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Bucklaws and Craigengelts of the west. Many a story of deep interest might be written upon the old state of things in Virginia, if we possessed some indefatigable Jedediah Cleishbotham, to collect the traditions of our ancestors.

Those who took part in our revolutionary struggle, were too much enlightened not to foresee these consequences, and therefore deserve immortal credit for their disinterested opposition to Great Britain. Had they been aristocrats instead of the purest republicans, they would surely have thrown their weight into the opposite scale. We do not estimate enough the merit of the rich men of that day. The danger is now past— the mighty guerdon won-the storm is gone over, and the sun beams brightly: but though bright our day, it was then a dark unknown-dark as the hidden path beyond the grave-and it was nobly dared to risk their all in defence of liberty. They knew that freedom spurned a vain parade, and would not bow in homage to high-born wealth; yet their splendid possessions were staked upon the desperate throw, and the glorious prize was won. Such were not the anticipations of the founders of these establishments; but such was surely the merit of their sons; and it is painful to think how few, of all who engaged in that noble struggle, have been handed down to fame. Many a one, whose name has been loudly sounded through the earth, would have shrunk from such a sacrifice, and clung to his paternal hearth; and yet these modern Curtii, who renounced the advantages of birth, and leaped into the gulf for their country's sake, have not won a single garland for their Roman worth.

There is a scene in the county of Lancaster, where these reflections pressed themselves very forcibly upon my mind. Imagine an ample estate on the margin of the Rappahannock, with its dilapidated mansion house, the ruins of an extensive wall, made to arrest the inroads of the waves, as if the proprietor felt himself a Canute, and able to stay the progress of the sea-a church of the olden times, beautiful in structure, and built of brick brought from England, then the home of

our people. Like Old Mortality, I love to chisel out the moss covered letters of a tombstone; and below I send you the result of my labors, with a request that some of your correspondents will take the trouble to give you a faithful translation of the Latin inscription. The only difficulty consists in the want of knowledge of the names of the officers under the colonial government. The epitaph will show by whom the church was built, and the motive for its erection. In the yard are three tombstones, conspicuous above all the rest, beneath which repose the bones of the once lordly proprietor of the soil, and his two wives. How vain are human efforts, to perpetuate by monuments, the memory of the great! The sepulchre of Osymandus is said by Diodorus, to have been a mile and a quarter in circumference. It had this inscription: "I am Osymandus, king of kings. If any one is desirous to know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass any of my works." With more propriety might he have said, let him search out my works; for we are left to conjec-' ture the very site of his tomb. It would be easy to extend this narrative, but perhaps what struck me as interesting would be unworthy a place in your Literary Messenger.

The Epitaph.

H. S. E.

Vir honorabilis Robertus

genus

Translation.

HERE LIES

Robert Carter, esq., an Carter, Armiger, qui honorable man, who exalthonestum dotibus eximiis, ed his high birth by noble moribus antiquis illustra-endowments and pure movit. Collegium Gulielmirals.

He sustained the

et Mariæ temporibus diffi College of William and cilimis propugnavit. Mary in the most trying times.

GUBERNATOR.

HE WAS GOVERNOR,

Senatus Rogator et Quæs- {Speaker of the House, and ter, sub serenissimis Prin-Treasurer, under the most cipibus Gulielmo, Anna, serene Princess William, Georgio 1 mo et 2 do. Anne, George the 1st and

2d.

Elected Speaker by the Public Assembly, for six years, and Governor for more than a year, he equally upheld the regal dignity and

A publicis consiliis consilii per sexennium præses, plus annum Coloniæ Præfectus cum regiam dignitatem tam publicum libertatem æquali jure asseruit. { public freedom. Opibus amphissimis bene Possessed of ample wealth, partis instructus, ædem honourably acquired, he hanc sacram In Deum built and endowed, at his pietatis grande monumen-own expense, this sacred tum, propriis sumptibus edifice, a lasting monument of his piety to God. Entertaining his friends In omnes quos humiter with kindness, he was neiincepit, nec pareus hospes.ther a prodigal nor a thrifty Liberalilatem insignem tes-host.

extruxit.

LOCUPLETAVIT.

tantur debita munifice re- His first wife was Judith, missa. daughter of John ArmiPrimo Juditham, Johan- stead, esq.; his second, nis Armistead Armigeri Betty, a descendant of the filiam, deinde Betty, gene-noble family of the Landons, rosa Landonorum stirpe by whom he had many chiloriundam sibi connubio dren, on whose education junctas habuit. E quibus he expended a considerable prolem numerosam sus-portion of his property. cepit. At length, full of honors În qua erudienda pecu- and years, having dischargniæ vim maximam insump- {ed all the duties of an ex

sit.

Tandem honorum et dierum satur cum omnia vitæ munera egregiæ præstitisset obiit Pri. Non. Aug. An. Dom. 1732, Æt. 69.

Miseri solamen, viduæ præsidium, orbi patrem, ademptum lugent.

emplary life, he departed from this world on the 4th day of August, 1732, in the 69th year of his age.

The wretched, the widowed and the orphans, bereaved of their comfort, protector and father, alike lament his loss.

THE GREAT WESTERN.

She comes, she comes, the ship,
The lion flag flies o'er,
Fresh from her ocean trip,

Roar for her, cannon-roar!
A vast and moving mass of black,
The mighty Western! hail!
She's ploughing up her foaming track
As ploughs the sea the whale.
In harbor now she rides,

The earth and ocean ring,
Ten thousands throng her sides
Welcoming-welcoming-
Triumphal entry into Rome,
The triumph Rome decreed
To grace her victor's coming home,
This triumph shall exceed.

Rome's was but empty show
Of kings as captives led,
Wealth rifled from her foe

Whose blood too oft was shed;
No triumph this for conquest, yes,
A conquest great, 'tis mind's,
'Tis human skill we throng to bless
For vict'ry o'er the winds.

It was not on white wings,

That through the seas she drave

This palace fit for kings,

This world upon the wave;
giant vast she holds in chains
Down in her donjon keep,

To break his fetters there he strains,
And drives her o'er the deep.

A Cyclop at his forge,

He shakes her thick ribb'd frame,

E'en hell could not disgorge

More dark and lurid flame;

He leaps and pitches with a groan,
His breath's a cloud of smoke,
But all in vain, that hollow moan
Hath o'er Atlantic broke.

Oh God! and what is man?
What bounds his daring soul?
His all of life a span-

Would he thy seas control?
His ships by mighty winds careen'd,
Their timbers all uptorn,
He conjures up this fearful fiend,
And laughs the winds to scorn.
And was it not full bold

To dare the raging sea?
But he must cage and hold
This monster, which, if free,
Would in a moment bathe in gore
Each man who treads that deck,
And drown the tempest with his roar,
And make that ship a wreck.

A health to Bristol's sons!

Whose ship hath won the goal, Her ship of thousand tons,

And mine of hidden coal;

"Her march is on the mountain wave,

Her home is on the deep,"

A shout for her gigantic slave
Down in her donjon keep.

A wreath for Fulton! Watt!!
One for the glorious dead,
Oh! be it not forgot

A wreath for genius fled;

One blended wreath for those great minds

Who bodied forth that ship,

Careering thus mid waves and winds

Upon the pathless deep.

God speed thee, Kraken ship!

Back to old England's shores,

And many a golden trip

Across the main be yours;

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