I regret to add, that this extraordinary man will, in all probability, survive but a few years. His health appears irretrievably gone, and his constitution irreparably injured. A premature decay seems gradually creeping, almost imperceptibly, over all his vital powers, and an irresistible unseen influence, that baffles human skill and human means, appears to be dragging him like an inexorable creditor to the grave. At the age of thirty-one or two, with wealth in possession, fame as his handmaid, and glory and power in bright perspective, he is in constitution an infirm old man, with his light glossy hair parted over his forehead, and tied with a black riband behind; teeth white as ivory, eyes flashing with intellect, and a countenance seamed with innumerable wrinkles. At the distance of a hundred yards, he will be mistaken for an overgrown, premature boy; approach him, and at every step his appearance changes, and he becomes gradually metamorphosed into a decrepit old man. You will then see a face such as you never saw before, never will see again; if he likes you, a smile such as you never beheld light up a face before; and when that passes away, a countenance bearing an expression of long anxiety and suffering, that will make your heart ache if it never ached before.

Such is John Randolph, the descendant of Pocahontas, as he appeared to me. He may be wayward, eccentric, self-willed, and erratic. His opponents sometimes insinuate that he is mad, because he sees what they cannot see, and speaks in the spirit of

inspiration of things to come. He looks into the clear mirror of futurity, with an eye that never winks, and they think he is staring at some phantom of his own creation. He talks of things past their comprehension, and they pronounce him mad.

Abdallah was held one of the most eloquent of all the mollahs among the faithful, and his orations were listened to by the wise, as the words of inspiration. He usually rode an ass, considered the most conceited of all the long-eared tribe, and was accustomed to con his speeches as he travelled along the highway. One day after one of these rehearsals, the ass chanced, while browsing in a wood, to meet a fox, who asked him, "What news?" "Alas!” cried the ass, "my poor master is run mad!” "How so," replied the other. "Why he talks so that I can't understand a word he says." "Oh, if that is all," quoth Reynard, "make yourself perfectly easy-every man is not mad who talks beyond the comprehension of

an ass."

Mr. Randolph is a great admirer of horses, though he has left off racing, and is always followed by one or two dogs, who, he says, are the only true friends he ever had. If so, this is his own fault; no man ever was without friends who took the proper means to gain them. He would not suffer any one, not even his servants, to feed his dogs; as he told me for the reason, that they were apt to divide their affections between their feeders. He would have his dogs love none other, depend on none other but himself; this shows that his character had become selfish. He

boasted of being the best compounder of mint-juleps of any man in Virginia. He put no water in them, and a single wine-glass sufficed for a long evening. He smoked most inveterately, and so do I you know, Frank, and this was a bond of union between us. I have known two men become staunch friends, only by taking snuff out of each other's boxes a few times. We kept most unseemly hours, and sometimes in the morning he would get up from his chair, look at his watch, and exclaim-" Bless me! I don't know whose fault it is, but I used to keep good hours before you came." At parting he gave me a characteristic invitation to come and see him. "You shall have horse to ride and weapon to wear; bacon and greens, Virginia fare, and help me make hay in the finest meadow in the world." I should like to see the lion in his den, and have some thoughts of venturing, if it is not too far out of my way.. They say he is very hospitable to those he likes, but not exactly so to those he don't. "Mr. Randolph," said one of the latter class to him one day--" I passed your house, last week." "You'r welcome to pass it, sir," replied the other very significantly.

Mr. Randolph paid no attention to the etiquette established at Washington, or, rather attempted to be established, for there were great difficulties in the way of settling the point of precedence among our wild republicans. At the time I was there, every thing was at sixes and sevens. A distinction was attempted between the members of the senate and those of the house of representatives. The foreign

ministers paid the first visit to the former, but insisted on a similar compliment from the latter. In like manner the wives of the heads of departments made the first move towards those of the senators, while they waited the first call from those of the members of the house of representatives. The reason of this distinction was, that a senator represented a state, and a member only a portion of a state. You may laugh, if you please, about these apparently insignificant matters, but I can assure you, I had it from undoubted authority, that a very promising negotiation was not long since knocked on the head, by a contest for precedence between the wives of a secretary of state and a foreign minister. It is impossible to conceive the frivolous anxieties of people in certain situations, to take precedence of each other. The next thing to being a great man, is being next to a great man.

Mr. Randolph demurred to the distinction attempted between a senator and a member of congress; he argued that the house of representatives was the nearest branch of the government to the sovereign people, and therefore superior in dignity to the others. It was also his opinion, that as the foreign ministers were in fact residents at Washington, and the members of congress strangers, the established rule in general society made it proper for the former to make the first advances. He did not choose, he said, to go and ask a dinner from any man, by paying the first visit. If he meant to give him one it was a different affair. He therefore did not visit the diplo

matique corps, and etiquette forbade they should visit him. The foreign ministers were, however, anxious to have him, and after ascertaining that he would accept an invitation to dinner, without the formality of a visit, accordingly sent him one. He did accept promptly, and immediately invited the ministers to dine with him, at a day previous to that in which he was engaged to them. They could not decline, and accordingly came. Randolph chuckled mightily at securing the first visit, and thus supporting his dignity as representative of the sovereign people.

Bolling Robertson,* his cousin, and equally a descendant of Pocahontas, was also a member of congress at the same time. I knew him well; he was a man of fine talents, and inflexible integrity, both in private and public life. He had the Indian eye, and the whole cast of his countenance was aboriginal; his temper was quick, but his heart kind and excellent. He was a faithful friend, but a most determined enemy. In a debate in the house, he and Randolph launched so many Indian arrows at each other, that a challenge took place. But the dispute was happily adjusted, and they continued friends afterwards. There are many other descendants of the princess, in Virginia, and certainly if I were to choose a pedigree for myself, I would prefer this to a descent from any one of William the Conqueror's barons, or William the Conqueror himself.

Though I dislike copying any thing, and had rather

*This gentleman became, afterwards, governor of Louisiana, and died there.