, inasmuch as he was unwilling it
should be understood by the world that the suit had
been one of his seeking. This was adjusted, at last,
by Mr. Tracy's commencing the proceeding himself.
It began in the county court; and then went to the
superior court; and then to the court of appeals.
This occupied some years. All the decisions, so far
as they had gone, had been in favour of my uncle;
but there were mistakes made in important points,
and proofs omitted, and papers neglected to be filed.
Mr. Tracy was deeply vexed at the issue, and waxed
warm. So, the whole proceedings were commenced
anew, and carried a second time through the same
stages. The principal points were still in my uncle's
favour. His antagonist bit his lips, affirmed the utter
impregnability of his first positions, and resolved
not to give up the point. Never was there a case so
fruitful of subdivisions! Jury after jury was brought to bear upon it; and twenty times every trace of the
original controversy was entirely out of sight. At

[figure description] Page 170.[end figure description]

length they got into chancery, and then there was
the deuce to pay!

Year after year rolled away, and sometimes the
pretty little quarrel slept, like the enchanted princess,
as if it was not to wake again for a century.
And then again, all of a sudden, it was waked up,
and shoved and tossed and thumped and rolled and
racketed about, like Diogenes' tub.

It was observable, throughout all this din and
bustle, that Mr. Tracy was completely driven out
of every intrenchment of law and fact; which, so
far from having the effect of moderating his opinion
or his zeal, set him into a more thorough and vigorous
asseveration of his first principles.

He affirmed that the juries were the most singularly
obtuse and obstinate bodies he had ever encountered;
and that the courts were, beyond all
question, the most incurably opinionated tribunals
that ever were formed.

In the height of this warfare, the death of the defendant,
my uncle, occurred; which for some years
again lulled all hostilities into a profound slumber.
After a long interval, however, the contest was resumed;
and it now fell to the lot of Frank Meriwether
to enter the lists. No man could be more indisposed
by nature to such an enterprise; and it was
plainly discernible that our old friend of the Brakes
was also beginning, in his old age, to relax into a pacific
temper.

It must be remarked, that during the latter years of
this struggle the two families had grown to be upon a

[figure description] Page 171.[end figure description]

very intimate footing, and that at no period had the
legal disquiets the least influence whatever upon the
private regards of the parties.

In order, therefore, to get rid of the troubles of carrying
on the debate, Frank Meriwether had thrown
out some hints of a disposition to settle the whole affair
by a reference to mutual friends; and would
gladly at any time have relinquished all claim to the
disputed territory, if he could have contrived to do
so without wounding the feelings of his neighbour,
who was now singularly tenacious to have it appear
that his only object in the pursuit was to vindicate
his first decided impressions. The old gentleman,
therefore, readily agreed to the arbitration, and still
fed his vanity with the hope that he should find in
the private judgment of impartial men, a sound,
practical, common sense justification of his original
grounds in the controversy.

This result is to be risked upon the opinions of
Singleton Oglethorpe Swansdown and Philpot Wart,
Esquires, who are immediately to convene for the
consideration of this momentous subject.

p236-189 CHAPTER XVII. STRANGE SYMPTOMS.

[figure description] Page 172.[end figure description]

My reader will recollect, that before my digression
to show the merits of the question touching the
boundary line, I left Mr. Swansdown seated, after
tea, at a game of whist. This game is a special favourite
in the low country of Virginia, and possesses
an absorbing interest for Meriwether. Prudence
is not behind her brother either in the skill or the devotion
of a thorough-bred player; and Harvey Riggs
may very justly be set down as pre-eminent in this
accomplishment. The poet and philosopher was the
only one of the party at the table who may be said
to have ever been at fault during the evening.

I do not pretend myself to be well versed in the
mysteries of this silent and cogitative recreation; but
I have often had occasion to observe that a genuine
whist-player is apt, for the time, to be one of the most
querulous of mortals. He makes fewer allowances
for the frailty of his brethren than any other member
of society. The sin of not following suit, or losing a
trick, or not throwing out a good card in the right
place, is, in his eyes, almost inexpiable, and does not
fail to bring down upon the delinquent that sharp,
unmitigated and direct rebuke that implies, “you

[figure description] Page 173.[end figure description]

must be a blockhead, or you never would have
thought of doing so stupid a thing!” This is sometimes
insinuated in a look, sometimes conveyed in
a question, and often inferred by a simple ejaculation.

Swansdown was not unfrequently taken to task
by his antagonists. Harvey Riggs would stop, put
down his cards upon the table, and, with a biting affectation
of mildness, observe, “Really, Mr. Swansdown,
if I could only count upon your observing the
rules of the game, I should know what to play; but
as it is, I am exceedingly perplexed!” Even Frank
Meriwether, with all his benignant impulses, would
sometimes throw himself back into his chair, and
putting his hand across his forehead, would draw it
slowly down to his chin, as if studying a contingency
which, from the play of the other party, had baffled
his calculations: and sometimes he would break out
into an interjectional whistle, and come down suddenly
with a card upon the table, as he said, “Now,
Mr. Swansdown, I believe you have given me that
trick!” To all these implied imputations against his
dexterity, the gentleman would reply in the most polite
manner imaginable,—with a lambent smile upon
his features,—by a compliment to the superior address
of his partner, expressive of his reliance upon
her ability to rescue him from the fatal tendency of
his own errors.

It was quite perceivable that Prudence by no
means joined in this vituperation of her coadjutor;
but, on the contrary, frequently checked the license

[figure description] Page 174.[end figure description]

of the other two, and said many things in extenuation
of his aberrations from the laws of the game.
Indeed, I thought she carried this vindication further
than his case required. But it never failed to produce
a grateful recognition from him, and a frequent
attempt to excuse himself upon the ground, that Miss
Prudence had herself to blame, as her conversation
was very much calculated to seduce such a tyro as
he was, from the proper study of his part in the play.
At all such sallies, Prudence looked modestly; readjusted
herself in her seat, and smiled upon the
poet.

Before the party broke up, the lady was quite animated.
Her demeanour was characterized by a certain
restless attempt at composure, and a singularly
vivacious kind of sobriety,—partly sentimental, partly
witty, and exceedingly lady-like. I will not say
she had designs upon the peace of our new guest,
but it looked prodigiously like it!

When she retired to her chamber, she was manifestly
under some serious or strange influences. It is
reported of her, that she sang one or two plaintive
songs; showed a slight disposition to romp, above
stairs, with Lucy and Vic; then she took a seat in
her open window, looked out on the moon, and
“fette a gentil sigh”—in the phrase of the lady of
the ballads. It is, moreover, reported, that she remained
in the window until long past midnight.
Something ailed her; but it was not told! Perhaps
some soft and blandishing vision floated before her
pensive eye; some form from the fairy world of her

[figure description] Page 175.[end figure description]

imagination, at this hour wore its robes of light, and
careered upon the moonbeam, or bounded with the
silver ray along the tree-tops that fluttered in the
dewy breeze! or, perchance, in the deep shades of
the grove that slept in dark masses before her chamber
lattice, the spectres of her thought beckoned her
regards, and filled her mind with new and holy contemplations!
I am all unlearned in the mystery of so
serene a creature's secret communions; and it does
not become me to indulge conjecture upon such a
perilous question. I therefore content myself with
reporting the simple fact, that in that window she
sate, to all appearance doing nothing, until every
other sentient being at Swallow Barn was hushed in
sleep. What could it mean?

The next morning there was another phenomenon
exhibited in the family, equally strange. An hour
before breakfast, Prudence, arrayed with unusual
neatness, was seated at the piano, apparently beguiling
the early day with the rehearsal of a whole volume
of sonnets. This was an unwonted effort,
for her music had fallen, of late, into disrelish,—and
it had been supposed, for a year past, that she had
bidden a careless adieu to all its charms. But this
morning she resumed it with a spirit and a perseverance
that attracted the notice of all the domestics.
It boded, in their simple reckonings, some impending
disaster. Such a change in the lady's habits could
import no good! They intimated, that when people
were going to give up the ghost, such marvels were
the not unusual precursors of the event. “It was

[figure description] Page 176.[end figure description]

as bad,” one of the servant maids remarked, “as to
hear a hen crow at night from the roost, and she
should'nt wonder if something was going to happen,—
a burying, or a wedding, or some such dreadful
thing!”

But Prudence was not melancholy. On the contrary,
she smiled, and seemed more cheerful than
ever.

After breakfast, Mr. Swansdown passed an hour
or two in the parlour, and fascinated the ladies by
the pleasantry of his discourse. He fell into a conversation
with Prudence upon literary topics, and
nothing could be more refreshing than to hear how
much she had read, and how passionately she admired!
It was hard to tell which was best pleased
with this comparison of opinions—it was so congenial!
Prudence proclaimed Cowper to be her favourite
bard, and that was exactly Swansdown's preference.
They both disliked the immorality of Byron,
and admired Scott. And both recited delicious lines
from “The Pleasures of Hope.”—“'Tis distance
lends enchantment to the view,” declaimed Swansdown,
following the line up with twenty more. “Tis
distance,” echoed Prudence,—as if it had been a simultaneous
thought,—and responded throughout, in
a softer voice, and with an enraptured eye, to the
whole recitation. Good souls! Delightful unison!
Why has cruel fate—Pooh! Nonsense! I shall grow
sentimental myself, if I say another word about
them!

Before noon, Swansdown's equipage was at the

[figure description] Page 177.[end figure description]

door. Meriwether had arranged the examination of
the boundary line to take place on Wednesday next.
In the mean time, the belligerent parties, on either
side, were to make their hostile preparations.

With the most gracious condescension, the philosopher,
poet, patron, arbitrator, and aspiring statesman,
ascended his radiant car, and whisked away
with the brisk and astounding flourish that belongs
to this race of gifted mortals.

p236-195 CHAPTER XVIII. THE NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY.

[figure description] Page 178.[end figure description]

The event with which I have closed the last
chapter, took place on the morning of the Fourth of
July, a day that is never without its interest even in
the most secluded parts of our country. It was to be
celebrated at “The Landing,” a place about a mile
and a half distant, on the bank of the river, where
the small river boats are usually moored to take in
their cargoes. To this spot Ned proposed that we
should ride after dinner.

It was a holiday; so Rip had permission to accompany
us, and Carey was directed to have our
horses at the door. We were amused to find that
the old groom had not only brought out our own cavalry,
but also a horse for himself: and there he
stood, holding our bridles, arrayed in his best coat,
with a pair of old top-boots drawn over loose pantaloons
of striped cotton which were scrupulously
clean. He wore his spurs, and carried also a riding-whip.
His mien was unusually brisk, and, after an
ancient fashion, coxcombical. He ventured to tell
us that Master Frank thought he ought to attend us
to the Landing, “as there was goings on down there,
upon account of the fourth of July.” The truth

[figure description] Page 179.[end figure description]

was, that learning our destination, he had slipped off
to Meriwether to ask his permission to go with us.

Our aged squire rode at a mannerly distance behind
us; and Rip, on a hard-mouthed and obstinate
colt, that belonged to him, trotted by our sides, with
both hands pulling in the bridle, and his legs thrust
forward to enable him to counteract the constant
tendency of his steed to run away. Rip protests that
Spitfire—for so he calls his colt—is the easiest-going
animal on the place, although each particular step
lifted him at least six inches above his saddle, and
almost entirely stopped his talking, because the motion
shook the words out of his mouth somewhat in
the same manner that water comes out of a bottle.
However, no man ever thinks ill of his horse.

Our road lay through thickets of pine, in the shade
of which we advanced rapidly, and we soon reached
the Landing. There are very few villages in the
tide-water country of Virginia: it is intersected by
so many rivers, that almost every plantation may be
approached sufficiently near by trading vessels to
gratify the demands of the population, without the
assistance of those little towns which, in other
parts of the United States, sprout up like mushrooms.
There are yet, therefore, to be seen the vestiges
of former trading stations on all the principal rivers;
and the traveller is not unfrequently surprised,
when, having consulted his map, and been informed
of some village with a goodly name, he learns that
he has unwarily passed over the spot, without being
conscious of any thing but a ruinous tenement

[figure description] Page 180.[end figure description]

standing on the bank of a river, embowered in deep and
solitary shade.

The Landing, which we had now reached, had originally
been used for a foreign trade, in which vessels
of a large class, a long time ago, were accustomed
to receive freights of tobacco, and deposit the
commodities required by the country, in return. It
is now, however, nothing more than the place of resort
for a few river craft, used in carrying the country
produce to market. There were two or three
dilapidated buildings in view, and, among these, one
of larger dimensions than the rest, a brick house, with
a part of the roof entirely gone. A rank crop of
Jamestown weed grew up within, so as to be seen
through the windows of the first story. Indian corn
was planted on the adjacent ground up to the walls,
and extended partly under the shelter of a few straggling
old apple trees, that seemed to stand as living
mementoes of an early family that had long since
been swept from beneath their shade. An air of additional
desolation was given to this ruin by an extensive
swamp that reached almost up to the rear of the
building, and over which the river spread its oozy
tide, amongst a thick coat of bulrushes. This tenement,
tradition says, was once the mansion of an
emigrant merchant from Glasgow, who here ruminated
in quiet over his slow gains, and waited with
a disciplined patience for the good ship which once
a year hove in sight above the headland that bounded
his seaward view. I can imagine now, how that
harbinger of good tidings greeted his eye in the gloom

[figure description] Page 181.[end figure description]

of the great forest; and with what stir and magnified
importance the fitting arrangements were made
for her reception! How like a winged deity she
came fluttering into this little road, with all her pomp
of apparel—with foam upon her breast, and shouts
upon her deck—gliding in upright stateliness to her
anchorage, as she gathered up her sails in the presence
of the wondering eagle and frightened heron!

What was once the warehouse, but now used for
a ferry house, stood with its gable end at the extremity
of a mouldering wharf of logs. In this end
there was a door studded with nails, and another
above it opening into the loft. The ridge of the roof
projected over these doors and terminated in a beam,
where were yet to be seen the remains of a block
and tackle. On the land side the building was enlarged
by sheds, to which was appended a rude
porch. A sun-dried post supported what was once
a sign, whereon a few hieroglyphics denoted that this
was a place of entertainment, notwithstanding its
paper-patched windows and scanty means of accommodation.

Some thirty or forty persons were collected at the
Landing. The porch of the shabby little hostelry was
filled by a crowd of rough looking rustics, who were
laughing boisterously, drinking, and making ribald
jokes. A violin and fife were heard, from within the
building, to a quick measure, which was accompanied
with the heavy tramp of feet from a party of
dancers. A group of negroes, outside of the house,
were enjoying themselves in the same way, shuffling

[figure description] Page 182.[end figure description]

through the odd contortions of a jig, with two sticks
lying crosswise upon the ground, over which they
danced, alternately slapping their thighs and throwing
up their elbows to the time of the music, and
making strange grimaces. A few tall, swaggering
figures, tricked out in yellow hunting-shirts trimmed
with green fringe, and their hats, some white and
some black, garnished with a band of red cloth and
ragged plumes of the same colour, that seemed to
have been faded by frequent rains, stood about in
little knots, where they talked loudly and swore hard
oaths. Amongst these were mingled a motley collection
of lank and sallow watermen, boys, negroes
and females bedizened in all the wonders of country
millinery. At the fences and about the trees, in the
vicinity of the house, was to be seen the counterpart
of these groups, in the various assemblage of horses
of every colour, shape and degree, stamping, neighing
and sleeping until their services should be required
by their maudlin masters. Occasionally, during
our stay, some of these nags were brought forward
for a race, which was conducted with increased
uproar and tumult.

Contrasted with this rude and busy scene was the
voluptuous landscape around us. It was a picture
of that striking repose, which, I think, is peculiar
to the tide water views; soft, indolent and
clear, as if nature had retreated into this drowsy
nook, and fallen asleep over her own image, as it was
reflected from this beautiful mirror. The river was
upwards of a mile in width, and upon its bosom

[figure description] Page 183.[end figure description]

were seen, for many a rood below, those alternate
streaks of light and shade that are said to point out
the channel, where its smooth surface was only ruffled
by the frequent but lonely leap of some small
fish above the water. A few shallops were hauled
up on the beach, where some fishing nets were
stretched upon stakes, or spread upon the fences on
the bank. At the distance of two or three hundred
yards from the shore there was a slim pole planted
in the river, probably to mark a fishing ground, and
upon the very top of this was perched, with a whimsical
air of unsociableness, a solitary swallow, apparently
ruminating on the beauteous waste of waters
below him: and above this glittering expanse, some
night-hawks skimmed, soared and darted in pursuit
of the hordes of insects that bickered through the atmosphere.

The sun was within half an hour of his journey's
end—and, nearer to theirs, were two negroes, who
were rapidly approaching the shore with a boat load
of crabs and cucumbers, the regular stroke of their
oars falling on the ear as if measuring the stillness
of the evening. Far below, and seemingly suspended
in air amongst the brilliant reflexions of the heavens,
lay a small schooner at anchor, fixed as by a
spell, and, nevertheless, communicating a sense of
animation to this tranquil world by its association
with the beings that trod its noiseless deck.

We had wandered, after dismounting from our
horses, all round the purlieus of the crowd. Rip had
recognized some familiar features amongst the

[figure description] Page 184.[end figure description]

country volunteers, and had already found out the drummer,
who had hung his martial instrument around his
shoulders; and the delighted boy was beating away
at it with all his might. Carey had collected about
him a set of his old cronies, to whom he was delivering
a kind of solemn harangue, of which we could
only observe the energy of his gesticulations. The
ferry-boat lay attached to the wharf, and on the stern
benches were seated three or four graver looking
men in coarse attire, who were deeply discussing
questions that occasionally brought them into a high
tone of voice, and, now and then, into a burst of loud
laughter. Ned had led me up to this group, and, in
the careless indolence of the moment, we had thrown
ourselves out at full length across the seats; Ned
with his legs dangling over the gunwale, with Wilful
lying close by, and reposing his head upon his
lap.

The principal personage in this collection was
Sandy Walker, a long, sun-burnt waterman, who
was the proprietor of the hotel, and evidently a man
of mark amongst his associates. One of the others
was a greasy gentleman in a blue coat, out at elbows,
with a nose lustrous with living fire. These
two were the principal speakers, and they were debating
an intricate point of constitutional law, with
more vehemence than perspicacity. At length, an
appeal was made to Ned, by Sandy, who was infinitely
the most authoritative in his manner of the
whole group.

“Can't Congress,” said Sandy, “supposing they

[figure description] Page 185.[end figure description]

were to pass a law to that effect, come and take a
road of theirn any where they have a mind to, through
any man's land? I put it to Mr. Ned Hazard.”

“Not by the Constitution,” said the gentleman in
the greasy coat, with marked emphasis.

“Well,” said Ned, “we'll hear you, Sandy.”

Sandy rose up, and lifting his hand above his head,
as he began,—

“I say it stands to reason —”

“It stands to no such thing!” rejoined the other,
interrupting him, “if it's against the Constitution,—
which I say it is undoubtedly,—to come and take a
man's land without saying, by your leave; if I may
be allowed the expression, Mr. Ned Hazard, it's
running against a snag.”

“Silence,” said Ned, “Mr. Walker has the plank;
we can only hear one at a time!”

“Why, sir,” continued Sandy, argumentatively,
and looking steadfastly at his opponent, with one eye
closed, and, at the same time, bringing his right hand
into the palm of his left; “they can just cut off a
corner, if they want it, or go through the middle,
leaving one half here, and tother there, and make
you fence it clean through into the bargain; or,” added
Sandy, giving more breadth to his doctrine, “go
through your house, sir.”

“Devil a house have I, Sandy!” said the other.

“Or your barn, sir.”

“Nor barn nother.”

“Sweeping your bed right from under you, if Congress
says so. Arn't there the canal to go across the

[figure description] Page 186.[end figure description]

Allegheny mountain? What does Congress care
about your state rights, so as they have got the
money!”

“Canals, I grant you,” said his antagonist; “but
there's a difference between land and water,” evidently
posed by Sandy's dogmatic manner, as well
as somewhat awed by the relation of landlord, in
which Sandy stood, and whom, therefore, he would
not rashly contradict. “But,” said he, in a more
softened tone, and with an affected spice of courtesy
in his accost, “Mr. Walker, I'd be glad to know if
we could'nt nullify.”

“Nullify!” exclaimed Sandy, “nullify what?”
said he, with particular emphasis on the last word.
“Do you know what old Hickory said down there
in the Creek nation, in the war, when the Indians
pretended they were going to have a ball play?”

“No.”

“ `If you don't go and wash all that there paint
from your faces, I'll give you the shockingest ball
play you ever had in all your lives.' ”

“You don't tell me so!” exclaimed the red-nosed
gentleman with animation, and bursting out into a
tremendous laugh.

“Did'nt he say so, Ned Hazard? I beg your pardon,
Mr. Ned Hazard?” ejaculated Sandy, and
turning to Ned.

“I think I have heard so,” said Ned, “though I
don't believe he used that exact expression.”

“It was something like it,” said Sandy: “well,
that's the sort of nullification you'd get.”

[figure description] Page 187.[end figure description]

“Things are getting worse and worse,” replied the
other. “I can see how it's going! Here, the first
thing General Jackson did when he came in, he
wanted to have the President elected for six years;
and, by and by, they will want him for ten! and
now they want to cut up our orchards and meadows,
whether or no; that's just the way Bonaparte
went on. What's the use of states if they are all to
be cut up with canals and rail-roads and tariffs? No,
no, gentlemen! you may depend, Old Virginny's not
going to let Congress carry on in her day!”

“How can they help it?” asked Sandy.

“We hav'nt fout and bled,” rejoined the other,
taking out of his pocket a large piece of tobacco, and
cutting off a quid, as he spoke in a somewhat subdued
tone, “we hav'nt fout and bled for our liberties
to have our posterity and their land circumcised after
this rate, to suit the figaries of Congress. So let
them try it when they will!”

“Mr. Ned Hazard, what do you call state rights?”
demanded Sandy.

“It's a sort of a law,” said the other speaker, taking
the answer to himself, “against cotton and wool.”

“That's a fact,” cried Sandy, “and, in my thinking,
it's a very foolish sort of a business.”

“There's where you and me differs,” responded
the other.

“Well,” said Ned, “it's a troublesome question.
Suppose we wait until we hear what Old Virginia
says about it herself! And as for us, Sandy, it is getting
late, and we must go.”

[figure description] Page 188.[end figure description]

These words concluded the colloquy; and, soon
after, having summoned our cavalcade, we set out
on our return to Swallow Barn, where we arrived
some time after night-fall.

Ned detailed the dialogue I have just described to
Frank Meriwether, in the course of the evening,
and, from what Frank let fall,—for he grew grave
on the subject,—I have reason to think that he has
some fearful misgivings of the ambitious designs of
the general government. He is decidedly of the
state rights party.

p236-206 CHAPTER XIX. THE COUNTY COURT.

[figure description] Page 189.[end figure description]

On Monday morning Meriwether announced to us
that the County Court was to commence its session,
and, consequently, that he was obliged to repair to
the seat of justice.

I have before intimated that my kinsman is one
of the quorum, and has always been famous for his
punctuality in the discharge of his judicial functions.
It was, moreover, necessary for him to be there today,
because his business with Philly Wart, in regard
to the arbitration, enjoined it upon him to meet
that legal luminary without delay.

He insinuated a wish that Ned and myself should
accompany him. I think Frank is a little vain of
his appearance on the bench. We readily assented
to his proposal.

Meriwether never moves on these state occasions
without old Carey, who has a suit of livery that is
preserved almost exclusively for this service. Accordingly,
the old man this morning was decorated
with all his honours, of which the principal consisted
in a thick drab coat, edged with green; and, as the
day was very hot, Carey suffered as much under his

[figure description] Page 190.[end figure description]

covering as an ancient knight of the Crusades, in
his linked mail, on the sandy plains of Syria.

His master, too, had doffed the light and careless
habiliments in which he accommodated himself,
usually, to the fervours of the season, and was now
pranked out in that reverential furniture of broad
cloth which he conceived befitted the solemn import
of the duties he was about to discharge.

He rides a beautiful full-blooded sorrel; and his
pride in all matters that belong to his equitation is
particularly conspicuous in the fresh and comfortable
character of his housings and horse furniture,
He has a large new saddle, luxuriously stuffed and
covered with a richly worked coat of yellow buck-skin.
The stirrups hang inordinately low, so that it
is as much as he can do to get the point of his boot
into them. But he sits with a lordly erectness upon
his seat, and manages his horse with a bold and
dexterous hand. On horseback he is a perfect personation
of an opulent, unquestioned squire,—the
very guardian genius of the soil and its prerogatives—
fearless, graceful and masterly, his fine athletic
figure appearing here to its greatest advantage.

Ned and myself formed a part of his retinue, like
a pair of aids somewhat behind the commander-inchief,
insensibly accommodating our position to the
respect inspired by his bearing and rank. Old Carey,
in his proper place, brought up the rear. Our
journey to the court house was about twelve miles,
and as we occasionally brought our horses to a gallop,
we arrived there at an early hour.

[figure description] Page 191.[end figure description]

The sitting of this court is an occasion of great
stir. The roads leading to the little county capital
were enlivened by frequent troops of the neighbouring
inhabitants, that rode in squadrons, from all directions.
Jurors, magistrates, witnesses, attorneys
of the circuit, and all the throng of a country side
interested in this piepowder justice, were rapidly
converging to the centre of business.

Upon our arrival, a considerable part of the population
had already assembled, and were scattered
about the principal places of resort, in decent and
orderly groups, in which all seemed intent upon the
quiet and respectful discharge of their several errands.

The court house is a low, square, brick building,
entirely unornamented, occupying the middle of a
large area. It has an official appearance given to it
by a huge door of a dingy exterior and ample windows
covered with dust and cobwebs. An humble
and modest little building, of the same material,
stands on one corner of the area, and by the wellworn
path leading hence to the temple of Themis, it
may be seen that this is the only depository of
the county records. At a distance further off, a
somewhat larger edifice claims a public character,
which is denoted by one or two of the windows being
grated. A few small forest trees have been set
in the soil, over this space, which, by their feeble
growth and shelterless condition, as well as by the
formal and graceless precision with which they have
been distributed, show that the public functionaries

[figure description] Page 192.[end figure description]

have at times had one or two abortive inspirations
of a spirit of improvement, and a transient passion
for beauty.

In front of the court house there is a decayed and
disjointed fixture, whose uses seem now to have gone
by. It is a pillory, with the stocks below it, and was
occupied at the moment of our visit, as a place of
meeting for a few idle negroes, who were seated on
the frame at a game of pushpin. Immediately in
this neighbourhood the horses of the crowd whose
occasions brought them to the scene, were fastened
to racks erected for that purpose; and the adjacent
fence-corners became gradually appropriated in the
same way.

Half a dozen frame dwellings, partially obscured
by trees and generally of a neat exterior, were scattered
over the landscape, and made up the village—
if so sparse an assemblage be entitled to that name.
There are two places of entertainment. The first,
a little shrunken, single-storied edifice, concealed behind
a rough, whitewashed piazza. The second is
an old building of some magnitude, composed entirely
of wood, and, from the profusion with which
its doors and windows have been supplied with architectural
embellishments, must formerly have been a
private residence of note.

Our cavalcade stopped at the latter of these rival
establishments; and we dismounted under a broad,
flaunting sign, that screeched slowly upon its hinges
in the breeze, and seemed to give a responsive note

[figure description] Page 193.[end figure description]

to a party of geese, that were greeting every fresh
troop that arrived with a vociferous, periodical cackle.

There were several respectable-looking gentlemen
collected about the door; and Meriwether's
arrival was met with many kind and hearty expressions.
We were shown into a room that, from its
air of neatness, was evidently kept as an apartment
of more worship than that in which the larger portion
of the visiters of the hotel were assembled.
This room was garnished with carvings and mouldings
of an ancient date. The floor had suffered
from the ravages of time, and had a slope towards
an ample hearth, whose unsightly aperture was embowered
by a tasteful screen of the tops of asparagus
plants. Some pieces of mahogany furniture, black
with age and glistening like ebony, stood against the
wall; and above them hung divers besmirched pictures
representing game cocks in pugnacious attitudes,
distressingly clipt of their feathers, the Godolphin
Arabian, Flying Childers and some other victors
of the turf, all in black frames; and which, from
the hue that time had flung over the copperplate,
seemed to be gleaming through an atmosphere obfuscated
with smoke.

The hour soon came round for opening the court.
This was announced by a proclamation, made in a
shrill, attenuated voice, from the court house door;
and was followed by an immediate movement, from
all directions, to that quarter. The little hall in
which justice was administered was crowded almost

[figure description] Page 194.[end figure description]

to overflowing. A semi-circular gallery, raised five
or six feet above the floor, at the further end of the
hall, was already occupied with a bevy of Justices—
nearly a dozen, perhaps—some of whom had flung
their feet upon the rail before them, and were lolling
back upon their seats, ready to proceed to their judicial
employments. Our friend Meriwether occupied
his place with a countenance of becoming importance.
Indeed, the whole bench presented a fine
picture of solid faces and figures, that might be said
to be a healthy and sturdy specimen of this pillar of
the sovereignty of the state;—and was well calculated
to inspire a wholesome respect for that inferior
and useful magistracy which has always been so
much a favourite of the people of Virginia.

Immediately under the gallery of the Justices, sat
the clerk of the court; and, on either side of his desk,
within the area of the semi-circle, were benches designed
for the juries. Fronting this array of the
court and jury, was a long, narrow platform, guarded
all round with railing, and elevated a few feet
above the floor, within whose constricted confines
were disposed some five or six members of the
bar, most incommodiously perched upon seats of a
height out of all proportion to the human figure;
and, before these, a narrow desk extended the whole
distance, so as to give to the place of their accommodation
somewhat of the dimensions of a pew.

These courts hold their sessions monthly, and
their jurisdiction reaches almost all the ordinary legal
requirements of the county; but, as the territorial

[figure description] Page 195.[end figure description]

limit over which they preside is generally small, it
requires but a few days to despatch the business of
each term.

The first matter that occupied the attention of the
court was the marshalling of the grand jury, to whom
the usual charge was delivered. This office was assigned
by the court to one of the members of the
bar, a young practitioner, who did not fail to embellish
the summary of duties, which he unfolded to
their view, with a plentiful garniture of rhetoric.
Notwithstanding the portentous exaggeration of the
solemnity of the occasion, and the multitudinous
grave topics which were urged upon the grand inquest,
it seems that this quintessence of the freehold
dignity was sadly puzzled to find employment in
any degree commensurate with the exaltedness of its
function. It is said that the jurors revolved in their
minds the whole list of national grievances. One
party suggested the idea of presenting the established
mode of electing the President of the United
States as a grievance to the good people of the
county; another thought of a formal denunciation
of the Tariff; a few advocated an assault upon the
Supreme Court; but all were happily brought into a
harmonious concurrence in the design of presenting a
mad-cap ragamuffin, by the name of Jemmy Smith,
for disturbing the peace of a camp-meeting by drinking
whiskey and breeding a riot within the confines
of the conventicle. Accordingly, after an hour's deliberation
upon these various suggestions, they returned
to the court room with a solitary bill, made

[figure description] Page 196.[end figure description]

out in due form, against Jemmy; and, this matter
constituting the sum total of their business for the
term, they were thereupon discharged, with the
thanks of the court for the able and vigilant administration
of their inquisitorial duties.

Jemmy Smith had anticipated this act of authority;
and was now in court, ready to stand his trial.
He had already selected his counsel—a flowery and
energetic advocate, whose strength lay, according to
the popular opinion, in his skill in managing a jury.
The name of this defender of Jemmy's fame was
Taliaferro, (pronounced Tolliver,) or, as it was called
for shortness, Toll Hedges, Esq. a gentleman
whose pantaloons were too short for him, and whose
bare legs were, consequently, visible above his stockings.
Toll's figure, however, was adorned with a
bran-new blue coat, of the most conceited fashion,
which, nevertheless, gave some indications of having
been recently slept in, as it was plentifully supplied
with down from a feather bed. He was conspicuous,
also, for an old straw hat, that had been
fretted at the rim by a careless habit in handling it.
This learned counsel had apparently been keeping
his vigils too strictly the night before, for his eyes
were red, and his face inflamed. His frame had all
the morning languor of a sedulous night watcher:
and, altogether, Toll did not appear to be in the best
condition to try his case. However, he had now
taken his seat at the bar; and close beside him sat
his client, Jemmy Smith, an indescribably swaggering,
saucy blade, who had the irreverence to come

[figure description] Page 197.[end figure description]

into court without coat or waistcoat, and to show a
wild, grinning, disorderly countenance to his peers.

Whilst the gentleman who conducted the case for
the Commonwealth was giving a narrative of Jemmy's
delinquencies to the jury, and was vituperating
that worthy's character in good set terms, Toll was,
to all appearance, asleep upon his folded arms, resting
on the desk before him. When the charge was
fairly explained, one witness was called to support
it. This individual was pretty much such a looking
person as Jemmy himself. He was rather downfaced
and confused in his demeanor before the court,
and particularly shabby in his exterior; but he told
a plain, straight forward story enough, in the main,
and his evidence went the full length of all the traverser's
imputed enormities. The truth was, Jemmy
had certainly broke into the camp and played some
strange antics, considering the sanctity of the place.
But, during all this time, Taliaferro Hedges, Esq.
maintained his recumbent position, except, now and
then, when Jemmy, feeling himself pinched by the
testimony, would recline his head to whisper in his
counsel's ear, which act would rouse him enough to
bring upon Jemmy a rebuke, that was generally conveyed
by pushing him off, and an injunction to be
quiet. At length, the whole story was told, and bad
enough it looked for Jemmy! The attorney for the
commonwealth now informed Mr. Hedges, that the
witness was at his disposal. At this, Toll completely
roused himself, and sitting bolt upright, directed a
sharp and peremptory catechism to the witness, in

[figure description] Page 198.[end figure description]

which he required him to repeat the particulars he
had before detailed. There was something bullying
in the manner of the counsel, that quite intimidated
the witness, and the poor fellow made some sad
equivocations. At last, said Toll, after admonishing
the witness, in a very formal manner, that he was
upon his oath, and explaining to him the solemnity
of his obligation to speak the truth, “I will ask you
one question; answer it categorically, and without
evasion.”

“When you and Smith went down to camp-meeting,
had'nt Smith a bottle of whiskey in the bosom
of his shirt? Tell the truth.”

The attorney for the Commonwealth objected to
the question; but the court overruled the objection.

“Why, yes, he had,” replied the witness.

“Did'nt Jemmy buy that bottle himself, and pay
for it out of his own pocket? On the oath you have
taken.”

“Why, yes, he did.”

“Well, now tell us. Did'nt you drink some of
that whiskey yourself, along the road?”

“Why, yes, I did. I tell the truth, gentlemen.”

“More than once?”

“Yes, several times.”

“After you got down to camp?”

“Oh, yes! certainly. I don't deny it.”

“Did you and Jemmy drink out of the mouth of
the bottle, or out of a cup?”

[figure description] Page 199.[end figure description]

“Certainly; out of the mouth of the bottle. You
will not catch me in any lies, lawyer Hedges.”

“Really, Mr. Hedges,” interrupted the attorney
for the Commonwealth, “I don't see what this has to
do with the question. I must apply to the court.”

“Oh, very well,” said Toll, “I see how it is!
Gentlemen of the jury, I don't insist on the question,
if the gentleman does not like to have it answered.
But you can't help seeing the true state of the case.
Here's this fellow, who has been all along drinking
out of the very same bottle with Jemmy Smith,—and
Jemmy's own whiskey too,—and now he comes out
state's evidence. What credit can you attach to a
cock-and-bull story told by a fellow that comes to
swear against a man who has been dividing his liquor
with him? For the honour of the Old Dominion,
gentlemen!” cried Toll, concluding this sidebar
appeal to the jury with an indignant gesticulation,
and a look of triumph in his face, that might be
said to be oratorically comic.

The look was a master-stroke. It took complete
effect; and Jemmy was acquitted in spite of the
facts.

As the crowd broke up, Toll, on leaving the court
room, walked up to the witness, and slapping him
on the back, said, “Come, let us go take something
to drink.” And off the two went together to the
tavern.

Hazard remarked to Hedges afterwards, that it
was a little odd, as he had completely triumphed

[figure description] Page 200.[end figure description]

over the facts of his case by undermining the credit
of the witness, he should be on such good terms with
this person as to bring him down to drink with
him.

“Ah!” replied Hedges, “if the jury knew that
man as well as I do, they would have believed every
word he said. For there is not an honester fellow in
the county. But I know how to work these juries.”

p236-218 CHAPTER XX. OPINIONS AND SENTIMENTS.

[figure description] Page 201.[end figure description]

The court resumed its session after dinner, having
a prospect of concluding its business before noon
the next day; and Meriwether was obliged to remain
for the night. Neither Ned nor myself regretted
the pretext this furnished us for the same delay.

During the afternoon many of the older inhabitants
had taken to horse; and the crowd of the court
room was sensibly diminished. Still the out-door
bustle assumed a more active and noisy character.
The loiterers about the verge of the court had less
business, but more to say. Indeed, it seemed to be
difficult to keep those in attendance whose presence
was necessary to the affairs of justice; for the crier
of the court might be frequently heard summoning
the absentees, as they were wanted, in his slender
and shrill voice, by distinctly repeating thrice the
name of each, from the court house door, where he
stood bare headed and with his hand shading his
eyes.

The sun began, at last, to throw a merciless blaze
upon the broken window-panes in the western fronts
of some old buildings, whose raggedness was thus
rendered painfully public. The ducks and geese of

[figure description] Page 202.[end figure description]

the village were already trooping homeward, from a
small brook hard by, in their sober evening march,
and with a sedate under-gabble, like that of old
burghers in conversation. The departing squadrons
of horsemen became more frequent; and the alacrity
with which these retreating bodies sprang forward
from their starting points, showed that their temporary
sojourn had been attended with an increase of
animal spirits. At this hour the court put an end
to its labours; and the throng that had been occupied
there, all day, were now gathering about the
doors of the two taverns.

Our host was an imperturbable, pleasant-faced,
old fellow, with a remarkably accommodating temper,
which exhibited itself in lavish promises, though he
was allowed to be very incommensurate in performance.
He was unwieldy in bulk, and pertinacious
in the enjoyment of his ease; and, to save the trouble
of forming opinions, he gave an invariable answer
to every speculation that was addressed to him.
This was conveyed in the words “quite likely,”
no matter how inconsistent the averments to which
they had reference. Ned and myself had put him,
in the course of the afternoon, to some severe trials,
but without being able either to ruffle his temper or
enlarge his vocabulary.

The large room of the inn had a bar partitioned off
at one corner; and this was the principal centre of
reinforcement to the inhabitants of these precincts.
As the shades of evening thickened this resort became
more crowded. The remnants, or more

[figure description] Page 203.[end figure description]

properly speaking, the sediment of the population, whose
occasions had brought them to the court house, had
repaired hither to enjoy the compotations and arguments
that are apt to abound in such assemblages.
Some were in the middle of the floor, accompanying
their diatribes with violent gestures; others were
strewed around the room wherever seats were to be
obtained. At a small table, lighted by a single candle
in a most unsightly candlestick, sat a gentleman
in a loose calico robe, with a dirty shirt, engaged at
backgammon with a robust, well-knit man who
wore his hat drawn low over his eyes: the first was
the Galen of the country side, and the other a deputy
sheriff. Our friend Toll Hedges was a conspicuous
personage in this checkered assembly. He had
shaken off the dullness of the morning, and was now
playing a part that seemed more native to his disposition,
that of a familiar, confident, loud talking interlocutor,
who called every man by his christian
name, swore roundly after a pedantic fashion, had
some knowledge of every man's business, and bore
himself with the peremptoriness of one whose character
partook in equal degrees of the wag and the
brawler. He was sarcastic, shrewd and popular;
and to all these, it may be added, that before bedtime
he was in no small degree flustered. In this
crowd might also be observed one or two other members
of the bar, of a graver demeanor, and even
some of the justices holding more sedate conversations,
apparently on matters connected with their
business. In one corner sat a quiet, neighbourly

[figure description] Page 204.[end figure description]

shoemaker in an arm chair, contentedly taking a
stiff beverage of whiskey and water about once in
fifteen minutes, and saying nothing to any body.

Our host himself was a sober man, God wot, and
a discreet! He stood at his post the whole evening,
with a wooden pestle in his hand—the symbol of his
calling; one while laughing with a civil good nature
at the rough jokes that were aimed at himself, and
at another mixing toddy to meet the numberless demands
of his thirsty customers. Amidst this edifying
display of toss-pot eloquence and genial uproar,
my attention was particularly attracted to the behaviour
of this exemplary publican. Though scant in
speech, he laboured like a man who had the good of
his family at heart; and bore himself through the tumultuary
scene with the address of a wily statesman
who is anxious to win the applause of all parties.
The tide was in his favour, and his aim was to
float smoothly upon it. In times of great excitement,
it may be observed that the party in power gain
many advantages by a show of moderation. With
regard to them the maxim applies, “where the least
is said it is soonest mended.” Now, our good landlord
stood pretty much in this predicament; for the
whole assemblage had fallen into an inflammatory
discussion of some ticklish points of politics, in
which he might have lost friends by an inconsiderate
participation. Whilst, therefore, the tempest
raged he played the part of moderator, and was perpetually
crying out—“Now, gentlemen!—if you
please,—remember;—we are all friends!” and such

[figure description] Page 205.[end figure description]

like gentle admonitions; and as often as he was taken
by the button by one of the speakers, and pinned
up against the wall, so that it seemed impossible
for him to escape committing himself, I could hear
his old equivocation—“quite likely”—given forth
with an impregnable composure of nerve. In fact,
a sober observer could have been at no loss to perceive
that the cautious landlord had all the ambidexterity
of a practised public servant.

As the evening waned the disputants began to
leave the field; and Hedges being thrown by chance
into the bar-room, alone with his good natured host,
addressed him very seriously upon the subject of the
countenance he had given to certain heresies that
had been uttered in his presence, and, seemingly, with
his concurrence. “Lord! Mr. Hedges,” said he, in
a quiet tone, and looking round to see who was
within hearing,—“you know my ideas long ago
about all that matter!—It isn't my business to break
with customers, or to be setting up against them.
What signifies opinions this way or that! But,” he
continued, erecting his figure to its full height and
putting on a look of extraordinary determination,
“sentiments is another thing! Let any man ask me
my sentiments!—that's all;—Thar's no flinch in
me, you may depend upon it!”

Having learned this distinction between sentiments
and opinions, I retired to my chamber.

The next morning, after a short delay in court,
Meriwether was released from his judicial cares,
and we made preparations for our return to Swallow

[figure description] Page 206.[end figure description]

Barn. Philly Wart, who had been an active and
conspicuous personage in the transactions of the
term, and who is hereafter to make some figure in
these annals was to accompany us. About noon
we were all mounted, Philly being perched upon a
tall, raw-boned, grey steed, that seemed to have
parted with his flesh in the severe duties of the circuit,
but who was distinguished for his easy and regular
pace. As to Philly himself it is necessary that
I should give him a chapter.

By the usual dinner hour, we were all comfortably
seated at Swallow Barn.

p236-224 CHAPTER XXI. PHILPOT WART.

[figure description] Page 207.[end figure description]

I have a great reverence for the profession of the
law and its votaries; but especially for that part of
the tribe which comprehends the old and thoroughpaced
stagers of the bar. The feelings, habits and
associations of the bar in general, have a very happy
influence upon the character. It abounds with
good fellows: And, take it altogether, there may be
collected from it a greater mass of shrewd, observant,
droll, playful and generous spirits, than from
any other equal numbers of society. They live in
each other's presence, like a set of players; congregate
in the courts, like the former in the green room;
and break their unpremeditated jests, in the intervals
of business, with that sort of undress freedom
that contrasts amusingly with the solemn and even
tragic seriousness with which they appear, in turn,
upon the boards. They have one face for the public,
rife with the saws and learned gravity of the profession,
and another for themselves, replete with
broad mirth, sprightly wit and gay thoughtlessness.
The intense mental toil and fatigue of business give
them a peculiar relish for the enjoyment of their hours

[figure description] Page 208.[end figure description]

of relaxation, and, in the same degree, incapacitate
them for that frugal attention to their private concerns
which their limited means usually require.
They have, in consequence, a prevailing air of unthriftiness
in personal matters, which, however it
may operate to the prejudice of the pocket of the individual,
has a mellow and kindly effect upon his disposition.

In an old member of the profession,—one who has
grown grey in the service, there is a rich unction of
originality, that brings him out from the ranks of his
fellow men in strong relief. His habitual conversancy
with the world in its strangest varieties, and
with the secret history of character, gives him a
shrewd estimate of the human heart. He is quiet,
and unapt to be struck with wonder at any of the
actions of men. There is a deep current of observation
running calmly through his thoughts, and seldom
gushing out in words: the confidence which
has been placed in him, in the thousand relations of
his profession, renders him constitutionally cautious.
His acquaintance with the vicissitudes of fortune, as
they have been exemplified in the lives of individuals,
and with the severe afflictions that have “tried the
reins” of many, known only to himself, makes him
an indulgent and charitable apologist of the aberrations
of others. He has an impregnable good humour
that never falls below the level of thoughtfulness
into melancholy. He is a creature of habits;
rising early for exercise; temperate from necessity,
and studious against his will. His face is

[figure description] Page 209.[end figure description]

accustomed to take the ply of his pursuits with great facility,
grave and even severe in business, and readily rising
into smiles at a pleasant conceit. He works hard
when at his task; and goes at it with the reluctance
of an old horse in a bark-mill. His common-places
are quaint and professional: they are made up of
law maxims, and first occur to him in Latin. He
measures all the sciences out of his proper line of
study, (and with these he is but scantily acquainted,)
by the rules of law. He thinks a steam engine should
be worked with due diligence, and without laches: a
thing little likely to happen, he considers as potentia
remotissima; and what is not yet in existence, or in
esse, as he would say, is in nubibus. He apprehends
that wit best, that is connected with the affairs of the
term; is particularly curious in his anecdotes of old
lawyers, and inclined to be talkative concerning the
amusing passages of his own professional life. He is,
sometimes, not altogether free of outward foppery; is
apt to be an especial good liver, and he keeps the best
company. His literature is not much diversified;
and he prefers books that are bound in plain calf, to
those that are much lettered or glided. He garners
up his papers with a wonderful appearance of care;
ties them in bundles with red tape; and usually has
great difficulty to find them when he wants them.
Too much particularity has perplexed him; and just
so it is with his cases: they are well assorted, packed
and laid away in his mind, but are not easily to be
brought forth again without labour. This makes him
something of a procrastinator, and rather to delight

[figure description] Page 210.[end figure description]

in new business than finish his old. He is, however,
much beloved, and affectionately considered by
the people.

Philpot Wart belongs to the class whose characteristics
I have here sketched. He is a practitioner
of some thirty or forty years standing, during the
greater part of which time he has resided in this district.
He is now verging upon sixty years of age,
and may be said to have spent the larger portion of
his life on horseback. His figure is short and thick-set,
with a hard, muscular outline; his legs slightly
bowed, his shoulders broad, and his hands and feet
uncommonly large. His head is of extraordinary
size, cubical in shape, and clothed with a shock of
wiry, dark grey hair. A brown and dry complexion;
eyes small, keen, and undefined in colour, furnished
with thick brows; a large mouth, conspicuous for a
range of teeth worn nearly to their sockets; and ample
protruding ears, constitute the most remarkable
points in his appearance. The predominant expression
of his features is a sly, quick good nature, susceptible,
however, of great severity.

His dress is that of a man who does not trouble
himself with the change of fashions; careless, and, to
a certain degree, quaint. It consists of a plain, dark
coat, not of the finest cloth, and rather the worse for
wear; dingy and faded nankeen small-clothes; and
a pair of half boots, such as were worn twenty years
ago. His hat is old, and worn until the rim has become
too pliable to keep its original form; and his
cravat is sometimes, by accident, tied in such a

[figure description] Page 211.[end figure description]

manner, as not to include one side of his shirt collar;—
this departure from established usage, and others
like it, happen from Mr. Wart's never using a looking-glass
when he makes his toilet.

His circuit takes in four or five adjoining counties,
and, as he is a regular attendant upon the courts, he
is an indefatigable traveller. His habit of being so
much upon the road, causes his clients to make their
appointments with him at the several stages of his
journeyings; and it generally happens that he is intercepted,
when he stops, by some one waiting to see
him. Being obliged to pass a great deal of his time
in small taverns, he has grown to be contented with
scant accommodation, and never complains of his
fare. But he is extremely particular in exacting the
utmost attention to his horse.

He has an insinuating address that takes wonderfully
with the people; and especially with the older
and graver sorts. This has brought him into a close
acquaintance with a great many persons, and has
rendered Philly Wart,—as he is universally called,—
a kind of cabinet-counsellor and private adviser with
most of those who are likely to be perplexed with their
affairs. He has a singularly retentive memory as
to facts, dates, and names; and by his intimate
knowledge of land titles, courses and distances, patents,
surveys and locations, he has become a formidable
champion in all ejectment cases. In addition
to this, Philly has such a brotherly and companionable
relation to the greater number of the freeholders who
serve upon the juries, and has such a confiding,

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friendly way of talking to them when he tries a
cause, that it is generally supposed he can persuade
them to believe any thing he chooses.

His acquirements as a lawyer are held in high
respect by the bar, although it is reported that he
reads but little law of later date than Coke Littleton,
to which book he manifests a remarkable affection,
having persued it, as he boasts, some eight or
ten times; but the truth is, he has not much time for
other reading, being very much engrossed by written
documents, in which he is painfully studious. He
takes a great deal of authority upon himself, nevertheless,
in regard to the Virginia decisions, inasmuch
as he has been contemporary with most of the cases,
and heard them, generally, from the courts themselves.
Besides this, he practised in the times of old
Chancellor Wythe, and President Pendleton, and
must necessarily have absorbed a great deal of that
spirit of law-learning which has evaporated in the
hands of the reporters. As Philly himself says, he
understands the currents of the law, and knows
where they must run; and, therefore, has no need of
looking into the cases.

Philly has an excellent knack in telling a story,
which consists in a caustic, dry manner that is well
adapted to give it point; and sometimes he indulges
this talent with signal success before the juries.
When he is at home,—which is not often above a
week or ten days at a time,—he devotes himself almost
entirely to his farm. He is celebrated there
for a fine breed of hounds; and fox hunting is quite

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a passion with him. This is the only sport in which
he indulges to any excess; and so far does he carry
it, that he invariably takes his dogs with him upon
the circuit, when his duty calls him, in the hunting
season, to certain parts of the country where one or
two gentlemen reside who are fond of this pastime.
On these occasions he billets the hounds upon his
landlord, and waits patiently until he despatches his
business; and then he turns into the field with all
the spirit and zest of Nimrod. He has some lingering
recollections of the classics, and is a little given
to quoting them, without much regard to the appropriateness
of the occasion. It is told of him, that
one fine morning, in December, he happened to be
with a party of brother sportsmen in full chase of a
gray fox, under circumstances of unusual animation.
The weather was cool, a white frost sparkled upon
the fields, the sun had just risen and flung a beautiful
light over the landscape, the fox was a-foot, the
dogs in full cry, the hunstmen shouting with exuberant
mirth, the woods re-echoing to the clamour, and
every one at high speed in hot pursuit. Philly was
in an ecstasy, spurring forward his horse with uncommon
ardour, and standing in his stirrups, as if impatient
of his speed, when he was joined in the chase
by two or three others as much delighted as himself.
In this situation he cried out to one of the party,
“Is'nt this fine; don't it put you in mind of Virgil?
Tityre tu patulæ recubans sub tegmine fagi.” Philly
denies the fact; but some well authenticated