History: Local: CHAPTER LVIII - Part II: Horsham Township - GRAEME PARK : Bean's 1884 History of Montgomery Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Susan Walters USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/montgomery/beantoc.htm URL of html Table of Contents and illustrations. ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ BEAN'S HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 880 (cont.) GRAEME PARK. -Few places in Pennsylvania surpass Graeme Park in interesting historical associations. The old mansion-house of Sir William Keith is still standing there, a relic of early colonial days, around which cluster the events of considerably more than a century and a half. It is situated near the Bucks County line, nearly a mile northwest of the Doylestown and Willow Grove turnpike, and nineteen miles from Philadelphia. 881 By a patent from Penn's commissioners of property, dated May 21, 1706, a tract of land containing five thousand and eighty-eight acres was conveyed to Samuel Carpenter, a distinguished merchant of Philadelphia, which lay chiefly in the present township of Horsham, a small portion only extending over the Bucks County line into Warrington. After Mr. Carpenter's death his executors sold from off this tract to Andrew Hamilton, February 3, 1718, twelve hundred acres. The latter sold it to William Keith, Lieutenant- Governor of Pennsylvania, the following 5th of March, for the same sum of five hundred pounds its bounds are thus set forth: "Beginning at corner Black oak marked 'S. C.,' in Joseph Fisher's line; from thence by the said Fisher's land southeast 408 perches to a corner- post of Thomas Kenderdine's land; from thence extending northeast by the said Kenderdine's land and other land of Samuel Carpenter, deceased, 474 perches to another corner post standing in William Fishbourne's line; thence northwest in the line dividing the counties of Philadelphia and Bucks by the said Fishbourne's land and other land late of the said Samuel Carpenter, 408 perches to a corner White oak, marked 'S. C.,' from thence southwest 474 perches to the place of beginning, containing 1200 acres, to the only proper use and behoof of the said William Keith, his heirs and assigns for ever under the proportionate part of the yearly Quit-Rent hereafter accruing for the hereby granted premises." It is evident that this early purchase must have been an entire forest, without any improvements whatever, and with no public highway nearer than the old York Road, which had been laid out from Philadelphia to the river Delaware in the fall of 1711. At the latest, the Governor must have commenced his improvements here in the summer of 1721, for we know that on the following December 12th he entered into a contract with John Kirk, mason, for the mansion, which is still standing. The next we know is that the "Hon. Sir William Keith, Bart., Governor," acquainted his Council, consisting of Richard Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston, Anthony Palmer, Thomas Masters, Henry Brook, Andrew Hamilton, attorney-general, and James Logan, secretary, on March 25, 1722. "That he has made a considerable advancement in the erecting of a building at Horsham, in the County of Philadelphia, in order to carry on the manufacture of grain, etc., and that it to necessary same convenient roads and highways through the woods, to and from the said settlement, be laid out by order of this board. "It is therefore, at the Governor's request ordered that Robert Fletcher, Richard Carver, Thomas Iredall, John Barnes and Ellis Davis, or any four of them, do run out and make return of a convenient public road and highway from the Governor's settlement at Horsham to the Meeting-House there, and from thence to a small Bridge, commonly called Round Meadow Run, where it meets again with the Abington or Now York road. And also, that the same persons do run out and make return of a road and highway, to begin at the intersection of the said New York road at the Division Line between the counties of Philadelphia and Bucks, to be continued upon the said Line upwards as far as they shall judge convenient or necessary for accommodating that neighborhood; and it is ordered that the returns of the said Roads be made in thirty days after this date." On April 23d following the road was laid out by the aforesaid jurors by way of the meeting-house to its termination, at the present Willow Grove. From Nicholas Scull's report, as surveyor, we learn that from "the Governor's new Building" to the meeting-house was eight hundred and seventy-five perches, and from thence eight hundred and five perches to "Round Meadow Run," -making the total distance five and a quarter miles. The next day the road was laid out on the county line from the York Road northwest twelve hundred and seventy-four perches, or four miles, "to a Black Oak tree standing by a path leading from Richard Sanders' Ferry, on Neshaminy Creek, to Edward Farmer's mill." From the distance, it must have passed a little beyond the Governor's place. The drawing of a direct line from the mill by this termination establishes the interesting fact that Richard Sanders' ferry on Neshaminy Creek was at the present Bridge Point, nearly six miles distant. The road from here was extended northwards April 23, 1723, to the south corner of John Dyer's land, about a mile above Doylestown, and thus from there, by the Governor's place, was now a continuous road from Philadelphia in this direction for twenty-six miles, showing that settlements were rapidly extending northwards. A question arises as to what did the Governor mean by carrying on here "the manufacture of Grain." At first we supposed a grist-mill for making flour was meant, of which the branch of the Neshaminy flowing near by would have been large enough to furnish the power, but no evidence exists of anything of the kind being erected here for the purpose. Among the Governor's effects enumerated here in May, 1726, we find mention made of a large copper still, two smaller stills and "a large quantity of wooden vessels for distilling and brewing." It is known that he had a brew-house here, which was a common thing at this period with those whose circumstances could afford it, when but little tea or coffee was consumed. William Penn had his brew-house at Pennsbury, and James Logan at Stenton, beer as well as cider serving as a substitute for our present table drinks. The Governor no doubt at first made this his summer residence, but when he was deprived of the office he made it his home altogether until his final departure for England. It had become apparent to the Assembly in the fall of 1725, chiefly through the instigation of James Logan, that the Governor had incurred the displeasure of the proprietary family, and was likely to be removed for passing the act emitting a paper currency. As a result, that body sent an address to the latter in England, dated December 7, 1725, vindicating the policy of his government. In June, 1726, his successor, Patrick Gordon, arrived, and on the 22d of said mouth entered upon the duties of the office. Thus closed his administration of the chief executive powers, after holding the office for nine years. No doubt, in anticipation of this result and the payment of his debts, he sold, in the previous spring, all his personal effects here to Dr. Thomas Graeme and Thomas Sober, merchant, both of Philadelphia, for the sum of five hundred pounds. Having become a member of the Assembly April 25, 1728, he sent in his resignation to that body, who excused his absence, "being called to Great Britain on affairs of importance." 882 Before Sir William's departure he left his wife, Lady Ann Keith, in possession of the Horsham estate by virtue of a power of attorney, enabling her to receive and apply all the rents and emoluments arising therefrom to her sole use and support. Finding it, however, inadequate for one of her condition, she applied to her husband to have the whole vested in her right, that she might thus sell it for the payment of her debts and the overplus to remain for her future support. In consequence he executed a deed of trust at Westminster, London, dated April 20, 1731, to his eldest son, Alexander Henry Keith, and three other gentlemen, in conjunction with his wife, in which he conferred his whole right and title to the said plantation for the sole use and benefit of the latter, her heirs and assigns forever; which was accepted before the mayor of Philadelphia, on the part of Lady Keith, July 20, 1731, and duly recorded. After several unsuccessful efforts to sell the place, it was put up at public sale at the "Coffee-House," in Philadelphia, August 12, 1737, and purchased by Joseph Turner, a merchant there, for the sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, it comprising eight hundred and forty-eight acres. A draft had been previously prepared by Jacob Parsons, afterwards surveyor- general, of which a copy from the original was made in 1857. The bounds of this tract were thus set forth,- "Beginning at a marked Black Oak on the line dividing the Counties of Philadelphia and Bucks, at a corner of John Jarrett's land; thence extending, by the same, southwest 192 perches to a stone; thence by a line of marked trees northwest 220 perches to a post, southwest 36 perches to a large White Oak, northwest 72 perches to a post, southwest 90 perches to a stone, northwest 61 perches to a post or stone; thence by land lately owned by Richard Shoemaker north 58 degrees east 55 perches to a post, northwest 129 perches to a stone and southwest 195 perches to a stone; thence along lines of marked trees northwest 60 perches to a stone and northeast 460 perches to a marked hickory in the county line aforesaid; thence along the same line southeast 528 perches to the place of beginning." In the "American Weekly Mercury" of September 15, 1737, is found all interesting advertisement giving a very good description of the place, with the improvements thereon as made by the Governor. The amount of cleared land does not appear great when we come to consider that it had been occupied some fifteen years, but the labor necessarily involved to effect even this must have been something. "To be let to farm in Philadelphia County, twenty miles from town, a Plantation called Horsham, consisting of 500 acres of land 75 of which are cleared and improved ready and fit for fall grain; 12 acres of well improved meadow. Together with a large stone house three stories high 60 feet in length and 35 feet wide, each story well floored and lighted, originally designed for a Malt- House; but at present seems better calculated for a company of Linen-Weavers, having a large stream of water passing by the end of said House, and a fine spring running by the back part thereof, whereon is a very good bleaching green, which rendered the whole extremely commodious for a Linen-Factory. For further information, inquire of the Printer hereof, or of Thomas Darroch, tenant on another part of the said Plantation." The whole of the tract, with all its improvements, was conveyed by Mr. Turner to Dr. Thomas Graeme, for the sum of seven hundred and sixty pounds, December 22, 1739. This gentleman, then a distinguished physician of Philadelphia, was a son-in-law of Lady Ann Keith, and had been appointed one of her attorneys before her husband's departure. On account of his having purchased the Governor's personal property in 1726, and to escape from the heat of the city, he was induced to spend his summers here with his family and Lady Keith. Thus his attachments became formed to the place, of which he had now become the sole owner, and which he was to retain for one-third of a century, or to the end of the life be was to close here at an advanced age. He commenced greatly improving this extensive estate, with a view of rendering it much more attractive as a place of retirement to himself and family in his summer sojournings, and to be in consequence known thenceforth as "Graeme Park." In a letter to Thomas Penn, one of the proprietaries in England, and son of William Penn, dated July 1, 1755, he thus speaks of the place,- "You are pleased to compliment me about Horsham, which, as you observe, I have endeavored to make a fine plantation in regard to fields and meadows and enclosures, not much yet regarding the house and gardens. I have a park which encloses three hundred acres of land, which is managed in a manner quite different from any I leave seen here or elsewhere. It is very good soil and one-half lies with an easy descent to the south, besides avenues and vistas through it; there is now just done about one hundred and fifty acres of it quite clear of shrubs and bushes, only the tall trees and good young sappling timber standing. This I harrow, sow it in grass seed, then brush and roll it. I expect it soon capable of maintaining a large stock of sheep and black cattle; it would be one of the finest Parks for Deer that could well be imagined. I have double-ditched and double-hedged it in, and as a piece of beauty and ornament to a dwelling, I dare venture to say that no nobleman in England but would be proud to have it on his seat. It is true it has afforded me a good deal of pleasure. The charges have been considerable and the returns but small, though I think cannot fail answering the purpose. I am greatly pleased to find my brother Peter interested with your correspondence and sends his greatest personal regard and best good wishes." Miss Eliza Stedman, on her coming out here with the family to spend the summer, appears to have been highly delighted with this retreat, judging from the following extract of a letter to Elizabeth Graeme (afterwards Mrs. Ferguson), then in England, dated "Graeme Park, May 17, 1765. My beloved friend will see by the above that I am now in a most agreeable retirement, my mind disengaged from the trifling gaieties which claim the attention in the city. Here I am surrounded with tranquility, nothing to disturb that happy composure with which the infancy of Spring is attended. All is gay and blooming, Nature seems to rejoice, each field and grove is dressed in rich attire to delight the eye. The little fathered tribes praise their Creator for returning good in harmonious anthems, the bleating flocks, emblem of innocence, wait the hand of covetous man to deprive them of their warm robes. Reading and walking, by turns, employ my time, and when in one of my solitary rambles through the Park or the little grove by the milk-house, I recollect the many charming hours we have passed together there in innocent chat, I am so lost as to still fancy you are with me till I go to address my companion, whom I cannot find." Dr. Graeme died in the fall of 1772, having outlived nearly all his numerous descendants. By his will made June 14, 1769, he devised the whole of the Graeme Park estate to his only surviving child, Elizabeth, on condition that she pay the sum of eight hundred pounds, unto John and Anna Young, and two hundred pounds, to their father, James Young, the husband of her sister, Jane, who had died in 1759. 883 Unknown to her father, Miss Graeme was married to Hugh Henry Ferguson, a Scotchman by birth, in Philadelphia, only a few months before his decease. The couple now took possession of the estate with the view of leading there a farmer's life. In the "Pennsylvania Packet" of October 27, 1773, seven hundred acres are advertised for sale in several tracts, no doubt to meet the aforesaid payments. In the same paper of May 6, 1776, we find the following advertisement giving a more complete description of the aforesaid tracts: "Valuable Farms to be sold. -The greater part of that highly improved estate commonly called Graeme Park, late the property of Dr. Thomas Graeme, deceased, is to be sold in farms of any quantity, from 100 to 300 acres, as may best suit the purchaser. A proportionate quantity of amble meadow and timber land will be allotted to each farm, the Proprietor Intending only to reserve the mansion, house, offices, etc., with a small portion of lands adjacent. The arable lands have been greatly improved by manurings and the best culture. The meadows produce the best kind of hay in great quantities, and they may always be kept in a flourishing state by being watered in the dryest seasons. The timber lands are of the best quality. A considerable quantity of excellent orchard can be allotted to one or two of the farms. Each of these farms, from its situation and quality, in calculated both for the amusement of the man of fortune and the profit of the industrious farmer- They will be sold for a reasonable price and an indisputable title given. For term and further information, apply Elizabeth Ferguson on the promises, Charles Stedman at Philadelphia or Richard Stockton near Princeton, New Jersey." In September 1775, Mr. Ferguson sailed for England, and did not return until September 1777, about the time the British took possession of Philadelphia. They appointed him commissary of prisoners, which no doubt greatly tended to induce him to espouse their cause. Mrs. Ferguson used her utmost endeavors to have him remain at the park, but her efforts all proved unavailing, and the result was that they never subsequently lived together. She, however, continued on the place until a very short time before her death. For his joining the British he was attainted of treason against the commonwealth, and the Legislature, by an act passed April 2,1781, vested the entire premises in Mrs. Ferguson's right. The latter sold the estate, then reduced to five hundred and fifty-five acres, April 30, 1791, to Dr. William Smith, of Philadelphia, the husband of her ward and niece, Anna Young, for £3,500, equivalent to $9333 of our present currency. The latter, with his family, was now in the practice of spending his summers here with Mrs. Ferguson, who remained at the park. During the ownership of Dr. Smith he sold off several tracts, which reduced it, by 1801, to two hundred and four acres, which, with the mansion, he disposed to Samuel Penrose, of Richland township, Bucks Co. In a letter from Mrs. Ferguson to Samuel W. Stockton, of Trenton, N. J., dated Grame Park, March 16, 1788, she says, "I am desirous of selling the farm I am conscious of moral rectitude in the whole of my transactions. I have contracted debts within these few years on a supposition of speculation. I am In debt to these who want their money. Mr. Ferguson's dislike to writing and to all accurate explanations is a peculiarity in his temper that has ruined our domestic peace and will eventually separate us." It will be seen by the aforesaid date that Mrs. Ferguson still continued on the place, and no doubt remained there until either just before or after Dr. Smith's sale. There is not a doubt that on the removal of Samuel Penrose here the farm had become greatly exhausted from long and continuous tillage by tenants. He, as a practical farmer, at once set to work to have the lands made more productive and the buildings and fences improved. On his death it descended to his son, William Penrose. who had married, in 1810, the daughter of William Jarrett, a wealthy neighboring farmer, and a descendant of one of the old landed families of Horsham. Mr. Penrose died on his estate in 1863, aged eighty-one years, and while in possession of the property made extensive improvements upon it. It is now owned by his son, Abel Penrose, who has taken due pains to preserve the old mansion, though unoccupied, having had a new roof and repairs made to it about five years ago, costing nearly one thousand dollars. Several efforts have been made to purchase but in vain. From a long acquaintance we are inclined to believe that they intend celebrating there ere long a centennial of possession, and that is a credit for any family to take pride in. The Indian chief Gachradodow, in a speech made at Lancaster, this State, in 1755, said, "What little we have received for our land goes soon away, but the land lasts forever." We have now briefly noticed the ownership of Graeme Park from its first purchase and settlement to the present time. It yet remains for us to give short biographical sketches of the principal characters connected therewith, including some of its interesting associations. As a collector or, the subject for over a third of a century, with the amount of material at command, we feel it no easy task to extract there from a well-condensed history, limited to but a few pages. It is its literary treasures that we now more particularly regret in thus withholding from those readers who may take a delight in this general subject, for it is doubtful whether, in this respect, any other spot in the country can approach it within the last century. SIR WILLIAM KEITH. -This gentleman was descended from the Keiths of Ludquahairn, in the north of Scotland, baroneted in 1629. He was the son of Sir William Keith, and was appointed by Queen Anne surveyor-general of the customs in America at a salary of five hundred pounds. While holding this office it is known that for a part of the time he resided in Virginia. Shortly after the accession of George I. he was displaced, and, while making a brief stay in Philadelphia, soon became intimately acquainted with its most influential people, on whom he made so profound an impression from his general knowledge and condescending manners, that they exercised their influence with the proprietary family to appoint him Deputy-Governor of Pennsylvania. When their minds had been made up they learned that he had left the city for Virginia, when two members of the Council at once dispatched a letter which reached him at New Castle, inviting him to return and hear their proposals. Mr. Keith came back, and matters were satisfactorily arranged between the parties. 884 A letter of recommendation, in consequence, was prepared the 25th of Second Month, 1716, by the Council, and addressed to Hannah Penn, from which we make a brief extract: "It has been hinted to him that, seeing a change is necessary here, whether under you or the Crown, could he obtain this government it might in some measure countervail his disappointment. To be under an easy administration of Government in America contributes highly to the subject's happiness; that we may be excused we hope, if, from our acquaintance with this gentleman, we should wish to be particular of that ease under him which we believe all men might promise themselves from his administration if happily entrusted with it. As we have already acquainted you with the necessity we think there is for a change, what we intend by this principally is to give you our sentiments of thin gentleman. If the proposal be approved, the further prosecution of it will naturally fall under his own management, in which we cannot but wish him success, am we are the Proprietor's and thy faithful friends." PICTURE OF SIR WILLIAM KEITH, APPEARS HERE. It is in the handwriting of James Logan and signed by him, Robert Assheton William Evans Jasper Yeates Richard Hill Isaac Norris Samuel Preston Jonathan Dickinson. William Penn gave his consent, October 25th, for his appointment, subject, of course, to the royal approbation. In a letter dated the following 12th of Twelfth Month, Hannah Penn communicated to James Logan the result of the application, as follows: "Overlooking all other difficulties, have at your requests, got William Keith commissioned by my husband, and approved by the Crown; and with a general consent, he now goes deputy-governor over that province and territories. Though he was pretty much a stranger to me, yet his prudent conduct and obliging behavior, joined with your observations thereon, give me and those concerned good hopes to believe that he will prove satisfactory. He is certainly an understanding man, and seems to have himself master of the years of your province, even beyond what one might expect in so short a time. Colonel Keith has obtained his approbation by so general a consent that, whatever becomes of the Proprietary governments, we think he will be continued over you, if his conduct answers his character." On his appointment Governor Keith was forty-seven years of age, and his family at this time, as far its has been ascertained, consisted of his second wife, Ann Newberry (widow of Robert Diggs), who was aged thirty-two; her only daughter, Ann Diggs, aged seventeen; and his sons, Alexander Henry, Robert and William Keith. They embarked with Captain Annis in the beginning of May, 1717, and arrived in Philadelphia at noon on the 31st of said month. On June 31 the Governor wrote to Henry Gouldney, wherein he stated that he had arrived "after a tolerable but fatiguing passage," and his family increased by a boy born May 10th at sea. It is stated that the party was also accompanied by Dr. Thomas Graeme, a native of Perthshire, now in his twenty-ninth year and unmarried. Colonel Keith was received at his landing by Governor Gookin and his Council, attended by the alderman and officers of the city government. Having produced his commission and approval, it was ordered that it should be forthwith proclaimed and published in due form at the court-house, the mayor and corporation and inhabitants attending. Colonel Keith proposed to the Council that, for preventing any failure in the administration of justice, a proclamation should be forthwith issued for continuing all officers of the government till such time as new commissions may be issued, and the secretary was ordered to propose the same by ten o'clock, at which time a Council would be appointed. From the minutes of Christ Church we learn that on February 3, 1718, "Colonel Keith has been pleased, at a considerable charge, not only to erect a spacious pew right before the altar, to be appropriated in all time to come for the convenency and time of the Governor and his family for the time being, but also to promise and voluntarily agree to pay the yearly rent of £5 per annum for the same, to the use of the church." It is supposed that at this time the floor was of brick, for mention is made that they "were taken up to lay the foundations of the Governor's pew." To show the indifference of the Penn family to matters of government whenever their interests were not concerned, we give here in extract of the Governor's letter, addressed to Hannah Penn, dated Philadelphia, May 1, 1718,- "I can't but may it gives me some concern that I have never yet had the honour of a line from your family since I came hither. The Proprietor's death has been frequently surmised here of late, but I doubt not we shall be able to baffle the doings of those who industriously set about to raise such reports. 885 It will be observed that on writing this he had been, in the government here eleven months. William Penn died the following 30th of July, having been rendered, through paralysis, for some time previously incapable of attending to affairs of state. Hannah Penn, in a letter to Governor Keith, dated London, 8th of Eighth Month, 1720, thus expresses herself respecting his administration of affairs, - "I am glad, however, to hear that in general thy administration of the government has been easy and satisfactory to the people, and that there is so good a harmony and unanimity among you which I desire may be kept up." Governor Keith's transactions with the Indians during his administration are unusually interesting, and we regret that the want of space will only permit a brief mention. On the 5th of July, 1721, he proceeded to Conestoga, and on the following day held a council, in which he delivered to them a beautiful address, commending peaceable relations, as heretofore, and that they refrain from going to Virginia to hunt or in any way meddle with the Indian affairs there. This was replied to next day by Ghesaont, "in behalf of all the Five Nations," in eloquent remarks. He repeated his visit in June, 1722, and on the 15th of said mouth he gave them another address respecting the intrusion of the Marylanders on their lands, which he would endeavor in the future to prevent. Respecting this trip, he sent a letter to the Governor of Maryland, dated from Newberry, on the Susquehanna, June 23, 1722, in which he says, - "My fatigue in the woods has brought a small fever upon me, which an ounce of bark has pretty much abated, so that tomorrow I shall return home by slow journeys directly to Philadelphia, where I shall rejoice to we you once more." A petition was presented from "sundry freeholders and inhabitants of the City and County of Philadelphia," January 1, 1723, "setting forth that they are sensibly aggrieved in their estates and dealings, to the great loss and growing ruin of themselves and the evident decay of this province, for want of a medium to buy and sell with, and praying for a paper currency, was presented to the House, and read and ordered to lie on the table." This bill passed the Assembly, and was signed by the Governor, contrary to the wishes of the Penn family, which afterwards led to his being set aside by the appointment of a successor in the government. Respecting this subject, Dr. Franklin remarks, - "I was on the side of the new emission of paper currency, convinced that the first small sum fabricated in 1723 had done much good in the province by favoring commerce, industry and population, since all the houses were now inhabited, and many others building; whereas, I remembered to have seen, when I first paraded the streets of Philadelphia eating my roll, the majority of those in Walnut street, Second street, Fourth street, as well as a great number in Chestnut and other streets, with papers on them signifying that they were to let, which made me think at the time that the inhabitants of the town were deserting it one after another." Governor Keith, in his message to the Assembly on this occasion, thus referred to the subject, "When I reflect that this the Seventh Assembly which in less than six years I have had the honour to meet as Governor of this Colony, and that no difference or uneasy disputes have yet happened in the Legislative Body, it is but natural to think that so happy an unanimity, with the blessing of God, has been chiefly owing to the commendable and hearty disposition which hitherto has prevailed in both parts of the Legislature establish the true interest of the Government upon the happiness and prosperity of the governed. We all know it is neither the great or the rich, nor the learned, that compose the body of any people; and that civil government ought carefully to protect the poor, laborious and industrious part of mankind in the enjoyment of their just rights, and equal liberties and privileges, with the rest of their fellow-creatures." Under date of London, May 20, 1724, Hannah Penn wrote to the Governor respecting the affairs of the province and of the late meeting he had attended at Albany with the Indians, respecting which she remarked that,- "We hope and desire the same care of those poor people, the Indians, may still be continued; that the same measures my husband first established with them may be constantly pursued; and that on all occasions of moment, the Council, especially those members of it who are intrusted with the Affairs of Property, may be consulted; and that all Treaties with them may be managed with their concurrence end approbation. To these I shall only add, that as thou wert chosen in the time of my husband's weakness, by means of his friends only, to that important trust, it would be with some regret, should we be obliged to make a change, before our final settlement with the Crown, though the means are ready at hand. We therefore earnestly desire that thy skill and abilities may be employed to render thy continuance yet grateful to us, which can be no other way effected than by a strict observation of thy former and these present instructions." There can be no question that the latter remarks are insulting, and can reflect no credit to the one who wrote them. The emission of paper money did not concern the proprietors, yet we see here the most overbearing insolence aimed not only at the Governor, but against the chartered rights of the people. At the celebration of the King's birthday at New Castle, May 28, 1724, the Governor was present, on which occasion they proceeded to the court- house, attended by the principal inhabitants of the place. The King's charter, establishing the city of New Castle with valuable privileges, was read, after which he made them an address, which was replied to by the mayor, recorder and aldermen. The Governor and Lady Keith were handsomely entertained at a dinner by the magistrates, when the King's health, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and all the royal family and numerous other loyal healths were drank with the discharge of cannon. The proceedings at the time were published by Samuel Keimer, of Philadelphia, and sold and distributed in New Castle by William Read, to which source we are indebted for this information. In reply to Mrs. Penn's private instructions, September 24, 1724, the Governor further exposes the attempts to deprive him of his due authority, as follows: "What else could have put it in Mr. Logan's head to advise you, Madam, to order the seal, which everywhere is looked upon as the ensign of government, out of my hands into his possession. That it was so before my time, or, which is the same thing, that Mr. Logan exercised an absolute and despotic authority over my predecessor, which is well known, rendered the Governor at that time despicable in the eyes of the people, is a very poor argument to support such an extravagant demand an this, which must extinguish all authority in the person of the governor whensoever it is complied with." 886 Respecting the compensation allowed him for his services, Governor Keith remarks, "You will please to consider that the revenue here is the free gift of the people's representatives to the acting Governor, which they judiciously augment, lesson or withdraw annually, according to the expense which they observe he has been at in their service, and to the case and satisfaction they receive from the justice of his administration. Moreover, although the revenue granted in my time has been larger than formerly, yet the expense and figure which the colony has made, both at home and abroad, has been more than proportionably advanced, whereby the saving profits, which may be supposed to have been applied to my use, have not arisen to so much its even those of former Governors, and this matter of fact is so universally known among the people that it will be, altogether in vain to endeavor to contradict so notorious a truth." In the "Votes of Assembly " (vol. ii. pp.444-447) may be seen an able vindication of the Governor and legislative power, with a remonstrance sent to Hannah Penn's private instructions, drawn up by Chief Justice David Lloyd, and ordered by the Assembly to be sent to Mrs. Penn, from which we take this extract,- "I cannot leave this subject without observing that the first Purchasers bought their lands dear, and came under perpetual quit-rents, which far exceeded what the Proprietaries of the adjacent Provinces required of their Tenants, but when they come to be handled in Secretary Logan's office, they were told they must pay half a crown, or a crown, English money, for every City lot forever, which the Proprietary had freely given to his purchasers, expecting, as was thought, but twelve pence Sterling per annum for every one hundred Acres of their hands; and when they came for their patents there was a reservation of three full and clear fifth parts of all royal mines, free of all deductions and reprisals for digging and refining the same, whereas the Royal Charter had reserved but one-fifth part of such mines, clear of charges. You way find by your journal divers other instances of the Secretary's abuses and in illtreatment of the people." The Assembly, December 7th, prepared an address "To the Descendants of our late Honourable Proprietary, William Penn, Esq.," in which they nobly defend the Governor from the calumnies of a few enemies, and vindicate the beneficial results of his administration, and that they hope he may be continued in the office. In conclusion they state, - "Much more might be said in favor of the Governor's administration which we omit, lest we should trespass too much upon your patience, hoping these short hints may be sufficient to obviate objection a and remove the impression that some persons have endeavored to make on the minds of such as may be strangers to the circumstances of our affairs." Major Patrick Gordon was commissioned Deputy-Governor of Pennsylvania by Springett Penn, with the assent of his step-mother, Hannah Penn, sanctioned by the royal approbation. He arrived in Philadelphia, June 22, 1726, and at once entered upon the duties of the office. On his retirement, Governor Keith's Council consisted of Richard Hill Anthony Palmer Henry Brooke Thomas Graeme Isaac Norris Robert Assheton William Fishbourne and Evan Owen. He had now held the office above nine years, a much longer period than any other had previously from the beginning of the proprietary away, -a period of forty-four years. No sooner had he been deprived of his position than be was spoken of as a most probable candidate for the Assembly, to which he was elected the following October as one of the representatives of Philadelphia County. As may be well supposed, the long-continued popularity of Governor Keith and his election to the Assembly gave considerable alarm to his few enemies, and their expressions on the subject are amusing and worth inserting. James Logan wrote, October 8,1725, to John Penn that- "For my own part I am quite tired with standing the public butt to all your enemies, and as I have been represented to those who would dissemble with you as if I had by my conduct contributed to those troubles, I take it to be of importance to you, as I find it absolutely necessary for my own ease that I should retire, for which having laid some foundation when last at Bristol. It is fit you should know in time that next fall I fully design (God willing) to take over my family to said city, and place them there, if not for life, at least till affairs take such a turn m to make it more eligible for an honest man to reside here than it can be at present, or ever will be while I am concerned in your Proprietary affairs, and your disputes among yourselves continue." Governor Gordon wrote to the same, October 18, 1726, that his "predecessor" had been elected to the Assembly, and when this body met on the 14th- "Sir William made his public entry into the city with about eighty horses composed of butchers, tailors, blacksmiths, journeymen, apprentices and carters, marching two and two, Sir William being at the head of them, some ships firing their guns." The Governor wrote again on the following 8th of May that- "Everything that has been proposed by the moderate and well-meaning People of the House has been opposed by Sir William and his creatures, which consist of the members of the City And County of Philadelphia. I am sorry to tell you that the influence of that Party has appeared in their late proceedings, much greater than we had been aware of, so that if there is not some course taken to make this man quiet we shall never be in peace here; doubtless you will think it advisable to bring about this good work for the ease of the country." To a gentleman entertaining honorable motives and self-respect the position of a colonial Governor was a degrading one to hold, having no less than three masters to serve, -first, the proprietary family; with their feudal prerogatives, to whom he owed his commission and hampered him with selfish instructions; second, to the King, whose approbation he must secure, fettered by loyalty; and thirdly, the colony and Assembly, who voted in his annual salary, lessened or increased, as suited their pleasure for the services rendered. Franklin wrote as follows concerning Keith: "Differing from the great body or the people whom he governed, in religion and manners, he acquired their esteem and confidence. If he sought popularity, he promoted the public happiness, and his courage in resisting the demands of the Proprietaries may be ascribed to a higher motive than private interest." As stated, Governor Keith came in possession of his land at Horsham in 1718, and may not have commenced making improvements thereon earlier than in 1721; for in the spring of the following year we know he had his mansion there and other buildings pretty well under way. To his bill of sale, made May 21, 1726, to Dr. Thomas Graeme and Thomas Sober for the sum of five hundred pounds sterling, was appended, "A schedule of the slaves, plate, household furniture, horses, cattle, goods, chattels upon Sir William Keith's plantation at Horsham, in the county of Philadelphia." The slaves mentioned are fourteen in number, called William Jane Mercury Diana Andrew Caesar Mary Ann Maria Sarah Robert Harrington Oronoca and William, five or six of whom are represented as children. Among the numerous items, mention is made of a silver punch-bowl, ladle and strainer 4 salvers 3 castors and 33 spoons 70 large pewter plates 14 dozen smaller plates 6 basins 6 brass pots with covers Chinaware: 13 different sizes of bowls 6 complete tea-sets 2 dozen chocolate cups and saucers 3 dozen small bowls and custard cups 20 dishes of various sizes 4 dozen plates 6 mugs 1 dozen fine coffee cups "and also many odd pieces of china." Of Delft stone and glassware: 18 jars 12 venison pots 6 white stone tea-sets 12 mugs 6 dozen plates 12 fine wine decanters Linen: 24 Holland sheets 20 common sheets 50 table-cloths 12 dozen napkins 16 bedsteads 144 chairs, of various kinds 32 tables of various sizes 3 clocks 15 looking-glasses 10 dozen knives and forks Horses and stock: 4 coach horses 7 saddle horses 6 working horses 2 mares 1 colt 4 oxen 15 cows 4 bulls 6 calves 31 sheep 20 hogs; a large glass coach 2 chaises 2 wagons 1 wain 1 pair of timber wheels 4 carts 4 plows 4 harrows. Much is omitted in the list of plate, tableware, parlor, and bedroom and kitchen furniture, besides utensils of various kinds. 887 From what has just been given, we are enabled to judge that the Governor must have lived pretty sumptuously here, and that he entertained company, at times in considerable numbers. There is no doubt that at this date deer still abounded in the vicinity, and it is possible that he may have kept a herd on the place, as the "12 venison pots" are suggestive. What greatly surprises us is to find that after only a four or five years' possession for making improvements, he should be enabled to have his place so well stocked in homes, cattle and other animals, and which, no doubt, the place could support. The accomplishment of this, where all was so recently a wilderness, places Sir William Keith among the early improvers of the country. We here realize what James Logan mentioned concerning him in a letter to the Penn family, dated Philadelphia, October 8, 1724, in which he said that Colonel Spottswood, Governor of Virginia, had stated "That he was of an honorable family, a baronet, good-natured and obliging, and spends with a reputation to the place all he gets of the country." It has been published in a "Vindication," at London, that he had laid out six thousand pounds in lands and improvements, two thousand pounds on the Horsham estate and four thousand pounds on the erection of an iron-works in New Castle County. The former he settled on his wife, and the latter was retained for the security of his debts, having conferred, July 23, 1725, for the purpose, a power of attorney on Samuel Preston, provincial treasurer of Pennsylvania, to collect all sums due him and pay the same over to his creditors,- Micajah Perry John Gray Edward Jeffries Henry Gouldney and Thomas Pierce, all of London, -until they should be fully satisfied, they having furnished him with means to secure the office and outfit to Pennsylvania. There is a tradition based on pretty good authority in the neighborhood that the baronet had a prison built on his estate for offenders. Descended as he was from an, old feudal family, we have thought in consequence that he may have here held at time a manorial court for the trial of his servants and slaves, who thus had punishment meted out to them, as was then the case in England and Scotland; hence the foundation of this lingering and oft-told circumstance. In the Minutes of Council for June 3, 1721, he is for the first time styled "The Honourable Sir William Keith," which would denote that his father had died in the spring, and that then had inherited the title. In October, 1727, he was again elected to the Assembly, and we find, in looking over their proceedings, that he was placed on some of their most important committees. In the following April he sent in his resignation to that body, stating that affairs of importance had now called him to Great Britain, for which they excused him, so that new writs be issued for electing some other person in his place. On the question being put, the House allowed his absence. So, in the spring of 1728, he went on board Captain Colvell's ship at New Castle and sailed for Great Britain. We learn from the "Gentleman's Magazine" that in June, 1 1732, he was elected a member of Parliament for Aberdeen, to supply the place of Sir Archibald Grant, who had been expelled from the House of Commons. He gave himself subsequently to authorship, and wrote a "History of Virginia, with remarks on the Trade and Commerce of that Colony: Printed at the expense of the Society for the Encouragement of Learning," at London, in 1738. It is a handsome quarto of one hundred and eighty-seven pages, elegantly printed, with two maps. This work he dedicated "To His Royal Highness, Frederick, Prince of Wales." At page three of the introduction he states his object, "To trace out, from the first English Expedition into America, the particular History of each Colony in its natural order of Time, observing the changes which have happened to their respective Soils, Trade and Government." Respecting this work, Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," speaks very favorably. Sir William Keith died in London, November 17, 1740, aged nearly eighty years, one account says in the Old Bailey, and that his title would descend to his son Robert, then a lieutenant-colonel under Marshal Keith, in the Prussian service. In the deed of conveyance to Lady Keith of the Horsham estate, April 23,1731, mention is made of "Alexander Henry Keith, Esquire, eldest surviving son and heir-apparent of the said Sir William." The aforesaid was collector at New Castle and one of the three commissioners for holding a Court of Admiralty at Philadelphia, October 15, 1731. From the "Votes of Assembly," (vol. ii. ) it is ascertained that he had also a son William, who was his private secretary while Governor. Respecting his last son we can gain no additional particulars. 888 Lady Ann Keith was born in 1675, near London, and on the death of her husband, Robert Diggs, subsequently married Sir William Keith. With the former she had a daughter, Ann Diggs, who became the wife of Dr. Thomas Graeme. On her voyage hither with Governor Keith, in May, 1717, she had a son born at sea. In 1737 she parted with all her claims to the Horsham estate, of which her son-in-law became sole owner in 1739. About this time she made her home altogether in the city, where she died, July 31, 1740, aged sixty-five years. Her remains repose in the south side of Christ churchyard, beside the Graeme family, where a large stone has been placed to her memory. She did not die in poverty, having wealthy descendants and relatives; neither did she survive her husband many years, as is stated by Watson in his "Annals," and since circulated by others. DR. THOMAS GRAEME. -The subject of this sketch was born at the ancestral seat of Balgowan, in Perthshire, Scotland, October 20, 1688. The family being an ancient one, intermarried with the principal nobility of that country, their coat-of-arms indicating a royal descent from a daughter of Robert III. It is very probable that he graduated in medicine at the University of Leyden, for in his evidence respecting the Maryland boundary dispute in 1740 he stated that he had been there in 1712. The next we know he embarked with Governor Keith's family, in the beginning of May, 1717, for America, and arrived in Philadelphia at the close of said month. He was married in Christ Church, Nov. 12, 1719, to Ann Diggs, the Governor's step-daughter, who was then in her nineteenth year, and a native of St. Albans, England. From the family record it appears that Dr. Graeme at first resided with the Governor, for mention is made that his first child, Thomas, was "born in the house of Governor Keith, in Philadelphia, September 5,1721." In 1719 be was first appointed to the naval office, and February 24, 1726, became a member of the Council, in which he served until the close of the Governor's administration. He was appointed by Governor Gordon, April 8, 1731, one of the three justices of the Supreme Court, which position he retained until September, 1750, -nearly twenty years,- and in addition, was made, April 28, 1732, a "Justice of Oyer and Terminer and General Goal Delivery for Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester." Dr. Graeme succeeded in obtaining an extensive medical practice in the city and its neighborhood, and became acknowledged as one of its most skillful and successful physicians. In connection with this subject he sent a letter to Thomas Penn, dated Philadelphia, November 7, 1746, wherein be says,- "Yours of the 20th of May I received with the greatest acknowledgment of your goodness in regard to my care of Nanny Hockley, and, as it gave you satisfaction, very much added to mine. This leads one to say something in regard to myself, which is, that I can assure you I begin to feel very sensibly the impression of years upon my constitution. I have this fall been under a lingering intermittent fever, of which I am pretty, well recovered; but the complaint sticks in me, and of which I never expect to be freed from, is an insupportable fatiguing cough, which I should take to be truly consumption, were it not I keep pretty free from hectic fever. Yet it is such as will oblige me to retire into the country for some time next spring for a change of air, and to live on whey and buttermilk, and whether I shall be ever able after to follow my practice I cannot say, but doubt it much. I have the satisfaction to let you know that your little negro family got well from the small-pox this summer. Early in the spring I had much to do to keep your maid, Hagar, from consumption. Your Dutchman, Jacob, has been very ill, but is now recovered." These persons were employed on Thomas Penn's estate at Springettsbury, Mrs. Hockley being stewardess, the negroes slaves, and the doctor attending physician. In 1739 Dr. Graeme was appointed physician of the port, and in 1751 physician and surgeon to the Pennsylvania Hospital. The latter position he resigned in 1753. With his brother, Patrick Graeme, a merchant of Philadelphia, he purchased, in the present Northampton County, in 1739, three thousand acres of land. In December, 1749, the St. Andrew's Society was founded, with a view of rendering aid to unfortunate Scotchmen, of which be was elected president, and continued therein until his death. Thomas Penn, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, of September 8, 1751, stated that "some time since I wrote to Dr. Graeme and Mr. Peters to lay out some ground in the forks of Delaware for a town, which I suppose they have done. I desire that it be called Easton, and when there is a new county that it shall be called Northampton." In the doctor's correspondence to his daughter, at Graeme Park, July 6,1754, be spoke of his coach, and in another letter, of his wagon proceeding there from the city. James Young, his future son-in-law, in a letter of May 13, 1755, to the family at the park, announce a visit there from Mr. Roberdeau. He also spoke of the splendid tulips then out in bloom in the doctor's garden in the city. In a letter of the following 18th of September mention was made of Mrs. Graeme's being ill and suffering from chills and fever at her Horsham home. Mrs. Graeme wrote, May 1, 1753, to her daughter in Burlington, "we will be in a delightful place, for your papa has taken Mr. Shippen's house, which we will go into on June 1st, and Messrs. Franklin and Galloway have taken ours." Respecting this change, John Penn wrote from the city, the following November 7th, to his uncle, Thomas Penn, that "Dr. Graeme lives in Mr. Shippen's house, and has taken it for five years; there are, I believe, four rooms on a floor. I believe the front is forty-five feet and about the same in depth. The inside is not quite finished. They have made the kitchen under the house, which is disagreeable in warm weather." 889 From a letter written by Dr. Graeme, June 6, 1760, to Thomas Penn, we derive some additional information respecting the family. He wrote: "I now come to return you my most humble thanks for your condolence on the loss of my brother, whom you know I most affectionately regarded, as also for what befel Captain Graeme. These distresses happening at the same time I lost my daughter (Jane, wife of James Young) made it a scene of affliction in my family, such as I never felt before. As to my nephew, his disorder was a melancholy, yet, in most respects, seemed to retain his understanding. In respect to the tar-water, I labor under a cough, and it has done me great service. I am now going in my seventy-first year, at which time of life it cannot be expected but what I shall feel my growing infirmities, so I have town to be thankful that it is not worse with me." His nephew, Charles Graeme, here alluded to, was a captain in the British army, who had been in the siege of Louisburg, and but recently deceased. Mrs. Graeme wrote from Graeme Park, August 20, 1762, to her daughter Elizabeth, in the city, to "tell Barbara I can't think of her coming here now, because your sister is so crowded with people that any addition would be quite an. intrusion, as there are masons and carpenters at work in her kitchen." The sister here meant was Ann, wife of Charles Stedman, merchant of the city, who were then in the practice of spending their summers here. It is evident that they had at that time numerous visitors and that repairs were then being made on the place. During the summer of 1763, through the hands of his neighbor, John Jarrett, of Horsham, Dr. Graeme made a donation of books to the Hatboro' Library, which were valued by the directors at fifteen pounds. At the annual meeting, the following November 5th, he received a, letter of thanks for so kind a gift. Dr. Graeme wrote from the city, September 10. 1768, to his daughter Elizabeth, at the park "I am glad your Mama stayed till Monday, by which she should have a proof of her distemper abating, and the and the fine weather since, with so much change of pure air, will no doubt contribute to her recovery. It gives me likewise pleasure to hear that your own health seems so thoroughly established, yet I desire you not to trust to the change of weather, but when damp comes to take a glass twice a day of the bark and bitter, I sent for your use. I hear your cider-mill is brought into good order, notwithstanding which it will be time, enough to begin cider-making the week after next. We have next our second crop of hay to get made. I have premed Henry White to see that Roberts gets the shed ready to put the apples in, which will be a great convenience in carrying on your manufacture. It is still uncertain whether I shall come the latter and of next week or not; it would suit nip better one week longer. Pay my compliments to your bashful companion, which is all I choose to offer." In June, 1764, Elizabeth Graeme, in company with the Rev. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia, sailed for Europe, the former with a view of receiving some medical treatment and of visiting her relatives in Scotland. Her mother, who was now in declining health, sent her a letter, dated the 17th of the following month, in which she said,- "This day, and just at this time, it is a month since you left these Capes; many tell me you are now on shore, but I think It is too soon to indulge in this pleasing hope. A tedious time it will be till I can hear from you, but I will hope the account will be good when it comes. When you receive this, think you see me in the dining-room writing; Anna sitting by me at her work, desiring me to give her duty; John driving a little cart through the entry; enjoying himself with high glee, and no anxiety for the future; your Papa residing the newspaper in the office." James Young wrote to Miss Graeme from Philadelphia, April 3, 1765, in reference to her parents,- "I should think it the duty of my friendship to you to let you know, without hesitation, as you an as good a judge of their time of life as I can be: Your Papa continues as hearty an usual; your Mama's delicate and tender constitution often makes me uneasy, neither is it to be expected that at her time of life she can be free from all the disorders that afflict the human form. These are the reasons, my dear Betsy, I earnestly wish to see you home In the fall of the year, and I hope you will bring good health with you." Mrs. Graeme died in the city May 29, 1765, aged nearly sixty-five years. In the last letter to her daughter, written fourteen days before her death, she said,- "These considerations have made we quite resigned as to seeing you, and indeed, my dear, an you went out of the courtyard into the chaise, something whispered to me, "you have taken your last look of her.' Two similar impressions I had in my life before, both of which proved true." The following letter (copied from the original) to the absent daughter is so admirable in its style that we give it entire: "Philadelphia, May 30th, 1765. "My much-loved Friend I hope will am herself with resolution and fortitude on this trying occasion, and call to bar aid resignation. My heart is too full to say much, but you have much consolation in the certainty of your dear Mama being happy. I sat with her from six last evening till four In the morning, close to her head and observed each movement. Oh, my dear Betsy, you were never one moment out of my thoughts. To tell what I felt would but affect you too much, when the last breath was gone and that dear body cold and insensible. I closed her eyes, for my friend I know would be pleased that strangers might not perform this last sad office. "This is Wednesday, and on Sunday I saw she was going very feet and I kissed her as I thought, for the last time. She begged a blessing for me. I cannot dwell longer on this subject, but be assured I am your truly afflicted Friend, "ELIZA STEDMAN." From a letter sent by Mrs. Ann Stedman to her sister, Miss Graeme, dated June 4th, we receive additional information,- "I must now inform you that she has not been quite well, since you left. She was quite sensible till about two hours before she died, and spoke to comfort we and left her blessing with me for you. By the last letters she wrote you she was so weak that she could not write above four lines at a time; yet she wrote as cheerful as though nothing had been the matter. You was one of the last persons that she thought of in this life. Be assured that I shall use every method in my power to make our dear remaining parent easy till your return, which you may imagine we all are very anxious for; but your dear father Intends writing himself, so I shall say nothing for him only that he is very much to be pitied at his time of life to meet with such a loss, though he bears It with great composure. He says everything shall be done that our dear mother directed. She made known all her bequests in a letter that she wrote our dear father, and she has also left a letter for every one of her family, to be opened a month after her decease. I am preparing to go to Graeme Park, where our father has promised to stay the best part of the summer, and when I am there I will write more fully." 890 Francis Hopkinson, while on a visit to Graeme Park in July 1765, composed "An Elegy sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Ann Graeme," which may be seen in the third volume of his published works, comprising four pages. The following are the concluding lines: "Oh I may I strive her footsteps to pursue, And keep the Christian's glorious prize in view: Like her defy the stormy waves of life, And with heroic zeal maintain the strife: Like her find comfort in the arms of death And in a peaceful calm resign my breath." Mrs. Graeme was an excellent and remarkable woman, who took great pains in the rearing and proper training of her children, taking their instruction under her immediate charge. She had herself received a good education, was fond of books and delighted in literary society. Her "Farewell Advice" to her daughter Elizabeth, in England, is a fine composition, about four or five ordinary foolscap pages in length. Dr. Rush speaks of Mrs. Graeme as possessing "a masculine mind, with all the female charms and accomplishments which render a woman agreeable to both sexes." After the death of his wife, at the earnest solicitation of his family, Dr. Graeme retired to his country home to spend there the remainder of his long life. Here in a walk he suddenly dropped down dead on Friday, September 4, 1772, lacking only forty-six days of being aged eighty-four years. His funeral was held on Sunday afternoon following, on which occasion the Rev. William Smith, D.D., provost of the college, preached the Sermon, his interment taking place in Christ Churchyard, beside his wife and family, who had preceded him. On his tomb are the following lines, no doubt the composition of his daughter, Mrs. Ferguson: "The soul that lived within the crumbling dust In every act was eminently just; Peaceful through life, as peaceful, too, in death Without one pang he rendered back his breath." Dr. Graeme appears to have been unusually respected, and in all our researches we have not been able to find any reflections whatever against his character. He was a prudent and successful businessman, avoiding debt and a stranger to pecuniary embarrassments. Dr. Rush states that, "For nearly half a century he maintained the first rank in his profession in the city of Philadelphia." Thatcher, in his "Medical Biography," published in 1828, mentions him as possessing "an excellent education and agreeable manners, and was, therefore, much employed as a practitioner, and greatly confided in by his fellow-citizens." In his long possession of Graeme Park estate be did much to improve it, and its area of near one thousand acres was not diminished in his lifetime. Mrs. ELIZABETH FERGUSON. -This lady was the youngest child of Dr. Thomas Graeme, and born at the family residence, in Second Street, Philadelphia, February 3, 1739. Dr. Rush in his account in the "Porfolio" of 1809 (vol. i. p. 520) said,- "She discovered in early life signs of uncommon talents and virtues, both of which were cultivated with great care, and chiefly by her mother. Her person was slender and her health delicate. The latter was partly the effect of native weakness, being a seven-months child, and partly acquired by too great an application to books. She passed her youth in the lap of parental affection. A pleasant and highly-improved retreat known by the name of Graeme Park, where her parents spent their summers, afforded her the most delightful opportunities for study, meditation, rural walks and pleasures, and, above all, for cultivating a talent for poetry. This retreat was, moreover, consecrated to society and friendship. A plentiful table was spread daily for visitors, and two or three ladies from Philadelphia generally partook with Miss Graeme of the enjoyments which her situation in the country afforded." In a letter to Miss Graeme at Burlington, dated Philadelphia, September 24, 1755, in which her mother said,- "I steal time to write, notwithstanding my hurry, which you may believe is not a little, as Sir John goes to-day at twelve, and we must have dinner ready before that, besides other company dines here. We shall now return to our usual quiet. Your room is ready for you, and I hope by the very first opportunity you will let me know when I shall send for you, for I shall have no peace till you come home. I am so afraid of your being sick, which you cannot escape there at this season. This comes by a servant of Sir John's; he probably will make you a call, if he goes to Bristol, for he inquired twice if he should not you see you at home before he went, and when we told him you was at Burlington, he said that he would have an opportunity of seeing you there. He is an extremely calm, polite, reasonable gentleman, the very reverse of what we were told. I send you the ticket to the Ball; it was a sumptuous one. The supper dressed by the General's French cook, and his plate set out on the sideboard, besides a great deal of plate borrowed from the Governor, Mr. Allen and others. Notwithstanding all these preparations I understand the officers did not gain much favor from the ladies. There was a great number not at the Ball, including our family. I hope you will have an opportunity of seeing the army march through Bristol; they go from here on Monday." We infer the gentleman meant in this communication was Sir John St. Clair. PICTURE OF ELIZABETH FERGUSON, APPEARS HERE. In August 1762, a small party was made up, consisting of Alexander Stedman and wife Charles Stedman and wife Mr. Bremer Francis Hopkinson Miss Shoman and Miss Graeme, for a traveling jaunt into the country. From Graeme Park they proceeded to Bethlehem, Reading, Lancaster, Duncannon and the Elizabeth Furnace, at Manheim. At the latter place the Messrs. Stedman had purchased, in the previous February, of Isaac Norris, nine hundred acres, on which said town had been laid out, now containing some seventy or eighty dwellings. Charles Stedman was married to Ann, Dr. Graeme's eldest daughter, who was born in 1726. Respecting this excursion, Miss Graeme subsequently wrote, "It seems a fairy dream, like some of Susquehanna's islands, when the magic wand of memory wakes up those days. We tasted the feast of reason and the flow of soul." Said Dr. Rush,- "About her seventeenth year Miss Graeme was addressed by a citizen of Philadelphia, of respectable connections and character. She gave him her heart with the promise of her hand upon his return from London, whither he went to complete his education in the law. From causes which is not necessary to detail the contract of marriage, at a future day, was broken, but not without much suffering on the part of Miss Graeme. To relieve, and divert her mind from the effects of this event she translated the whole of Telemachus into English verse; but this, instead of saving, perhaps aided the distress of her disappointment in impairing her health, and that to such a degree as to induce her father, in conjunction with two other physicians, to advise a voyage to England for its recovery, her mother concurring In this opinion." 891 Respecting this "affair of the heart," several allusions are found at this time in her correspondence. Margaret Abercombie, in a letter dated May 11, 1763, thus referred to the matter, "It would have afforded me no small degree of satisfaction to have had the pleasure of seeing you before I left the city. I understood you are now at Graeme Park, and I think that charming retreat cannot fail of affording you some pleasure and amusement; and I hope will contribute to your health." The same wrote again on the 20th of said month, saying,- "In regard to my friend, as you are pleased to style him, I have little to offer either in vindication of his actions or his arguments, and wish, if it was possible, you could erase from your mind a person who has been the cause of giving you and the rest or your worthy family so much uneasiness, for I have no doubt but the overruling hand of Providence has ordered this as well as every other event for some wise end and design, which at present our narrow minds cannot comprehend or see into." From a letter by her father, dated Philadelphia, the following 15th of June, we ascertain that Miss Graeme was still at the park, dangerously ill, and suffering much from excessive pains in her head. At the time that Miss Graeme made her translation of Bishop Fenelon's celebrated work of Telemachus she must have been aged about twenty-one or twenty-two years. The original manuscript, comprised in two manuscript volumes, was presented by the late Samuel F. Smith, a great grandson of Dr. Graeme, to the Philadelphia Library, in whose possession it remains. There is no question but she was a fine French scholar, which this production sufficiently attests, and it is now remarkable for being one of the few translations from a foreign modern language in America during the colonial period. In scanning over its numerous pages, we cannot help but be impressed at the industry of this remarkable lady, who, it is said, accomplished most of her labors at night. On the 17th of June, 1764, in company with the Rev. Richard Peters, rector of Christ and St. Peter's Churches, embarked at Philadelphia for Europe. Respecting this, Governor John Penn wrote, on the 19th, to his uncle, Thomas Penn, that "Mr. Peters is in a bad state of health, and I believe could not have got through here this summer. Miss Graeme has gone with him for the recovery of her health and to see her relations in Scotland." From her correspondence we learn that they visited Liverpool York Scarborough Bath Bristol and London. "As to shells," she wrote," I thought I saw more beautiful ones in Dr. Fothergill's cabinet than in the British Museum." Mrs. Graeme wrote, April 11, 1765, to her daughter,- "Your journal gave great delight to all, but exquisite pleasure to me, for I think, when I read it, I see you telling me what you have seen and know; I am delighted with your having seen so many things and places I suppose you will close the second part upon going to Scotland, and send it as soon as you can, for we all long to see it. These, my dear, will be an entertainment for you and for your friends through life." She visited Thomas Penn and his lady, Juliana, at their country residence and also in London. In the following September she went to Scotland, to the family seat of Balgowan, then in possession of Thomas Graeme, her father's nephew, and consequently her first cousin, who received her very kindly, and on her departure presented her with several works from his library, containing his bookplate and the Graeme coat-of-arms. His son afterwards became Lord Lyndock. PICTURE OF ELIZABETH GRAEME'S BOOK-PLATE, 1766, APPEARS HERE. It appears that the design was that Miss Graeme should also visit the Continent, more particularly a brother of Charles and Alexander Stedman, in Holstein, Denmark, but owing to the death of her mother she was induced to return home, taking passage with Mr. Peters and the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, on board of Captain Spark's ship, at London, and arrived in Philadelphia December 26, 1765. In reference to Miss Graeme's trip, Dr. Rush states,- "She was accompanied by the Rev. Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia, a gentleman of highly-polished manners, and whose rank enabled him to introduce her to the most respectable circles of company. She sought and was sought for by the most celebrated literary gentleman who flourished in England at the time of the accession of George the Third to the throne. She was introduced to this monarch, and particularly noticed by him. The celebrated Dr. Fothergill, whom she consulted as a physician, became her friend, and corresponded as long as she lived. Upon her return to Philadelphia she was visited, by a numerous circle of friends, as well to condole with her upon the death of her mother, as to welcome her arrival to her native shares. They soon discovered, by the steams of information she poured upon her friends that she had been 'all eye, all ear, and all grasp,' during her visit to Great Britain. The journal she kept of her travels was a feast to all who read it. Manners and characters in an old and highly civilized country, contrasted with those to which she had been accustomed in our own, accompanied with many curious facts and anecdotes, were the component parts of this interesting manuscript. Her modesty alone prevented its being made public, and thereby affording a specimen to the world, had to posterity, of her happy talents for observation, reflection and composition. "In her father's family she now occupied the place of her mother. She kept his house and presided at his table and fireside in entertaining all his company. Such was the character of Dr. Graeme's family for hospitality and refinement of manners that all the strangers of note who visited Philadelphia were introduced to it. Saturday evenings were appropriated, for many years during Miss Graeme's winter residence in the city for the entertainment, not only of strangers, but of such of her friends of both sexes as were considered the most suitable company for them. These evenings were, properly speaking, of the attic kind. The genius of Miss Graeme evolved the heat and light that animated them, it was at one of these evening parties she first saw Mr. Henry Hugh Ferguson, a handsome and accomplished young gentleman, who had lately arrived In this country from Scotland. They were suddenly pleased with each other. Private interviews soon took place between them, and in the course of a few months they were married. The inequality of their ages (for he was ten years younger) was opposed, in a calculation of their conjugal happiness, by the sameness of their attachment to books, retirement and literary society." 892 Mrs. Ferguson stated in her manuscripts that she first saw Henry Hugh Ferguson, at her father's house in the city, December 7, 1771, and was married to him at Swede's Church, April 21, 1772, at eight o'clock in the evening, nearly four and a half months previous to her father's death, who was then at Graeme Park, and upwards of eighty-three years of age. On this occasion, as they were about returning, a family tradition states, she stumbled in the churchyard and fell on a grave, when some one present remarked that this accident betokened to her an ill omen for the future. As Mrs. Ferguson was now aged thirty-three years, if Dr. Rush is correct, her husband was only twenty-three, certainly a great and odd inequality, Dr. Graeme was strongly opposed to the match, and died ignorant of the marriage. PICTURE OF COAT OF ARMS, GRAEME, OF BALGOWAN, APPEARS HERE. Tradition states that Mr. Ferguson urged her to inform him, but she deferred, when he stated that if she delayed much longer he would go up to Graeme Park and disclose the matter to him. One morning, as the doctor went out to take his usual walk before breakfast, Mrs. Ferguson had decided to tell her father. "I sat," she states, "on the bench at the window, and watched him coming up the avenue. It was a terrible task to perform. I was in agony; at every step he was approaching nearer. As he reached the tenant-house, near the gate, he fell and died. Had I told him the day before, as I thought of doing, I should have reproached myself for his death and gone crazy." The remarkable circumstances attending this marriage have been rendered in exquisite lines by Dr. John Watson, a native and resident of Buckingham, Bucks Co., grandfather of Judge Richard Watson, of Doylestown. Laura was Mrs. Ferguson's "nom de plume" to her various poetical contributions,- LINES ON MRS. FERGUSON'S MARRIAGE. BY JOHN WATSON "Can the muse, that laments the misfortunes of love Draw a shade o'er the sorrowful tale, That Laura was cheated and fully could prove That Scotchmen have honor that sometimes may fail? "She says that the lady took not the advice Of a tender, kind parent in what she should do; To suit his good will in a matter so nice, And the visions of fancy would not bear her through; "For pastoral changed to the tragedy style, And taught a hard lesson too late; Though the rashness of youth in its folly may smile, Yet in tears must submit to its fate. "Young Ferguson ran from whence he had came, And a slice of her fortune he pillaged away; Then Love, the sly rogue, must bear all the blame, And in his defence had nothing to say; "But laughed at the mischief, and to a romance Reduced the whole life of a lady so gay; Fine fancy refined still led up the dance, Politeness and learning the music did play. "But religion has hopes for the heart that sincere, And feels for the sorrows of human distress, That tenderly wipes away poverty's tear In a way that may make its impression the less. "Kind charity pleads in her advocated cause That the frailties of nature may all be forgiven, That kindness of heart should meet with applause, And virtue on earth a reward in heaven." Immediately on the death of her father, Mrs. Ferguson and her husband removed on the Graeme Park estate, which had already been bequeathed to her. Their object now was to settle down here and lead a farmer's happy and independent life. We find Henry Hugh Ferguson at a quarterly meeting of the Hatboro' Library Company, held February 6, 1773, admitted a member in the place of John Hart, whose share he had purchased. At the annual meeting of November 5, 1774, he was elected one of its three directors, and again the following year, which is the last mention of his name in their minutes. He was commissioned a justice of the peace for Philadelphia County February 13, 1775, his being the last appointment to this office under the colonial government. He must have already expressed himself quite openly on the approaching troubles of the Revolution, for Anna Young, in a letter to her aunt, from Philadelphia, June 14th, thus expressed herself,- "Please remember me to Mr. Ferguson. I cannot help regretting that a gentleman so formed by nature and education to take a part in the present contest with honor to himself and advantage to the community, should unfortunately possess sentiments which must in my humble opinion condemn his talents to rest in obscurity." "In September following, in company with Samuel W. Stockton, of New Jersey, he sailed for England, for the purpose, it is said, of settling up some family affairs in Scotland. 883 He remained abroad until March, 1777, when he took passage to Jamaica, and from thence to New York. From the latter place he went with the army to Philadelphia with a view to return to Graeme Park, when a pass was refused him, and having learned that such an attempt must be attended with a great deal of hazard, he remained and they appointed him a commissary of prisoners while they held the city. Mr. Ferguson was assessed in Horsham, in 1776, as holding eight hundred acres of land, one negro, six horses, six cattle and eight sheep, £58 8s. Just before his departure for Europe, Margaret Stedman wrote to Mrs. Ferguson from the city, September 2, 1775, - "I am really sorry I am necessitated to tell you all my endeavors to accommodate you with a girl and household-servant have as yet proved ineffectual. If I did not know from frequent experience that you set no bounds or limitations to your kindness in regard to your friends, I should be led to congratulate you on a little cessation from company now, and of late I cannot help thinking you have indeed had a repetition of visitors. Mr. Ferguson and your polite easy manner, joined to the pleasing reception you never fail of giving your friends, deprives them, I believe, of the power of readily quitting your hospitable mansion. As for Mr. Ferguson, the natural sweetness of his temper renders him so very engaging that it is impossible not to be pleased where he is. In short, you are both so calculated to give pleasure, as well as improvement, that I look on your distance of situation as a general loss of society." The position of Mrs. Ferguson through the Revolutionary period was a pitiable one. That her young husband was indifferent to her and desired to make use of her property for his selfish interests there is not a doubt; to this we will hereafter refer. She was then, indeed, a lonely woman, nearly forty years of age, and no near relation or friend to render either advice or protection in so trying a time. It would have been much better for her had she given up all ideas as to the return of her husband, and been contented to remain on her estate, and attend only to its interests. But her fondness for society and desire to be conspicuous, though it gave her notoriety, only so much the more increased her troubles. Naturally kind- hearted and benevolent, through the selfish purposes of those she thought her friends; she was only too often made use of as an instrument to carry out their designs, in which she could possibly receive neither interest or benefit. This will become the more apparent as we progress in this brief biography. The Rev. Jacob Duche, an eloquent Episcopal clergyman of the city, who had been a favorite of Mrs. Graeme from his boyhood, and the first chaplain to Congress, on hearing of the American defeat at Germantown, set himself to work in the city to prepare a letter to Washington, to induce him to save the further effusion of blood in so hopeless a cause, and, if necessary, at the head of his army, to compel Congress to sue for peace and thus serve his country and the cause of humanity to the utmost. This communication was dated October 8, 1777, and its author prevailed on Mrs. Ferguson to carry it to the American camp. She accordingly delivered it to Washington on the 15th of the mouth, at his headquarters in Towamencin. In respect to this matter, the general thus wrote to the Congress: "I, yesterday, through the hands of Mrs. Ferguson, of Graham Park, received a letter of a very curious and extraordinary nature from Mr. Duche, which I have thought proper to transmit to Congress. To this ridiculous, illiberal performance, I made a short reply, by desiring the bearer of it, if she would hereafter by any accident meet with Mr. Duche, to tell him I should have returned it unopened if I had had any idea of the contents; observing at the same time, that I highly disapproved the intercourse she seemed to have been carrying on, and expected it would be discontinued. Notwithstanding the author's assertion, I cannot but suspect that the measure did not originate with him, and that he was induced to it by the hope of establishing his interest and peace more effectually with the enemy." That he should have selected a woman to deliver it personally, a task, which no man would have knowingly assumed, was certainly ingenious. The bearer might have been ignorant of its contents. The writer regrets that the information that passed on this occasion between Mrs. Ferguson and Washington, cannot be given here. Mrs. Ferguson having secured a pass from Washington with a view of seeing her husband in the city, relative to his being charged with treason, made her stay at the house of her brother-in-law, Charles Stedman, in June, 1778. Governor George Johnstone, one of the three British commissioners sent to arrange proposals of peace with the colonies, on learning of Mrs. Ferguson being there, sought her out, that she might be made the instrument for further negotiations with those in power on the American side. He at once expressed himself fully on the subject to the lady, to her great surprise and astonishment, and at the same time holding out a bribe to General Reed for his influence, stating that he had actually sent a letter to him on this matter April 11th previous. On next seeing General Reed, June 21st, he related the circumstances to him, and he, it appears, at once and justly took alarm that such information should now get out and place him in a very equivocal situation. The result was that in self-defense he laid the letter before Congress, which body, August 11th following, passed a resolution that all such offers as were made therein would be looked upon as corruption and bribery, and that no further correspondence or intercourse can be held with the said George Johnstone, Esq. "especially to negotiate with him upon affairs in which the cause of liberty is interested." There is no doubt that in this transaction, to guard himself from any-suspicion, General Reed tried to implicate Mrs. Ferguson as much as possible, as the correspondence of her friends at that time disclosed. We now come to treat in these troublous times of her title to the estate that had been bequeathed to her by her father. Her husband, H. Hugh Ferguson, was charged with treason to the commonwealth by going over to the British and aiding their cause. 894 Mr. Ferguson had no title whatever to said estate, except what right he may have acquired by marriage, and further, as a foreigner, but a few years here, how could he be charged as a loyalist with treason to this government, unless he owed it allegiance? To have made this good would have been an utter impossibility. A portion of Mrs. Ferguson's personal property had been sold on these grounds, and it was now meant to sell the estate on her husband's account in 1779. To counteract the influence of General Reed, her friends began to set themselves actively to work in her behalf; among these were George Meade Elias Boudinot Rev. Nathaniel Irvine Rev. James Abercrombie Rev. William White Rev. William Smith Daniel Roberdeau Thomas Franklin General Mifflin Benjamin Rush and others. A petition was drawn up by Andrew Robeson, and numerously signed and sent to the Assembly, March 1, 1781, who passed an act, April 2d, vesting the right of said estate altogether in Mrs. Ferguson. The House had, May 26, 1780, recommended the Supreme Executive Council to defer the sale of Graeme Park, and that she be permitted to live rent-free thereon under the indulgence of the commonwealth by paying the taxes. There is no question that the patriotism of Mrs. Ferguson, through her peculiar situation, was severely tried. Her relations were divided on the subject. The Stedmans and her nephew, John Young, were loyalists, while her brother-in-law, James Young, and his daughter, Anna, and her husband, Dr. William Smith, were strongly on the side of America. Then again, a large majority of her nearest and dearest friends were also on the same side (as may be observed by the names on her petition to the Assembly), and they never doubted her sincerity to the cause. It is said that while the army lay encamped at Whitemarsh, and badly off for clothing from the increasing cold weather, she conveyed to them at several times linen and other materials of her own raising and manufacture to be distributed among the most needy, and that Washington, in consequence, had sent her letters of thanks which her friends stated that they had seen. It is a current tradition that at that time the commander-in-chief came to the Park and remained there overnight, the camp being about six miles distant, where the army lay from October 21st to December 11, 1777, a period of about seven weeks. On the evacuation of Philadelphia, her husband, H. Hugh Ferguson, followed the retreating army to New York, and while there Mrs. Ferguson made a pathetic application to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, November 28, 1778, for permission to go there, take leave of him and return, which that body refused to grant. On this subject, her niece, Anna Young Smith, wrote to her from Allentown, while the British had possession of Philadelphia,-- "I heard of the pathetic letter you wrote him in order to draw him on from British connections. I can truly say my heart bleeds for you to have Mr. Ferguson, after an absence of two years, not able to get to his own house, and both of you, I would suppose, conscientiously attached to opposite sides. Oh, my dear Aunt, I see you are completely wretched, who had but a few months ago an independent fortune, and blest with superior talents and uncommon virtues." In the summer of 1784 she received a letter from Mr. Ferguson, in London, imploring a remittance to relieve his distressed condition, to which it appears she responded. Her nephew, John Young, wrote to her from London, July 9, 1789, that "it would afford me a signal gratification to know that you were either unconditionally reconciled to your husband, or that you had reconciled your mind to the loss of him, for I much fear that it must at last be reduced to this dilemma." It is supposed the last information received concerning him was in October, 1793, when site learned that he had entered the army and gone to Flanders. The subject of his absence it appears preyed greatly on her mind. Even in her writings a memorandum is found, dated February 26, 1800, only a year before her death, in which she states that "every event of my marriage and all that relates to my husband is as recent in my memory as though it had occurred but yesterday. Though strange, out of twenty-eight years I lived but two and a half with him, and the period of separation exceeds that of the celebrated Ulysses and Penelope. I know not now whether he is among the dead or the living." The celebrated philosopher, Adam Ferguson, who was a native of Perthshire, and secretary to the British Commission spoken of, it is stated who a relative. Dr. Rush is in error in regard to his name; it is signed " H. Hugh Fergusson" in the records of the Hatboro' Library and also in the Bradford Papers of the Historical Society, where several communications may be seen written and signed by him as commissary of prisoners. Mrs. Ferguson also invariably used two s's in her name, but it has become now so established that we have concluded to follow the custom. Says Dr. Rush, - "Mrs. Ferguson passed the interval between the year 1775 and the time of her death chiefly in the country, upon her farm, in reading and in the different branches of domestic industry. A female friend who had been the companion of her youth, and whose mind was congenial to her own, united her destiny with hers, and soothed her various distresses by all the kind and affectionate offices which friendship and sympathy could dictate. In her retirement she was eminently useful. The doors of the cottages that were in her neighborhood bore the marks of her footsteps, which were always accompanied or followed with clothing, provisions and medicines to relieve the nakedness, hunger or sickness of their inhabitants. During the time General Howe had possession of Philadelphia she sent a quantity of linen into the city, spun with her own hands, and directed it to be made into shirts for the benefit of the American prisoners, that were taken at the battle of Germantown. Upon hearing, in one of her visits to Philadelphia, that a merchant once affluent in his circumstances was suddenly thrown into jail by his creditors, and was suffering from the want of many of the usual comforts of his life, she sent him a bed, and afterwards procured admission into his apartment, and put twenty dollars into his hands. He asked for the name of his benefactress. She refused to make herself known to him, and suddenly left him. This humane and charitable act would not have been made known had not the gentleman's description of her person and dress, discovered it. Many such secret acts of charity exercised at the expense of her personal and habitual comforts might be mentioned." The Hon. Elias Boudinot, president of Congress on signing the preliminary treaty of peace with Great Britain, forwarded a letter on the subject of Mrs. Ferguson, in which he mentioned that General Washington was highly pleased on the result. A reply was returned from Graeme Park, April 17, 1783, in which she said,- "Is it not hard, my dear friend, that with a heart formed for urbanity and convivial cheerfulness, on this occasion particularly, I should from all extraordinary combinations of perplexed circumstances remain in total obscurity, but I am a poor, selfish creature, and if I adhere to the truth, must declare that amidst all these important events my own prospects and situation haunt my view, and at present nothing can draw me from this retreat, for my peace is so wounded, for I feel as though I could never come out of the shade. Dear Betsy Stedman joins in warm felicitations on this great event." 895 Margaret Stedman wrote to Mrs. Ferguson from Philadelphia, September 9, 1785, in which she desired her to "accept a heart replete with gratitude for the invitation contained in your last, favor, and doubt not my sincerity when I assure you I ever esteemed and honored your society as one of the most pleasurable circumstances of my life, and much am I indebted to the balmy air of Graeme Park, never being blessed with a greater sense of health than during my three years residence there." The Union Library of Hatboro' was founded in 1755, to which Dr. Graeme, as has been stated, presented an early donation of books. To this institution we find from its minutes that his daughter, Mrs. Ferguson, was also a liberal contributor. In May, 1763, she presented her first gift of books, for which she received the thanks of the directors, followed by further gifts in 1773, 1783, 1794 and 1798, making in all at least seventy-three volumes, some of which were quartos. It is also known that she presented, at various times, works to the Montgomery Library, in Gwynedd, and to the one in Philadelphia. Respecting Mrs. Ferguson's literary pursuits, her nephew, John Young, wrote from the city, March 22, 1775,- "You have all the advantages that any poet can wish; for the season of Poetry is fast approaching, and everything about you contributes to inspire it, so that you have nothing to do but to invoke the Muses and begin to sing. As for the scene, I am sure Graeme Park may vie with Arcadia; for poetry may easily convert Neshaminy into Helicon, the meadows into Tempe, and the new park into Parnaseus, so that I shall certainly expect to see something of the Pastoral kind in the next magazine." Little did the youthful and sanguine writer then imagine what was so very near at hand, the dawn of a revolution to dispel this glorious illusion and send him and Mr. Ferguson soon and forever in exile, and that on the ruins of the colonial system of government should be founded here a great and independent republic. As to her literary qualifications, Dr. Rush thus expressed himself,- "I have said that Mrs. Ferguson possessed a talent for poetry some of those verses have been published and wary of them is in the hands of her friends. They discover a vigorous poetical imagination. Her prose writings indicate strong marks of genius, taste and knowledge. Nothing that came from her pen was common. Even her hasty notes to her friends placed the most trivial subjects in such a new and agreeable light as not only secured them from destruction, but gave them a durable place among the most precious fragments of fancy and sentiment." The Rev. Nathaniel Evans, who returned from England with Mrs. Ferguson, was a native of Philadelphia and a poet of some merit. In the spring of 1766 he spent several weeks at Graeme Park, with the view of benefiting his declining health, on which occasion he produced a beautiful "Ode" relative to the place, which is given elsewhere in this work. He was admitted into orders by Dr. Terrick, bishop of London, who expressed great satisfaction on his examination. He received the charge of the churches at Gloucester and Colestown, N. J., where he died October 29,1767, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, and at his particular request was interred at Christ Church. Rev. Dr. Smith collected his poetical effusions and had them published in Philadelphia in 1772, in an octavo volume of one hundred and sixty pages, entitled "Poems on Several Occasions, with some other Compositions." In this collection are included several parodies and witty poems by Miss Graeme, under the "nom de plume" of Laura. It also contains, by the same, a poem of forty-six lines on his death, in which she calls him "a dutiful and only son of aged and affectionate parents." In his contribution on the "Early Poets and Poetry of Pennsylvania," by Joshua Francis Fisher ("Memoirs of Historical Society, vol. ii, 1827), he pays a compliment to the poems of Mr. Evans, and introduces a notice of Mrs. Ferguson, from which we take this extract,- "At her father's house she was surrounded by the most refined and literary society in America, and both here and in England she enjoyed the intimacy and gained the admiration of some of the most accomplished scholars and was of the age. Her journal of travels, her letters and many other of her prose compositions were admired for their vivacity and elegance; and her poems, among which is to be found a translation of Telemachus into English verse. Never did a poet possess a readier pen than Mrs. Ferguson. She wrote on every occasion and on almost every subject, and if the publication of her manuscripts were called for, I have no doubt that a volume might be easily collected. Mrs. Ferguson is said to have been a lady of fine talents, of refined delicacy, exquisite sensibility and romantic generosity; several of her friends an still living who remember with delight her noble disposition, her agreeable conversation and her amusing eccentricities." Dr. Rush is in error in regard to Mrs. Ferguson's annual income, which he states to have been one hundred and sixty dollars. In an examination of her personal papers we find that, after the sale of her estate to Dr. Smith, she made arrangements with John Nicholson, who, in July, 1793, agreed to say her annually on her investments, which, at her request, was transferred to George Meade, who obligated himself during her lifetime to pay unto her the annual sum of two hundred dollars. It appears, also, that she drew some income from Elias Boudinot, but whether from another amount or from a transfer we are unable to state. However, we wonder with others how she could have been enabled to spend as much in charity, which Dr. Rush suggests was "exercised at the expense of her personal sad habitual comforts." But she possessed the prudence to limit her expenses according to her resources. 896 At what exact time Mrs. Ferguson left the park we have not been enabled to learn, but it was probably about 1797, when, with her companion, Miss Stedman, she removed to the comfortable home of Seneca Lukens, a well-to-do farmer, who resided about two miles distant on the main road leading to Philadelphia. From her correspondence we infer that she suffered from an internal ailment for many years, which, towards the last, was accompanied with great and protracted pain. She died February 23, 1801, aged sixty years and twenty days. Agreeably to her request, she was interred by the side of her parents in the inclosure of Christ Church, Philadelphia. The epitaph on her reads: "Elizabeth Ferguson, the true sympathizer with the afflicted; daughter of Thomas and Ann Graeme, wife of Hugh Henry Ferguson - 1801. Eliza caused this stone to be laid, waits with resignation and humble hope for reunion with her friend in a more perfect state of existence." We observe here that Mr. Ferguson's given name has been reversed; in all his autographs it is invariably written as has been stated. Joseph Lukens, son of Seneca, informed us, in 1855, that he very well remembered Mrs. Ferguson; that she was a woman of extraordinary conversational powers and a great pedestrian, even down nearly to the close of her life, frequently walking on foot to Philadelphia, a distance of eighteen miles; that she was unusually kindhearted and charitable. Mrs. Martha Paul stated, in 1850, that she had frequently seen Mrs. Ferguson going through the Willow Grove on foot to Philadelphia, and also thus returning to her Horsham home; that in the latter part of her life she was much given to attending funerals throughout her neighborhood. David Lloyd, the author, mentions having several times seen Mrs. Ferguson, while at Seneca Lukens', sitting beneath the trees reading a book; that she was of medium size, but slender and delicate in form; thinks she possessed the most intelligent and expressive eyes he ever beheld in a female; that she was generally known throughout that section as "Lady Ferguson." On asking him the reason for being go called he said it wag owing to her having been called so by George III., and also as the granddaughter of Lady Keith. Eliza Stedman, so long the devoted friend and companion of Mrs. Ferguson, was a niece of Charles Stedman who had married Ann, daughter of Dr. Graeme, in 1749. She was a native of Holstein, Denmark, and her uncle, Stedman, who was a captain of a vessel sailing to Philadelphia, on his settling there After his marriage, came thus to bring thither the young lady, who was an orphan. Her letters denote that she had received an excellent education, and the penmanship was such as few can surpass it at this day. She was probably about ten years younger than Mrs. Ferguson, and much more robust. From her correspondence we learn that she was an occasional visitor at Graeme Park in 1764, if not some time earlier. Her uncle, Charles Stedman, died in Philadelphia September 28, 1784, aged seventy-one years. On the death of Mrs. Ferguson, near Graeme Park, in 1801, she removed to Philadelphia, and died at the house of Samuel F. Smith, about the year 1825, at an advanced age. Mrs. Ferguson, in one of her poems written in 1789, thus refers to her companion,- "One female friend alone was left,- Then dare sad Laura still repine If one bright jewel still is mine; My Stella, partner of my hours Whom no misanthropy devours." Mrs. ANNA YOUNG SMITH. -James Young, the father of Anna, we have presumed, was a native of Scotland, but he must have arrived here early in life. He was a merchant of Philadelphia, and was married, about 1754 or the following year, to Jane, the eldest daughter of Dr. Graeme, born April 27, 1727. The correspondence of this gentleman denotes that he must have received an excellent education. During the French and Indian war he held several positions under the colonial government; among these was captain, commissary of musters and paymaster; for the faithful performance of these duties he received the thanks of the proprietary, Thomas Penn, in 1758. On the breaking out of the Revolution he became an early and ardent patriot. Near the close of 1776 he was appointed one of the justices of the peace for the city, and the following June 11th one of the judges of the court. With Colonel John Bayard, he was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, November 28, 1777, to visit the Pennsylvania troops encamped at Valley Forge, and report on the condition of their clothing. This interesting document may be seen in the Pennsylvania Archives (vol. vi. p. 74), wherein they state that they had conferred with General Washington on the subject, and that General Wayne had the soldiers paraded for their inspection, "but could not discover that they were in a worse condition than the army in general." There is no doubt that Mr. Young would have risen to a conspicuous position in these trying times if it would not have been for his declining health, which became so impaired that he died January 28, 1779, at the age of fifty years. His remains were interred in Christ Churchyard beside those of his wife, who had preceded him in 1759, at the early age of thirty years. Owing to his regard for his motherless children, Mr. Young was in the practice for many years of spending a portion of his time at Graeme Parke, and was thus induced to become a member of the Hatboro' Library, November 1, 1760, which he retained for the benefit of himself and children for thirteen years. Mr. Young had four children, of whom two died in infancy. Of these, Anna, the subject of this notice, was the oldest, and was born in Dr. Graeme's house, in Fourth Street, Philadelphia, November 5, 1756, and in less than two years and three months thereafter lost her mother. It was owing to this circumstance that her early training was chiefly confided to her aunt, and thus she became a long and intimate resident of Graeme Park. On this matter Dr. Rush stated that Mrs. Ferguson "had no children, but she now faithfully performed all the duties of that relation to the son and daughter of one of her sisters, who committed them to her care on her death-bed. The mind of her niece was an elegant impression of her own." Mr. Young wrote in 1765 that "Anna," then aged eight and a half years, "grows more and more like her dear mamma in every respect, and that is saying as much as I could wish." 897 A few months after the death of her grandfather Miss Young, then in her sixteenth year, left Graeme Park to reside with her father in the city, on which occasion, under date of November 24, 1772, she sent an affecting letter to her aunt, from which we take an extract,- "I would wish to tell you the grateful sense I have received of your kindness to me; when I look back on the last six years of my life, I feel oppressed with your goodness to me. You took me at an age totally incapable of giving you pleasure, too old to divert you with innocent amusement in the prattling way, and too young to be company to you. Over my growing reason you watched with patient care, and instructed me both by your precepts and example in the practice of every virtue and now that I am of an age to know and return your tenderness I must leave you without any other recompense for your goodness but the testimony of your own heart; however, it shall be my study in my future conduct in life to show that your goodness has not been thrown away upon me. I feel the deepest regret at leaving a place where I have spent the most careless, and I fear, the must happy part of my life. I was always fond of the country, but to Graeme Park I was inure particularly attached, and I must now take my leave of it, and though I may sometimes visit it, it will never again be my delightful home. May you, my dear aunt, possess health and every blessing in this world, and may Mr. Ferguson, when he crosses the Atlantic, more than return all the love you have for him; may he unite in one all the endearing characters of father, husband and friend. May this be your portion here and eternal happiness hereafter is the sincere wish of your grateful and affectionate niece." Before the early age of fourteen Miss Young had written an "Ode to Gratitude," wherein she exhibits her regards to her aunt for her long devoted tenderness and care. A strong attachment having been formed between Miss Young and Dr. William Smith, a native of the city, the parties were married at Graeme Park November 30, 1775, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Dr. Richard Peters, rector of Christ Church. Mr. Smith had graduated in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1771, and subsequently became an extensive druggist under the firm of Lehman & Smith. Being an ardent patriot, just before the entry of the British army into Philadelphia lie conveyed, for their greater security, his wife and children to Bethlehem, where they remained until their departure. On his return he found considerable damage had been done to his property, particularly to his furniture and medicines, which they had either used or wantonly destroyed. On the birth of her first child Mrs. Smith wrote from the city in September 1776,- "Now I have got my dear little girl, I want her to pay her respects to her grand aunt, but I do not hope for that pleasure till the 30th of November, the anniversary of my marriage, when I hope to be at the spot that made me happy, to claim my flitch of beacon, unless I should have the happiness of seeing you in town before." In regard to the flitch of bacon, reference is here meant to an old custom respecting happy marriages, described in Nos. 607 and 608 of Addison's "Spectator." Anna Young Smith, who was of a naturally delicate constitution, died March 22, 1780, at the early age of twenty-three years and nearly five months, which was a sad bereavement to her affectionate husband. Dr. Smith, on the following 23d of June, thus wrote to Mrs. Ferguson,- "I am at present engaged in collecting the few little performances in the poetical way my dear Anna is left behind her, and many a stray sigh does it cost me. I think I see and hear in every line that heavenly look and voice that so lately charmed me. Alas ! Madam, when I reflect on the extraordinary worth of that most amiable of women, and that she once constituted my soul's happiness, my heart dies within me at the thought of having lost her, and I am often amazed how I can possibly sustain the dreadful shock; but we know not what we can bear till we are put to the test. But why do I dwell on this mournful theme? Your own good heart, which can so keenly feel another's woo, will, I know, excuse me. I must at last bring myself to submit in humble silence to the severe blow, and heaven alone can witness my feelings and mournful recollections." For her only daughter, then aged about three and a half years, Mrs. Ferguson, in June, 1789, prepared an interesting selection of her poems in a manuscript volume of four hundred and seventy-six pages, in the preface of which she says,- "My dear Anna Smith, this will fall into your hands when, perhaps, I shell be in my silent grave, do not think that I transcribe this from mere vanity. No, it is by no means an essential part of a female character to write verses; though I do not think it, on the other, that it is to be ridiculed. Writing and love of books, I can speak from experience, is a happy resource for the evening of life, when the more active scenes either slide from us or we from them. Virtuous sentiments, however brought into action, whether we fill a wide or narrow circle, is worth them all. I write in solitude and with my spectacles on." As has been mentioned, Dr. Smith, in the spring of 1791, purchased of Mrs. Ferguson the Graeme Park estate, which he retained until the year 1801. The loss of his wife and family alone induced him to part with it, to the great reluctance, no doubt, of both himself and Mrs. Ferguson, with whom a warm friendship had so long existed. He was a highly respected and successful businessman, and survived until May 20, 1822, aged seventy-six years. He had three children,- Ann Thomas Graeme Samuel F. Smith The latter was born March 16, 1780, only six days before the death of his mother. He also became a successful merchant of Philadelphia, and married Ellen, daughter of John Mark, of Fredericksburg, Va., and October 27, 1806. He was long a director of the Philadelphia Bank, and for some time its president, retiring from it in 1852. Mr. Smith resided at No. 1411 Walnut Street, and the writer, in 1856, was kindly permitted access to the many family papers in his possession, from which copious extracts were made. 898 As will be observed, he was a great-grandson of Dr. Graeme, of whom there are now (1884) numerous descendants in the country. The daughter, Anna Smith, according to Dr. Rush, died in 1808, aged thirty-two years, of whom he mentions "exhibiting to a numerous and affectionate circle of acquaintances, a rare instance of splendid talents and virtues descending unimpaired through four successive generations." Respecting the poetical performances of Mrs. Anna Young Smith, we must say that they will compare favorably with any other writer of that period. A portion was published, after her death, in the "Columbian Magazine." Several of the pieces were reprinted and became deservedly popular, as the "Ode to Liberty", "Elegy to the Volunteers who fell at Lexington", "Lines to the Memory of Warren," "Walk in the Churchyard at Wicaco" and "Lines in Praise of Wedlock." Besides the aforesaid, she left other pieces in manuscript, among which we would name "Ode to Gratitude," "True Wit, "Lines on Dr. Swift", "Epistle to Damon," "Sylvia's Song to Damon," and "Lines on the Death of Dr. Graeme." In the article in "Earl Poetry," in this work, we have given several of her contributions. JOHN YOUNG, the son of James and Jane Young and grandson of Dr. Graeme, was born in Philadelphia November 6, 1757. His mother having died when he was but little over two years old, he was, not long afterwards, consigned, with his sister, to the care of his aunt at Graeme Park, where he received most of his education. Dr. Rush thus speaks of Mrs. Ferguson and his early training: "Her nephew, John Young, became, under her direction, an accomplished scholar and gentleman." When Mrs. Ferguson was in England his father wrote from the city, April 3, 1765: to John is really a good and fine boy,- learns that times fast and loves the Academy." He was at that time only about seven and a half years old, but this would indicate that he had already made some progress in his studies. From a letter he wrote to his aunt near the beginning of 1774, he states that the reason he did not come to see her when last in the city was because she "lodged at Mr. Stedman's, a house my father has laid his commands on me never to enter; his reason I know not. I received the presents from you through the hands of my sister with pleasure and gratitude, particularly the pocket-book as a memento of my good grandfather, and shall rank them among the innumerable obligations I have received from your hands. My situation is very different to what it was with you; I am apprentice to Mr. Carmack, who treats me very kindly, but has very little business. Nevertheless, I am seldom idle, but divert my leisure hours with books. Since I have, been with him I have read the histories of England, Charles the Fifth and Buchanan and Robertson's Scotland." On July 15th he wrote,- "You were right, for I was affected at the death of Mr. Carmack, who was seized about six in the morning with an apoplectic fit and expired at eleven in the night" It appears he was engaged with him to learn the dry-goods business. He wrote to his aunt, August 10th,- "I think myself very lucky in getting a place. I am with Messrs. John and Peter Chevalier, who are in the shipping business and shall here get an insight into both branches of business. I like it much better than the other; there is much more variety and exercise". On December 1st,- "I sincerely thank you for your good advice and your groundless fear for my falling into vice. I call them groundless because you must certainly know that I have it not in my power to enjoy the pleasures of this world, be my inclinations ever so great, for I have not the Philosopher's stone to procure them, and as for company, I keep very little, till I call afford to maintain the appearance of a gentlemen." Washington had been appointed, in Philadelphia, by Congress, June 14, 1775, commander-in-chief of the American army, respecting whom Mr. Young made in interesting and complimentary allusion, dated the following July 1st,- "I beg you will return my compliments to Mr. Ferguson, and tell him I am extremely obliged to him for his present of the book, which I accept with pleasure. I sincerely wish the autumn was arrived, that me may gather in the fruits of our glorious toils; but as the laurel is an evergreen we may obtain it at all seasons. I dare engage our noble General will soon nod under a whole grove of it. I think it is happy for America that the person promoted to that high dignity has always borne the character of a man of honor, and is remarkable for his honesty and integrity; for he certainly has it as much in his power to raise himself on the ruins of his country as old Oliver." Little did this young man fancy the troubles that were flow so rapidly approaching, and of whose dire effects he should also receive his share. We have mentioned how his father, James Young, from the very beginning of the contest, had ardently espoused the patriot cause; but not so his son, then aged but little over eighteen. It appears that on the 24th of January, 1776, he fled from his home in the city, with a Mr. Baynton, to New York, where Governor Tryon recommended him to Sir William Howe for a commission in the army. The result was that he was placed on board the "Phoenix" ship- of-war and shortly after taken a prisoner by the Americans. His father, on learning this, petitioned to Congress, March 23d, that he be permitted on his parole, to reside on the estate of his late grandfather, at Graeme Park, on condition that he remain there and confine himself within a distance of six miles of the same, which was granted him. We know that he was still there in the following September, but it is probable that he fled a second time to the British while they held the city or shortly afterwards, for he was charged, with a number of others, with high treason April 10, 1779. What services Mr. Young engaged in to aid the British cause we are unable to state, but he was reported as having purchased a lieutenancy, in 1780 in the Forty-second Foot, and that he was in the Sixtieth in 1787. It would appear from the information derived from him in the fall of 1785, he had made application as a to the government for losses incurred in the American war, but without success. From a letter, he sent to his aunt, dated London, October 4, 1787, it appears that he had suffered from remorse. He stated therein,- "I went to bed with these meditations, and in the midnight hour the spectre of Poverty drew my curtains, and stared at me with such an aspect as frightened away my philosophy. In this temper I arose in the morning and carried in my name to the War-Office as one who was desirous of serving again, and was yesterday informed that I was appointed to my old regiment in one of the additional companies to be raised. An soon, then, as war is determined on I shall be sent to the most remote and dreary corner on the Island, in the most dreary season of the year, among people with whom I had been long enough associated to dislike to commence again an employment which I had practiced long enough to be sated with, by raising men in the service of a country for which I have no particular affection. I have been the instrument of injustice without compunction, but now I have not even a prejudice to keep me in favor with myself. With such sentiments, to become a Journeyman, with penurious wages, in the trade of blood, is to become a character that a galley slave would not contemplate with envy, for I have his reluctance without having his consolation." 899 In July, 1789, Lieutenant Young again wrote to Mrs. Ferguson, mentioning that he had only recently recovered from a paralytic stroke; that his physician had advised him to seek a warmer climate, and he was therefore going to Provence or Languedoc. As the revolution in France was then showing symptoms of approaching troubles, be says, in relation to his journey, that he meant to return in a ship in the spring from Marseilles, unless "I should be detained by the commotions of the country. If there should be a civil war, I shall join the people, that I may atone in some measure for the offences against the rights of mankind in my former conduct." He mentioned having written an article on "Aristotle's Poetics" in the late "European Magazine," and meant on his return to apply himself to translation as the most profitable department in letters. At what exact time Lieutenant Young returned to London we are unable to state, but he forwarded an interesting letter from thence to his aunt, July 7, 1790, wherein he remarked, - "During my residence in France, I had an opportunity of witnessing the regeneration of a great empire. An awful and edifying spectacle, indeed ! and in the history of mankind unexampled in the nature and efficacy of its means. Twenty-four millions rising with one accord, to tramp on regal, aristocratic and ecclesiastical tyranny, tinder which they had been crushed for fifteen ages ! However, I hope the people of France will follow the example of the Americans yet further, and reform the constitution made on the spur of the occasion. Paris and London strike me as being no less dissimilar in their external appearance than In the deportment of their respective inhabitants. Paris abounds in more noble edifices ; many in such a chaste correct taste as would have done honor to the city of Minerva in the purest ages of the arts. Its public libraries and cabinets are splendid beyond comparison. Its charitable institutions are upon a grand wale, but appear to me to have a tendency to increase the evils they were intended to alleviate. Its quays have an aspect noble and pleasing, without being polluted with a cask or a bale, while its streets are narrow and ill-paved and no footwalk for foot-passengers, as in London. Add to this an accumulation of filth, removed only once a week. "The furniture of their houses is correspondent in a like degree of contradiction. Damask curtains and chairs, in most splendid apartments, without a carpet or table of better materials than oak or deal. In all manufactures which have usefulness for their object, their specimens put beside English work appear like rude essays of barbarians. They excel us, however, in some of the mechanic arts, and these have a tendency to mark the different geniuses of the two nations. The manufactures in which they have no competitor are paper-hanging, tapestry, plate-glass, embroidery and the richest silks; nor does it require sagacity to discover an analogy between the arts and genius, habits and manners of thinking, of the people. Now that the aristocracy is abolished, and the exertion of every individual may be directed to the public good, we shall see whether or not they be capable of that degree of industry or application which have produced such wonderful effects among their neighbors. I had almost forgot to tell you that when I was at Versailles I saw the queen and royal family. The queen was a fine woman, but with a countenance so clouded with disappointed pride and humbled ambition that I thought Milton himself must have had some such idea for the prototype of Satan, before he had lost all his original brightness. I was much gratified by having an opportunity of inspecting the remains of Roman greatness, which still exist in Tours, Vienna, Orange, Carpentras, Niames[?], etc., some of which am built without cement, and are as perfect at this day as when first erected." These extracts are calculated to impress one with the literary abilities of the author. As mentioned, Lieutenant Young did enter into the work of translation, which was the "Compendium of Ancient Geography by Monsieur D'Anville," from the French, which was published in London in 1792, in two octavo volumes, together containing eight hundred and forty-eight pages. The translator's preface contains fourteen pages, and is an able and profound production. It contains several finely-executed maps. This translation at that time, by a young American, was certainly no ordinary undertaking, and. appears to have been satisfactorily accomplished. Mrs. Ferguson presented a copy, March 22, 1798, to the Hatboro' Library, "as a mark of her regard to that institution," and also one to the Philadelphia Library. John Young died in London, April 25,1794, aged but little over thirty-six years and six months, and was interred at "St. Martin's-in-the-Fields," where Mrs. Ferguson had a tombstone erected with the following lines: "Far distant from the soil where thy last breath Seal'd the sad measure of their various woes, One female friend laments thy mournful death, Yet why lament what only gave repose?" In the "Philadelphia Daily Advertiser" of July 29, 1794, appeared the following from the friendly pen of Dr. Rush: "By letters from London we learn that John Young, Esq., died in that city on the 15th of April last. Philadelphia gave birth to that extraordinary young man. He was grandson to the late worthy Dr. Thomas Graeme and educated under his immediate direction. In literary attainments he had few equals; his translation of 'Ancient Geography,' published originally in French, will long continue a monument of his singular taste and classical erudition." ADDITIONAL RESPECTING GRAEME PARK. -Before we leave this interesting subject a few more facts may be given. Having ascertained from our neighbor, Joseph Lukens, the son of Seneca, where Mrs. Ferguson died, that the old vane that Sir William Keith had placed on one of his buildings was still in existence, we sought it up and made a drawing thereof in October, 1855. It was then in possession of Hugh Foulke, of Gwynedd, who informed us that he had purchased it, with, a lot of old iron, at the sale of Seneca Lukens, deceased, in 1829. It was made of wrought-iron, thirty-eight inches in length. The part bearing "W. K., 1722," which was seventeen inches in length, was cut out in it after the manner of a stencil. At the lower part was a screw, with which it might be secured to its place. Governor Keith's coat-of-arms was found on several documents, to which his seal was affixed, one of which was relative to the contract with John Kirk for building his mansion-house at the park, dated December 12, 1721, the original having been presented to us, in 1860, by an antiquarian friend a short time before his decease 900 PICTURE OF ANCIENT VANE OF GRAEME PARK, APPEARS HERE. At Samuel F. Smith's, the grand-nephew of Mrs. Ferguson, was shown the Graeme coat-of-arms worked in various-colored silk about two feet square, which the latter had made shortly after her return from Great Britain, designed from a family book-plate in the presentation volumes given by her cousin, Thomas Graeme, Esq., of Balgowan. Mrs. Ferguson's family PICTURE OF SIR WILLIAM KEITH'S SEAL AND COAT OF ARMS, 1721, APPEAR HERE. Bible came in possession of Mrs. H. C. Turnbull, near Baltimore, daughter of Samuel F. Smith, which was shown at her house in 1856. It is a quarto, elegantly bound in red morocco, gilt edges, printed at Oxford in 1733. From it was obtained the Graeme family record of births, marriages and deaths, and also copies of the original portraits in oil, life-size, that had once been at Graeme Park. Mrs. S. F. Smith showed divers articles of interest that had been in the possession of the Graeme family and Mrs. Ferguson, as miniatures, lockets, hair-work, bracelets, fans, silverware and silk dresses. The latter were very fine, the material having been brought by Captain Stedman from China before 1760. An interesting object was a family tree composed of hair within a glass, surrounded with rubies, all set in a case of gold, which was worn by Mrs. Ferguson as a breast-pin. Its form was oval, one by one and a half inches in size. On its back was engraved: "The hair of Lady Ann Keith, Ann Graeme, Ann Stedman and Jane Young. For E. Graeme, 1766." After Dr. Graeme became the sole owner of the estate, in 1739, he formed here a gallery of paintings after the manner of the nobility in Europe. Among these were life-size portraits of Dr. Graeme, Mrs. Graeme, Jane Young, Ann Stedman, two of Mrs. Ferguson in early life and four of Graeme Park and its surroundings., representing the four seasons; the names of the others we have been unable to ascertain. Mr. H. C. Turnbull's mansion was destroyed by fire in 1847, but fortunately nearly all the aforesaid portraits were saved. A copy of the summer view of Graeme Park has been secured, which now possesses considerable interest. From Mrs. Ferguson's portraits we are enabled to judge about the time when these paintings were made, as in the latest, one she is not quite full-grown, and. it was therefore probably done before 1754. Professor Samuel Jackson and Mrs. Susan Eckhart, of Philadelphia, informed us in 1853 that in early life they remembered seeing those paintings in the main hall at Graeme Park, which was about 1782, during the ownership and residence there of Mrs. Ferguson. To the great credit of the Penrose family, they have taken good care of the venerable mansion, now one of the very few baronial halls existing in this country. It is a substantial stone building, in good preservation, and not occupied, with walls two feet thick and in dimensions sixty by twenty- five feet. The main or drawing-room, at the north end, is twenty-one feet square, and its walls are handsomely wainscotted and paneled from the floor to the ceiling, a height of fourteen feet. The fire-place is adorned with marble brought from England, and those of the other rooms with Dutch tile- plates, after the fashion of that day. Above the mantel of the drawing-room is said to have been a panel bearing the Keith coat-of-arms, which, of course, has been long removed for a plainer substitute. In the fire-place of one of the second-story room is a cast-iron plate bearing the date of 1728. The stairs and balusters are extremely substantial and built of solid white-oak, as are also the joists, rafters and window-frames. Each of its three stories is respectively divided into three rooms, finished with mouldings on the ceilings. In front of the house, on the wall, near the roof, forty years ago could be seen the remains of ivy that had evidently been dead for many years. On the wall of the south end is a vigorously- growing trumpet-flower, which is said to be the shoot of the original that grew there in Mrs. Ferguson's infancy. As we gazed on it, we thought of that beautiful couplet in her "Spinning Song,"- When storms rage the forest, and mighty trees fall, The low shrub is shelter'd that clings to the wall." In the rear of the house is a fish-pond fed from a fine-spring of water; just beyond it still stands a "little grove by the milk-house," as mentioned by Miss Stedman in May 1765. 901 From the existing view of Graeme Park before 1755 and the draft of the estate made for Lady Keith by William Parsons about 1736, the tenant-houses and stabling are denoted standing west of the mansion, pretty well towards the branch of the Neshaminy, which flows here in a northerly course. Two vigorous sycamore trees stand directly in front of the house at the distance of about forth yards, which, at two feet from the ground, now measure respectively eleven and twelve feet in circumference, and denote the principal place of approach to the court-yard, where no doubt was once a gateway. PICTURE OF GRAEME PARK, ABOUT 1755, APPEARS HERE. While so long in the possession of the Keith and Graeme family, especially during the colonial period, many distinguished visitors were entertained here, among whom can be mentioned Andrew Hamilton, Thomas and John Penn, Jeremiah Langhorne, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Stockton, Rev. Nathaniel Evans, Rev. William Smith, Benjamin Rush, Rev. Richard Peters, George Meade, Elias Boudinot and Bishop White. There is no doubt that many a gay party set out from those venerable walls in the days of the baronet in pursuit of deer, bear and turkeys that roamed yet wild in the forests, for the "twelve venison pots" mentioned here in 1726 are suggestive of such incidents. "A WOMAN'S MEDITATIONS ON HER OLD FAMILY CLOCK. [NOTE] "BY MRS. ELIZABETH FERGUSON. "It is midnight ! the inhabitants where I now reside are all locked in sleep, I am all alone with pen, ink and paper before me, and all things around conspire to aid my musing melancholy. The clock in the parlor where I am has just struck twelve. That identical clock has been in the family of my parents and myself above seventy years, and has been a true announcer of fleeting time. I am myself this present year (1797) on the verge of sixty. What various sensations have the sounds of that clock's stroke raised in the bosoms of my parents, brothers, sisters and my own in a course of years ! Three-fourths of a century since it first moved in our house ! "Let me in this silent pause try to retrace some of the effects the sound of this clock has produced on my spirits almost commensurate with any clear recollections of the past. How has my little heartbeat when it announced eight, the hour destined to go to bed! How oft with my childish playmates, when keen for the protracting romp, has the dreaded knell stopped us short in full career, or, if permitted by an act of grace to encroach on a quarter of an hour beyond the limits, no entreaties could prevail to obtain a respite to hear the interdicted stroke of nine ! When a year or two had advanced me in the juvenile stage, still eight was the well-known hour. "I see in idea this moment the little round walnut table placed close by a clean hearth and clear hickory fire, my mother and misters in rotation reading some moral story or dramatic piece, while my good father sat on the other side with his own small mahogany stand reading the paper of the day or some treatise on his own profession. Ah ! how I feared the stroke of eight lest it might break the thread of the unfinished journal of the artless Pamela. Perhaps the clock struck in the middle of that excellent comedy, the 'Journey of London' where humor and sentiment are so happily blended. 'Oh, mamma, do let me stay and hear whether Lady Townly repents and makes a good wife.' 'No, my child, you shall hear to-morrow; mamma says Betsy must go to bed.' Shut was the book and shut was the scene unless carried over in youthful dreams. Oh, if any cold-hearted critic should glance over this page and sneer at these digressions, let them hear and know that these are the recollections that make me for a moment forget my age till I reflect I am left alone to make these observations. 902 "Alas ! at those sounds my sensations of pain or pleasure did not terminate with childhood. No, very far from it. How often have I longed to hear announced the hour for the family party, after my sisters had left my father's home for houses of their own! Nor was my heart bound up alone to connections; nearly equal was the pleasure when expecting to meet some kind, social friend, thy hand pointed when she must be near. How frequently has thy stroke summoned me to preside at the female station, the tea-table, where the conversation has changed in rotation, 'from grave to gay from gay to grave severe!' Ah ! full well I remember when four strokes preluded the Indian regale; then we young people, beginning a little tonish, pleaded for the patrician hour of five ; we were indulged, but five soon became a plebeian hour. Then my clock and its mistress changed our city for a rural abode, where seven and eight took the lead, until six remains to direct the coffee at the worthy gentlewoman's where I now live. "Ah ! since my clock and I have passed our days in retirement, how frequently, on the evening of a market-day, when expecting a letter from the metropolis filled with wit, sentiment or affection, or all united in one, have I with impatience numbered your strokes, or still more ardently longed for the epistle that had crossed the Atlantic, whose value was appreciated as danger and distance had endeared it to the longing receiver ! The evening walk was directed by thee, the wholesome breakfast also, and, to be more serious, how frequently have you warned me to repair to the temple of divine worship ! And, now retracing the various effects thy sounds have produced in my too susceptible heart through a long life, would it not be a species of prudery to omit declaring what I well recollect that thy sounds to my ears acquired the softest tones when announcing the hours I was to meet my dear Henry before I met him at the altar' which in this day twenty-five years, -the fourth part of a century, a large portion of human existence. Yet, thy sounds seemed to change to pensive ones when they preluded to Britain his departure. "Ah ! when I reflect that I am the sole surviving child of ten brothers and sisters, how does the idea fill my mind ! to think what a series of tedious, weary nights must these parents and children have waked and watched through the long gallery of pain to death ! Hoping and waiting with exhausted spirits these strokes that announced the pleasing harbinger of day. How many times the dear departed, venerable authors of my being have heard that clock which now strikes two give the sound that was to be no more repeated, while breath drew trembling in bodies dearer to you than your own; your children a part of yourselves ! Since first your motion began, what volcanoes have flamed, what battles fought, what families, pestilences and revolutions gone forth ! You move, though your maker is no more; then be it known, he lived in London, in 1722, and named W. Tomlinson." [NOTE: This piece was copied from Mrs. Ferguson's manuscript over twenty-five years ago, and it is believed, has never been heretofore published. It is an interesting scrap of family history, nearly all confined to the colonial period. It bears the date of April 21, 1797, only four years previous to her death, and while she resided at the house of Seneca Lukens.] [Chapter concluded in preceding section on Horsham Township.]