Area History: Chapter 90 : PERSONS AND CHARACTERS - Part II: Watson's Annals, 1857, Vol I: PHILADELPHIA and PENNSYLVANIA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by EVC. 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. ____________________________________________________________ WATSON'S ANNALS of PHILADELPHIA and PENNSYLVANIA Vol. I Written 1830 - 1850 Chapter 90. PERSONS AND CHARACTERS - Part II ECCENTRIC PERSONS 1736 -- Michael Welfare, one of the Christian philosophers of Conestoga, appeared in full market in the habit of a pilgrim -- his hat of linen -- his beard full, and a long staff in his hand. He declared himself sent of God to denounce vengeance against the citizens of the province without speedy repentance. The earnestness of the man, and his vehemence of action commanded much attention. This "Warning" was afterwards announced for sale at four pence. Directly afterwards appeared one Abel Noble, preaching on a Monday from the Court-house stairs, (in Second street) to a large congregation standing in Market street, on the subject of keeping the Sabbath. 1742 -- Benjamin Lay, "the singular Pythagorean, cynical, Christian philosopher", in the time of the Friends' general meeting (where he usually worshipped) stood in the market place, with a large box of his deceased wife's China, to bear his testimony against the use of tea ! There with a hammer he began to break his ware piece by piece, but the populace, unwilling to lose what might profit them, overset him, scrambled for the China, and bore it off whole ! 1744 -- "A young man from old England" appoints a day to hold a meeting in the market house; but the Mayor and Council determine it is improper, and require him to desist. In the year 1770, a number of white men confederated, under the name of black boys, to rob, plunder and destroy, were to be always secretly armed, and to rescue prisoners, &c. They were to have their faces blacked when acting. They did considerable mischief; and actually assaulted a neighbouring gaol, and rescued prisoners. An act of assembly was made respecting them, and to punish them, when taken, with death. RARE PERSONS In the year 1739 "Sheick Sidi", the Eastern prince, arrived here (the same probably spoken of in Smith's History of New Jersey) with his attendants, and is treated with great respect. `Tis said he is recommended by his Majesty to the charity of all good Christians. Sheick Shedid Althazar, Emir (or prince) of Syria, was introduced to James Logan's notice by a letter from Governor Clarke of New York, who says "he appeared to us here to be a gentleman, whatever else he might be besides. As he spoke nothing but Arabic and a little Syriac, he put me on scouring up what I had formerly gotten and forgotten of these, and we exchanged some little in writing. He was well treated, and accepted the bounty of the charitable, having received from the Meeting of Friends one hundred pistoles, but not quite so much from all others". He went from us to Barbadoes, and John Fothergill speaks of meeting him there, with approbation -- Vide his Journal. On the whole, it was certainly a very strange expedition for such a personage, and inclines one to fear he may have been some "Chevalier of Industrie" after all ! In the year 1746, the "infamous Tom Bell" is advertised in Philadelphia as having gone on board Captain Charles Dingee's vessel at New Castle as a merchant, and while there made out to steal sundry clothing, and among others the Captain's RED breeches. He says he is well known for frauds in many of the provinces, and at different times pretends to be a parson, doctor, lawyer, merchant, seaman, &c. I see him in another place advertised as being part of a gang of counterfeiters of province-bills, at their log house in New Jersey. I refer to this Tom Bell thus, because he once made such a strange figure in once personating the Rev. Mr. Rowland, and stealing a horse from the house where he had lodged in the name of said Rowland, and affecting to be going to meeting, with the horse, to preach there. See the facts in William Tennant's Life. In 1757, (March) Lord London, as general-in-chief of all his Majesty's troops in America and being in Philadelphia, is feasted by the corporation at the State-house, together with the officers of the royal Americans, sundry gentlemen strangers, &c. General Forbes is also present as commander at Philadelphia and Southward. At or about the same time Colonel Montgomery arrives with the Highlanders, and they are provided for at the new barracks in the Northern Liberties. Among the truly strange people who visited our city was "Jemima Wilkinson" a female -- winning the regard and deeply imposing on the credulity of sundry religionists. Habited partially as a man, she came preaching what she called the Last Gospel which would be preached to mankind. By her own testimony, as recorded in Buck's Theological Dictionary, she had died, and her soul had gone to heaven, where it then remained; but that "The Christ" had reanimated her dead body, whereby he had come again, for the last time, in the flesh. As it hath invariably happened, to the many bubbles of "Lo here and Lo there", which from the beginning of Church History, have arisen from its surface, "The earth hath bubbles as the water has, And these are of them." She also had her votaries, and followers; some of whom separated themselves from the closest ties nearest the heart, and went out after her into "the desert" of Goshen, state of New York, where after a term of delusion, (in the mouths of every one) and in consequence of an unexpected discovery, accidentally made by one of her most ardent votaries, the whole concern of fanaticism exploded and collapsed at once, like the balloon from whence the gas has escaped, suddenly precipitating itself to the earth. Laughter succeeded the consequent amazement, and the disconcerted followers separated immediately from her, every one their own way through "by-roads" home. Lang Syne, who had seen her in Philadelphia, describes her thus, to wit : -- One Saturday of the time she held forth in this city, seeing a crowd at the door of the meeting house, at the south-west corner of Fifth and Arch streets, a few of us, who had been just liberated from a neighbouring school, animated by the curiosity of extreme youth, and the want of deference to the opinions of others, usual at that period of life, insinuated our way into the throng, until we stood in the full view of Jemima Wilkinson, as we learned afterwards, standing up and speaking from the south end of the gallery to a staring audience. What she said, or of the subject matter, nothing is remembered; but her person, dress and manner is as palpable "to the mind's eye", as though she thus looked and spake but yesterday. As she stood there, she appeared beautifully erect, and tall for a woman, although at the same time the masculine appearance predominated; which, together with her strange habit, caused every eye to be riveted upon her. Her glossy black hair was parted evenly on her pale round forehead, and smoothed back beyond the ears, from whence it fell in profusion about her neck and shoulders, seemingly without art or contrivance -- arched black eyebrows and fierce looking black eyes, darting here and there with penetrating glances throughout the assembly, as though she read the thoughts of people; beautiful aqueline nose, handsome mouth and chin, all supported by a neck conformable to the line of beauty and proportion; that is to say, the proportion of it visible at the time, being partly hidden by her plain habit of coloured stuff, drawn closely round above the shoulders, by a drawing string knotted in front, without handkerchief or female ornament of any kind. Although in her personal appearance she exhibited nothing which could realize the idea of "A sibyl, that had numbered in the world, Of the sun's courses, two hundred compasses!" And although she spoke deliberately, not "startingly and rash", but resting with one hand on the banister before her, and using but occasional action with the other, nevertheless she seemed as one moved by that "prophetic fury" which "sewed the web", while she stood uttering words of wondrous import, with a masculine-feminine tone of voice, or kind of croak, unearthly and sepulchral. A few days afterwards, a carriage having stopped at the next door south of the Golden Swan, in north Third street, she was seen slowly to descend from it, and remain a short time stationary on the pavement, waiting, it seems, the descent of her followers, which gave to the quick assembled crowd one more opportunity to behold the person and strange habiliments of this, at the time, very extraordinary character. She was clothed as before; her worsted robe, or mantle, having the appearance of one whole piece, descending from her neck to the ground, covering her feet. Her head was surmounted by a shining black beaver hat, with a broad brim, and low flattened crown, such as worn at the time by young men, of no particular age or fashion, and (seemingly in accordance with the display of her superb hair) was placed upon her head, erect and square, showing to the best advantage the profusion of nature's ringlets, bountifully bestowed upon her, and floating elegantly about her neck and shoulders, and all the more remarkable, since the fashion of the day for ladies' head-dress consisted of frizzled hair, long wire pins, powder and pomatum. Nowadays, her beautiful Absalom curls, as then exhibited, would be considered as being from the manufactory of Daix (rue de Chestnut) from Paris : "The skull that bred them, in the sepulchre". She waited with composure and in silence the descent of her followers, with whom, when they had formed in solemn order in the rear, she entered the house. To keep out the pressing crowd, the door was suddenly clapped to, by the person who lodged them, causing the curious ones, who stood gazing after the preacher, first to look foolishly, then laughingly and sillily at one another, a few moments on the outside. The present Louis Philippe, King of France, was once in our country. In Philadelphia he lived at the north-west corner of Prune and Fourth streets, with Count de Tilly, &c., at "a Pension Fran¨aise". There was a story that he taught a school in Jersey, but that was not so; but I believe he did so in Canada. `Tis said he preserves a picture of that school of his ! He certainly made a tour from Pittsburg by the lakes, round by Niagara, (with his two brothers) and they were entertained some little time at Canandaigua, in the family of Mr. Thomas Morris there, in July 1792 or 1793. Their journey had been very rough and on horseback, and much through the Indian settlements. Mr. Egalit¸ (Orleans) was rather tall, with a dark intelligent eye and complexion -- his second brother had sandy hair -- the third and youngest was a beautiful youth, and spoke the least English. At one time the Duke lived humbly at Boston, with one Amblard, a tailor, with whom he boarded. He arrived in Philadelphia about the year 1796. His whole conduct here was devoid of pride or discontent. The times seemed to indicate a total loss of rank and fortune; yet he was cheerful and resigned; nothing, indeed, could be more unpresuming and gentlemanly than his demeanour here. Intercourse with him was frequent. He came to Philadelphia from Hamburg in the ship America, commanded by Captain Ewing. On landing, he was invited by David Coningham, Esquire, to lodge at his house in Front street, where he was visited by many gentlemen of the city, and entertained very hospitably for several weeks. Mr. Coningham, as one of the house of Coningham and Nesbitt, was consignee and owner of the ship. Not long after his arrival in Philadelphia, he was joined by his two brothers, the Dukes de Monpensier and Beaujolois. These young princes had been confined by the authorities of France in the Chateau d' If, situate on an island in the Mediterranean, opposite to Marseilles, and obtained their liberty on condition of going to America. For want of a better conveyance, they took their passage in a brig that had on board upwards of a hundred of our countrymen, just released from slavery at Algiers. They bore their exile with becoming fortitude, appearing, like their elder brother, submissive and cheerful, and were often in society. On one occasion, my informant meeting the three brothers in the street, Mr. d' Orleans (for so the elder brother was always called) told him that he had just heard that his good friend Captain Ewing, of the ship America, was at the wharf, on his return from Hamburg, and that he wished to take him by the hand, and introduce his brothers to him. He accompanied them to Ross' wharf, where the America had that moment hauled in. Captain Ewing came on shore, and was received by Mr. d' Orleans with the warmest cordiality, and presented to the brothers. This evidence of kind feeling on the part of the princes, and total absence of all pride or notion of superiority, showed that in them exalted birth and royal education were no obstacles to the adoption of our own plain republican manners. Shortly after, they travelled all three on horseback to Pittsburg. They passed out Market street, equipped as western traders then used to ride -- having a blanket over the saddle, and their saddlebags on each side. When they returned, Mr. d' Orleans hired a very humble apartment in Fourth near Prune street, where being visited by my informant, he did him the favour to trace the route he had just taken, on a map that hung in his room, and told him that they managed very well along the road; taking care of themselves at the taverns, and leaving their horses to be groomed by the only servant they had with them. "We could have done very well", said he, "without any servant, had we not been anxious about our horses." These distinguished exiles afterwards descended the Mississippi, and went to Havana, and from thence to Cadiz; and subsequently having made their peace with the brothers of Louis XVI., the present King Philippe married a princess of the reigning Bourbons of Naples. We had in Philadelphia, at the time they were here, Talleyrand, the Duke de Liancourt; Volney, De Noailles, Talon, and many others; most of whom returned to France, and played a part in the post-republican scenes of the revolutionary drama. It is worthy of remark, that the late king of England and the king of France have both been in Philadelphia. In the year 1828, there came to Philadelphia, a native prince of Timbuctoo. It being a rare circumstance to find in this country a chieftain of so mysterious a city and country, so long the "terra incognita" of modern travellers, I have been curious to preserve some token of his visit in an autograph of his pen. -- Vide page 130 of my MS. Annals, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It was done by him in Arabic, at the writing table of our late Mayor, Joseph Watson, Esq. It reads -- "Abduhl Rahaman, Prince of Timboo". Was written with ready facility, in the Arabic manner, from right to left; which was the more remarkable, as he had been for forty years out of practice, toiling with his hands as a slave at field labour at Natchez. SAMUEL KEIMER The printer, whose name so often occurs in the early history of Benjamin Franklin, appears to have been of a singular turn of mind. In 1728 he started the Pennsylvania Gazette in opposition to Bradford's Weekly Mercury. It was announced in strange braggart style, and in one year failed of its object -- success, and thence fell into the hands of Franklin, who conducted it to advantage many years -- poor Keimer in the mean time getting into a prison. In the year 1723, came out a paper from the Friends' Monthly Meeting, setting forth that Samuel Keimer, who had then lately arrived, had printed divers papers, particularly one styled "The Parable", wherein he assumes the style and language of Friends : wherefore they certify that he is not of their society, nor countenanced by them. This was rather an awkward introduction for one so sedulous to make his debut to his personal advantage. In the year 1734, he appears to have secured his establishment as a publisher and printer at Barbadoes. In his poetic appeal to his patrons, he gives some facts respecting the then compensation of American colonial printers, which may elucidate the reward of type setters then - to wit : "What a pity it is that some modern bravadoes, Who dub themselves gentlemen here in Barbadoes, Should time after time run in debt to their printer, And care not to pay him in summer or winter ! In Penn's wooden country Type feels no disaster -- The printers grow rich -- one is made their postmaster," &c. In further pursuing the subject, he shows that old William Bradford of New York, has £60 a year from the king. In Maryland and Virginia, each province allows £200 a year; for he adds, "by law he is paid 50,000 weight country produce" -- meaning tobacco. "But alas ! your poor Type prints no figure like `nullo' Cursed, cheated, abused by each pitiful fellow --- Tho' working like slave, with zeal and true courage, He can scarce get as yet even salt to his porridge !" His paper, however, continued, and must have produced some good articles, as I remember to have seen, in the Stenton Library, a London edition, 8vo. in 2 vols., of Extracts from it. VIRGIL and WIFE These were black people, whose surname was Warder. They had been house servants to the Penn family, and because of their long service, were provided for by them, living in the kitchen part of the house at Springetsbury. Virgil was born in 1713, and was very old when he died. He was purchased by Thomas Penn of J. Warder, of Bucks county, in 1733, when he was twenty years of age. His wife died in 1782, and there is something concerning both of them to be seen published in Bradford's Gazette of that time. The aged Timothy Matlack told me he remembered talking with Virgil often about the year 1745, and that he was then gray-headed, but very active. When Matlack saw him there he was under charge of James Alexander, the gardener. Near there he remembered a spring, which on one occasion was made into grog, to please the whim of some sailors. THE CLAYPOLE FAMILY Miss Claypole, when about seventy-five years of age, whom I saw at T. Matlack's, Esq., told me she was a direct descendent of Oliver Cromwell's daughter, who married Lord General Claypole. Her ancestor in this country came out with Penn, and is often mentioned among the earliest officers in the government. His name was James Claypole -- was a merchant, a partner in the Free Traders' Company, and a public character in Friends' Meeting. I once saw the certificates for himself and three daughters from Friends' Meeting at Bull and Mouth, England. He passed his first winter in a cave in the bank of Front street, with his family and servants. In the spring following, he built his house, the same afterwards known as the Rattle Snake Inn, No. 37 Walnut street, north side, a few doors east of Second street. It was a double two-story brick house, had four leaden framed windows in front, and the same in the rear. The late Miss Claypole was born in that house, and her grandmother, Deborah Claypole, told her that when that house was built, their dogs used to go up to the woods, at and about the Second street court house, (built in 1707) and there catch rabbits and bring them home. Their house had a beautiful south exposure, down a descending green bank into the pleasant Dock creek. The late Mrs. Logan possessed a lively recollection of this Deborah Claypole; she was the wife of George Claypole, and daughter of Abraham Hardiman. She lived to be upwards of ninety years of age, had told Mrs. L. of the original arborescent state of Market street, &c. Her history was remarkable for having buried her husband and five children in the course of a few weeks, of the very mortal smallpox of the year 1730. Mrs. Logan said, it was well understood that her husband, George Claypole, was descended from the protector, Oliver Cromwell. Dr. Franklin, too, has said something; he has said she had one child which survived the mortality, but as that also died, she was left a lone widow. There is, however, another branch of the family name still among us in Philadelphia. I perceive by William Penn's letter of 1684, to his steward, J. H., that he thus speaks of James Claypole, whom he had made register, to wit: "Tell me how he does; watch over him, his wife and family" &c. Penn also speaks of sending to his lot near the creek for red gravel, to form his garden walks at Pennsbury, if they found none nearer. HANNAH GRIFFETHS A maiden lady of the Society of Friends, died in 1817, at the advanced age of ninety-one years -- born and bred in Philadelphia -- was a very fine poetess. She wrote only fugitive pieces. I have seen several in MS., in the possession of her cousin, Mrs. Deborah Logan. Her satires were very keen and spirited; she was a very humane and pious woman. Had she written for fame, and made her productions public, she might have been allured to write more. She wrote a keen satire on the celebrated Meschianza; she was a grandaughter of Isaac Norris, and a great grandaughter of Thomas Lloyd. The goodness of her heart was very great, her wit lively and ever ready, and her talents of a high order; but her modesty and aversion to display always caused her to seek the shade. THE FRENCH NEUTRALS Were numerous French families transported from Acadia, in Nova Scotia, and distributed in the colonies, as a measure of state policy, the readier to make the new population there of English character and loyalty. The American general, who had orders to execute it, deemed it an unfeeling and rigorous command. These poor people became completely dispirited; they used to weep over the story of their wrongs, and described the comfortable settlements and farms from which they had been dragged, with very bitter regret. The humane and pious Anthony Benezet was their kind friend, and did whatever he could to ameliorate their situation. He educated many of their daughters. His charities to them were constant and unremitting. For further particulars of this cruel business of the removal of these poor, inoffensive people, see Walsh's Appeal, Part I., p.88. The part which came to Philadelphia were provided with quarters in a long range of one-story wooden houses, built on the north side of Pine street, and extending from Fifth to Sixth street. Mr. Samuel Powell, the owner, who originally bought the whole square for £50, permitted the houses to be tenanted rent free, after the neutrals left them. As he never made any repairs, they fell into ruins about sixty years ago. The last of them remembered, at the corner of Sixth street, got overturned by a pair of timber wheels. At one time mean plays were shown in them, such as Mr. Punch exhibits. Those neutrals remained there several years, showing very little disposition to amalgamate and settle with our society, or attempting any good for themselves. They made a French town in the midst of our society, and were content to live spiritless and poor. Finally, they made themselves burdensome; so that the authorities, to awaken them to more sensibility, determined in the year 1757, to have their children bound out by the overseers of the poor, alleging, as their reason, that the parents had lived long enough at the public expense. It soon after occurred that they all went off in a body, to the banks of the Mississippi, near New Orleans, where their descendants may be still found, under the general name of Acadians, an easy, gentle, happy, but lowly people. LIEUTENANT BRULUMAN Of the British American army, a Philadelphian by birth, was executed at Philadelphia in the year 1760, for the murder of Mr. Scull. The case was a strange one, and excited great interest at the time. The Lieutenant had gotten a wish to die, and instead of helping himself "with a bare bodkin", he coveted to have it done by another, and therefore hit upon the expedient of killing some one. He sallied forth with his gun, to take the first good subject he should fancy; he met Doctor Cadwallader, (grandfather of the late General C.) and intended him as his victim; but the doctor, who had remarkably courteous manners, saluted him so gently and kindly as he drew near, that his will was subdued, and he, pursuing his way out High street, came to the bowling green at the Centre Square -- there he saw Scull playing; and as he and his company were about to retire into the inn to play billiards, he deliberately took his aim and killed him; he then calmly gave himself up, with the explanation above expressed. Some persons have since thought he might have been acquitted in the present day, as a case of mona insanity. COLONEL FRANK RICHARDSON Was a person of great personal beauty and address, born of Quaker parentage at Chester. As he grew up, and mixed with the British officers in Philadelphia, he acquired a passion for their profession -- went to London, got a commission, and became at length a Colonel of the king's life guards. This was about the year 1770. SUSANNA WRIGHT Was usually called a "celebrated" or an "extraordinary" woman in her "day and generation". She was a woman of rare endowment of mind -- had a fine genius, and a virtuous and excellent heart. She made herself honoured and beloved wherever she went, or her communications were known. She came with her parents from England when she was about 17 years of age; they settled some time at Chester, much beloved, and then removed up to Wright's Ferry, now Columbia, on the Susquehanna, in the year 1726. At that time the country was all a forest, and the Indians all around them as neighbours; so that the family were all there in the midst of the alarm of the Indian massacre by the Paxtang boys. She wrote poetry with a ready facility; her epistolary correspondence was very superior. She was indeed the most literary lady of the province, without sacrificing a single domestic duty to its pursuit. Her nursery of silkworms surpassed all others, and at one time she had 60 yards of silk mantua of her own production. DAVID DOVE Came to this country in 1758-9. He became a teacher of the languages in the Academy. He was made chiefly conspicuous for the part he took in the politics of the day, and by the caustic and satirical poetry he wrote to traduce his political enemies. Although he never obtained and perhaps never sought any office himself, yet he seemed only in his best element when active in the commotions around him; he promoted the caricatures, and wrote some of the poetry for them, which were published in his time, and was himself caricatured in turn. The late Judge R. Peters, who had been his Latin pupil, said of him, "he was a sarcastical and ill-tempered doggereliser, and was called `Dove' ironically -- for his temper was that of a hawk, and his pen was the beak of a falcon pouncing on innocent prey". At one time he opened a private academy in Germantown -- in the house now Chancellor's, and there used a rare manner in sending for truant boys, by a committee who carried a lighted lantern -- a sad exposure for a juvenile culprit ! JOSEPH GALLOWAY Was a lawyer of talents and wealth, of Philadelphia, a speaker of the Assembly, who took the royal side in the Revolution -- joined the British when in Philadelphia, and became the general superintendent of the city under their sanction. He was at first favourable to some show of resistance, but never to independence or arms. His estates became confiscate; he joined the British at New York, became secretary to the commander-in-chief, and finally settled in London. There he wrote and published against his patron, Sir William Howe, as having lost the conquest of our country by his love of entertainment and pleasure, rather than the sturdy self-denial of arms. Galloway owned and dwelt in the house now the Schuylkill Bank, at the south-east corner of High and Sixth streets. He had an only daughter, whom he found about to elope with a gentleman, afterwards Judge Griffen, whom, for that reason, he shot at in his own house. THE REV. MORGAN EDWARDS Minister to the First Baptist church, arrived in this country in the year 1758. In 1770, he published a history of the Baptists of Pennsylvania -- a work which is made curiously instructive as history, because it is chiefly limited to their proper civil history, their first settlements in various parts of the country. On these points it contains facts to be found nowhere else. His book embraces notices of all those Germans, &c., who use adult baptism as essential parts of their system. He thus gives the history of George Keith's schism -- an account of the Tunkers and Mennonists, &c. The same gentleman became himself a curiosity of our city, President Smith, of Princeton college, has noticed the aberrations of his mind in his Nassau Lectures. Edwards was persuaded he was foretold the precise time of his death. He announced it from his pulpit, and took a solemn leave of all his people. His general sanity and correct mental deportment created a great confidence in very many people. At the time his house was crowded -- all on tiptoe of expectation; every moment watched. He himself breathed with great concern and anxiety, thinking each action of his lungs his last; but a good constitution surmounted the power of his imagination, and he could not die ! Could a better subject be devised for the exercise of the painter's skill, as a work, showing the strongest workings of the human mind, both in the sufferer and in the beholders -- properly forming two pictures : -- the first that of anxious credulity in all; and the latter, their disappointment and mortificaton ! He lived twenty years afterwards; and the delusion made him so unpopular that he withdrew into the country. A good lesson to those who lean to supposed divine impressions, without the balance of right reason, and the written testimony of revelation. DUSIMITIERE Was a collector of the scraps and fragments of our history. He was a Swiss-French gentleman, who wrote and spoke our language readily, and being without family, and his mind turned to the curiosities of literature and the facts of natural history, he spent much time in forming collections. He has left five volumes quarto, in the City Library, of his curious MSS, and rare fugitive printed papers. To be properly explored and usefully improved would require a mind as peculiar as his own. As he advanced in life he became more needy, and occupied himself, when he could, in drawing portraits and pictures in water colours. He lived in Philadelphia before and about the time of the Revolution; and before that in New York and the West Indies. I have preserved an autograph letter of his in my MS. Annals in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p.306, of the year 1766. There is not much in his books respecting Pennsylvania, being only about half of one of his volumes. He has about fifty pages concerning the revolt of the Pennsylvania line, and most of the papers are original. Bound up in his book are autographs of distinguished personages -- such as Hume, Smollet, Gray, &c. His first volume is about the West India Islands, with drawings neatly executed; sometimes he gives caricatures. He gives letters respecting the change of the post office from British to colonial, and how Mr. Goddard travelled as agent to collect subscriptions. [An account of the original post office may be gathered from Douglass.] There is also a strange account called "Life and character of a strange he-monster lately arrived in London from America" -- intended probably to satirize one of our public functionaries. There are also minutes of the Congress convention -- some intercepted letters -- a brief account of Pennsylvania, by Lewis Evans -- a deed from under the Duke of York to the Swensons of Philadelphia. His whole collections, on the whole, may be deemed the curious gleanings of a curious mind, and among some rubbish may be found, some day, some useful ad unexpected elucidations of difficult points in our history. ROBERT PROUD I ought to feel and express respect for a fellow annalist who has preceded me. I felt a natural desire to become acquainted with the personal history of a gentleman and scholar, who gave so much of his time to seeking out the early history of our state. Without his diligence and procurement, much that we now know must have been lost. He was born in Yorkshire, England, the 10th of May, 1728. His father was a farmer, who rented an old mansion house and a large farm, called Wood End, from the Talbot family. He received his education under a Mr. David Hall, a man well versed in the languages, and with whom he maintained for many years "a friendly and agreeable correspondence". "In his young days (he says) he had a strong inclination for learning, virtue and true wisdom, before or in preference to all mere worldly considerations". Thus expressing, as I understand him, a lively religious sense, at this early age, of what "the true riches" consisted. Wherefore, says he, "I afterwards rejected on that account those things, when I had it in my power to have appeared in a much superior character and station in the world, than I am since known to be in". About the year 1750 he went to London, and became an inmate and preceptor in the families of Sylvanus and Timothy Bevan -- gentlemen, of the Society of Friends, of fortune, and the former distinguished for his skill in carving (as a skilful amateur) the only likeness from which we have the busts of Penn, the founder. While with this family, and from his intimacy with Doctor Fothergill, (his kinsman) he turned his leisure time to the study of medicine, in which he made much proficiency; but to which, as he said, he took afterwards strong disgust, from its opening to him "a very glaring view of the chief causes of those diseases (not to say vices) which occasioned the greatest emoluments to the profession of medicine". There was something in his mind of moody melancholy against the world, for he did not like "the hurry of much employment, or the crowds of large cities" and as to money, so useful to all, he deemed the aim at riches "as the most despicable of worldly objects". He was therefore soon ripe to put in practice his project of seeking fewer friends, and more retirement in the American wilds. He therefore came, in 1759, among us, and lived long enough and needy enough to see that a better provision for his comforts would not have diminished any of his religious enjoyments. Samuel Preston, Esq., an aged gentleman lately living, said disappointed love was the moving cause of R. Proud's demurs to the commonly received affections to life, that he had told him as much as that "the wind had always blown in his face, that he was mortified in love in England, and frustrated in some projects of business here" -- ills enough, with the lasting loss of a desired mate, to make "earth's bright hopes" look dreary to him. In 1761, he became teacher of the Greek and Latin languages in the Friend's academy. There he continued till the time of our Revolution, when he entered into an unfortunate concern with his brother, losing, as he said, "by the confusion and the iniquities of the times". The non-success was imputable to his high tory feelings not permitting him to deal in any way to avail himself of the chances of the times. At the time of the peace he again resumed his school. Besides the Latin and Greek which he taught, he had considerable acquaintance with the French and the Hebrew. He relinquished his duties as a teacher in 1790 or `91, and lived very retired in the family of Samuel Clark, till the year 1813, when he died at the age of 86 years. He had turned his mind to the collection of some facts of our history before our Revolution, but it was only on his resignation of his school, in 1790-1, that he fully devoted his mind, at the request of some Friends, to the accomplishment of his task, which he ushered into the world, in 1797-8, deeming it, as he said, "a laborious and important work". In a pecuniary point of view, this, like his other projects, was also a failure. It realized no profits. I quote from his biographer (C.V. Thomson) thus, to wit : Of his history -- "as a succinct collection of historical facts, it undoubtedly deserves the most respectful attention; but its style is too dry, and its diction too inelegant ever to render it a classical work. It is exactly that stately old-fashioned article, that its author himself was". Feelingly I can appreciate his further remark, when he adds, "He who has never undertaken so arduous a task, knows little of the persevering patience it requires to thus go before and gather up the segrated materials, or to sort, select and arrange the scattered fragments of broken facts, the body and essence of such a composition". "He was in person tall -- his nose of the Roman order, and overhung with most impending brows -- his head covered with a curled gray wig, and surmounted with the half-cocked patriarchal hat, and in his hand a long ivory-headed cane. He possessed gentleness and kindness of manner in society, and in his school he was mild, commanding and affectionate." I am indebted to J.P. Norris, Esq., one of his executors, and once one of his pupils, for access to several of his private papers, which will help to a better illustration of his character. He says in his written memoranda -- "Before and after this time, (1790) I was frequently in a very infirm state of health, notwithstanding which I revised and published my History of Pennsylvania, though imperfect and deficient; the necessary and authentic materials being very defective, and my declining health not permitting me to finish it entirely to my mind, and I had reason to apprehend, if it was not then published, nothing of the kind so complete, even with all its defects, would be likely to be published at all; and which publication, though the best extant of the kind, as a true and faithful record, was not patronised as I expected, not even by the offspring and lineal successors of the first and early settlers, and for whose sake it was particularly undertaken by me -- to my great loss and disappointment. A performance intended both for public and private information and benefit, and to prevent future publishing and farther spreading false accounts or misrepresentations. My former friends and acquaintance, (except some of my quondam pupils) being nearly gone, removed, or deceased, and their successors become more and more strangers, unacquainted with and alien to me, renders my final removal or departure from my present state of existence so much the more welcome and desirable -- Taught half by reason, half by mere decay, To welcome death, and calmly pass away. "For which I am now waiting, and thus according to the words of the aged person, I may say, `Few and evil have been the years of my life', yet in part according to my desire, I seem not to have so much anxiety and concern about the conclusion and consequence thereof, as I have had at times for the propriety of my future conduct, and advancement in the way of truth and righteousness in said state, so as to insure the continued favour of a sensible enjoyment of the divine presence and preservation while here, in order for a happy futurity and eternal life." In publishing his History of Pennsylvania, he was aided by several of his former pupils, who, under the name of a loan, advanced a sum sufficient for the purpose. He left a number of MSS., principally poetry, of which he was fond; and being what was called a tory, allusions are often made in many of them to the conduct of the colonists, which are pretty severe. I add one or two as a specimen, though his translation of Makin's Latin poems may give a pretty good idea of what was his talent. Well versed in the Latin and Greek languages, and with the authors who wrote in them, reading and translating parts of them was his solace and comfort in the evening of life. He suffered much in his circumstances by the paper money, especially by that issued by the provincial government prior to the Revolution, and as he had no doubt of the issue of the contest, he thought Great Britain would make it all good, and therefore retained it in his hands, till it became worse than nothing. In fact, he was never calculated for the storms and turmoil of life, but rather for the retirement of the academic grove, in converse with Plato, Seneca, Socrates, and other ancient worthies. He died in 1813, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He left nine of his former pupils his excecutors, viz.: O. Jones, Mier Fisher, Dr. Parke, J.P. Norris, B.R. Morgan, Dr. James, Joshua Ash, Joseph Sansom, and J.E. Cresson; all of whom renounced but B.R. Morgan, Esq., and J.P. Norris, who at the request of the others undertook the office. None of Proud's name or family remain among us. He died a bachelor, and as he called himself, "a decayed gentleman". He was full six feet high -- rather slender. In winter he wore a drab cloak, which gave to his personal appearance the similitude of one in West's Indian treaty picture. His brother, who was once here, a single man, went back to England. I here add two specimens of his poetry, which also show his tory feelings, vexed with the ardour of the times, to wit : FORBIDDEN FRUIT The source of human misery -- A reflection. Philadelphia, 1775. Forbidden fruit's in every state The source of human wo; Forbidden fruit our fathers ate And sadly found it so. Forbidden fruit's rebellion's cause, In every sense and time; Forbidden fruit's the fatal growth Of ev'ry age and clime. Forbidden fruit's New England's choice She claims it as her due; Forbidden fruit, with heart and voice, The colonies pursue. Forbidden fruit our parents chose Instead of life and peace; Forbidden fruit to be the choice Of men will never cease. THE CONTRAST ("Refused a place in the newspaper, Philadelphia, 1775 -- the printer not daring to insert it at that time of much boasted liberty") No greater bliss doth God on man bestow, Than sacred peace; from which all blessings flow : In peace the city reaps the merchants gains, In peace flows plenty from the rural plains; In peace through foreign lands the stranger may Fearless and safely travel on his way. No greater curse invades the world below, Than civil war, the source of ev'ry wo In war the city wastes in dire distress; In war the rural plains, a wilderness; In war, the road, the city and the plain Are scenes of wo, of blood and dying men. `Nulla salus bello.' --- Virg. I also add a little of his poetry concerning his age and country, the autographs of which may be seen, by the curious, on page 346 of my MS. Annals, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, to wit : Now seventy-seven years at last Of my declining life are past; Painful and weak my body's grown, My flesh is wasted to the bone. As ev'ry other thing we see, Which hath beginning, so must we Dissolve into the state we were Before our present being here; From which 'tis plain to ev'ry eye, Men die to live, and live to die. ______________ "Ubi amicus, ibi patria." MARTIAL Where my friend is, there is my country. You ask me when I shall again My country see, my native plain ? Tis not alone the soil nor air, Where I was born, I most prefer; Among my friends, where'er I come, There is my country, there my home. CHARLES THOMSON This venerable, pious and meritorious public servant, whose name is associated with all the leading measures of the war of Independence, came from Ireland to this country in his boyhood, at only ten years of age. His father was a respectable man, a widower, emigrating to this country, but was so preyed upon by sickness at sea, as to die when just within sight of our capes. There young Thomson and his brother had to endure the appalling sight of seeing their honoured parent cast into the deep -- a prey to voracious fishes, and themselves, as orphans, exposed to the neglect or wiles of man. The captain, in the opinion of the lads, was unfaithful, and took possession of their father's property to their exclusion. They were landed at Newcastle, among strangers; but for a time were placed by the captain with the family of a blacksmith. There Charles Thomson greatly endeared himself to the family -- so much so, that they thought of getting him bound to them, and to be brought up to the trade. [He went to the forge and made a nail so well himself, after once seeing it done, that they augured favourably of his future ingenuity.] He chanced to overhear them speaking on this design one night, and determining from the vigour of his mind, that he should devote himself to better business, he arose in the night and made his escape with his little all packed upon his back. As he trudged this road, not knowing whither he went, it was his chance or providence in the case, to be overtaken by a travelling lady of the neighbourhood, who, entering into conversation with him, asked him "what he would like to be in future life". He promptly answered, he should like to be a scholar, or to gain his support by his mind and pen. This so much pleased her that she took him home and placed him at school. He was afterwards, as I have understood, aided in his education by his brother, who was older than himself. Through him he was educated by that classical scholar, the Rev. Dr. Allison, who taught at Thunder hill. Grateful for the help of his brother, he in after life rewarded the favour by making him the gift of a farm not far from Newcastle. The son of that brother, (a very gentlemanly man) my friend and correspondent, John Thomson, Esq., now dwells at Newark, in Delaware, and has possession of all the MSS. of his uncle, Charles Thomson. With him dwells Charles Thomson's sister, an ancient maiden lady, who came out to this country some years ago. Charles Thomson himself, although many years married, never had any children to live. Charles Thomson in early life became one of the early teachers of the languages in the academy; as much to serve the cause of literature, to which he was solicited by Dr. Franklin, as for his personal gain. Later in life he entered into business of the mercantile nature, and was at one time concerned in the Batsto furnace -- still retaining his residence at Philadelphia. He told me that he was first induced to study Greek from having bought a part of the Septuagint at an auction in this city. He bought it for a mere trifle, and without knowing what it was, save that the crier said it was outlandish letters. When he had mastered it enough to understand it, his anxiety became great to see the whole; but he could find no copy. Strange to tell -- in the interval of two years, passing the same store, and chancing to look in, he then saw the remainder actually crying off for a few pence, and he bought it ! I used to tell him that the translation which he afterwards made should have had these facts set to the front of that work as a preface; for that great work, the first of the kind in the English language, strangely enough, was ushered into the world without any preface ! {Note : Septuagint = a Greek version of the Jewish Scriptures redacted in the 3d and 2d centuries B.C. by Jewish scholars and adopted by Greek-speaking Christians.} When Charles Thomson first saw Philadelphia, the whole of the ground between the house, afterwards his, at the corner of Spruce and Fourth streets, and the river, was all open and covered with whortleberry bushes, and much of it of a miry soil towards the Little Dock creek and river shore. His appointment as Secretary to Congress was singular. He had lately married Miss Harrison, who inherited the estate of Harriton where he afterwards lived and died. Coming with her to Philadelphia, he had scarcely alighted from his carriage when a message came to him from the President of Congress -- when first in session, in 1774 -- to say he wished to see him immediately. He went forthwith, not conceiving what could be purposed, and was told he was wished to take their minutes. He set to it for a temporary affair; but in fact became their Secretary thereby for several years ! As no compensation was received for that first service, the Congress presented him with a silver urn (still in the family) inscribed as their gift; and as a compliment to his lady, whom they had so divested of his attentions, she was asked by the committee to say what vessel it should be, and she chose an urn. He was after the peace much urged to write a history of the Revolution, and after the year 1789, when he first settled at Harriton, actually gathered many curious and valuable papers, and wrote many pages of the work; but at length, as his nephew told me, he resolved to destroy the whole, giving as his chief reason, that he was unwilling to blast the reputation of families rising into repute, whose progenitors must have had a bad character in such a work. A letter from John Jay, which I saw, stimulated him to execute it "as the best qualified man in the country". Many facts concerning Mr. Thomson and his measures in the period of the Revolution will be found connected with my facts under that article, and therefore not to be usefuly repeated here. Mr. Thomson was made an adopted son in the Delaware tribe at the treaty at Easton, 1756. He had been invited by sundry Friends, members of the Peace Association, to attend for them, and take minutes in short hand. It was the proper business of the secretary of the Governor, the Rev. Mr. Peters; but his minutes were so often disputed in the reading of them by the Indian Chief Tedeuscund, that Mr. Thomson's in official minutes were called for, and they, in the opinion of the Indians, were true. From their respect to this fact, they forthwith solemnly adopted him into their family, under the appropriate name of "the man who tells the truth", in Indian sounds thus, to wit: "Wegh-wu--law-mo-end". It is not a little curious that this name, in substance, became his usual appellation during the war of the Revolution, for as secretary of Congress, credence was given to his official reports, which always where looked for to settle doubtful news and flying reports, saying on such occasions, "Here comes the truth; here is Charles Thomson !" He related an incident of his life to Mrs. Logan, which strongly marked the integrity of his feelings. When young he became an inmate in the house of David I. Dove, the doggerel satirist, whom he soon found, as well as his wife, addicted to the most unpitying scandal; this was altogether irksome to his honest nature. Wishing to leave them, and still dreading their reproach when he should be gone, he hit upon an expedient to exempt himself : he gravely asked them one evening if his behaviour, since he had been their boarder had been satisfactory to them ? They readily answered, "O yes", Would you then be willing to give me a certificate to that effect? "O certainly" was the reply. A certificate was given, and the next day he parted from them in peace. Charles Thomson, was favoured by Divine Providence with a long and peaceful life -- as if in reward for his generous services for his country, as the honoured instrument for translating the Scriptures, and for his exalted love of truth. He was indeed the Caleb of the war of the Revolution; and while he prolonged his life, he might exclaim like the spy of Israel -- as he sometimes did -- "As yet I am strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, even so is my strength now -- both to go out and to come in!" In April 1824, I visited Charles Thomson, then in his 95th year. I found him still the erect, tall man he had ever been; his countenance very little changed, but his mental faculties in ruins. He could not remember me although formerly an occasional visiter. He appeared cheerful, and with many smiles expressed thankfulness for the usual expressions of kindness extended to him. He was then under the surveillance of his nephew, John Thomson, who, with his family, lived on the Harriton farm, and managed its concerns. Charles Thomson passed the most of his time reposing and slumbering on a settee in the common parlour. A circumstance occurred at the dinner table, at the head of which he was usually placed, which sufficiently marked the aberration of his mind, even while it showed that "his very failings leaned to virtue's side". While the grace was saying by a clergyman present, he began in an elevated and audible voice to say the Lord's prayer, and he did not desist nor regard the other, although his grace was also saying at the same time! It was remarkable that his prayer was all said in the words of his own translation, and with entire correctness. He made no remarks at the table and ate without discrimination whatever was set before him. In his room I observed, besides the silver urn before mentioned, a portrait of himself and second wife, Miss Harrison -- a colossal bust of J. P. Jones, the celebrated naval commander, a small man -- a large print of William Tell, and an engraved likeness of the Count de Vergennes, and of C. J. Fox. He employed many years of his life in making his translation of the Septuagint; nor could he be drawn from it into public life, although solicited by the letters of Washington himself, which I have seen. He looked to be useful; and he deemed, as he said, that he had a call of Providence to that pursuit. He improved it with most sedulous anxiety and care for its perfection -- writing it over and over again six or seven times. His original printed Septuagint has been given to the Theological Library at Allegheny College, since his death. Some others of his relics are in my possession; and the chief of them are with is nephew, at Newark, Delaware. He died the 16th of August 1824, in the 95th year of his age, and was interred in the private burial ground on the Harriton farm. In the year 1838, however, his remains were exhumed at the instance of his nephew, and conveyed to the Laurel Hill Cemetery, both as an honour to that place, and as a duty due to the honoured individual himself. The monument is in the form of Cleopatra's needle -- 16 feet in height, and placed in a conspicuous position on the river side. It bears an inscription which I was honoured to compose, and which was formed for four divisions, to be placed severally on the four sides of the basement, but owing to the spalling of the granite it could not be so engraved, and was therefore set on a side marble slab in one entire inscription, thus: --- This monument Covers the remains of the Honourable Charles Thomson, The first, and long The confidential Secretary of the Continental Congress, And the Enlightened benefactor of his country In its day of peril and need. Born Nov., 1729 Died Aug. 16, 1824 Full of honours and of years __________ As a Patriot His memorial and just honours Are inscribed on the pages Of his country's history _________ As a Christian, His piety was sincere and enduring, His Biblical learning was profound, As is shown by his translation of the Septuagint. As a man He was honoured, loved and wept. __________ Erected To the memory of an honoured Uncle and Benefactor, By his nephew, John Thomson of Delaware Hic jacet Homo veritatis et grati¾. I give the following lines of poetry, as marking the feelings which the visit to such a man inspired. "In his commendation I am fed." There one I saw Who in this wilderness had trod, till life Retreated from the bloodless veins, and made Faint stand at her last fortress. His wan brow Was lightly furrow'd, and his lofty form Unbent by time, while dignified, erect, And passionless, he made his narrow round From couch to casement, and his eye beheld This world of shadowy things unmoved, as one Who was about to cast his vesture off In weariness to sleep. Sly memory slipt Her treacherous cable from the reeling mind Blotting the chart whereon it loved to gaze Amid the sea of years. His course had been On those high places, where the dazzling ray Of honour shines; and when men's soul's were tried, As in a furnace, his came forth like gold. To his dull ear I spake the message of a friend who walked With him in glory's path, and nobly shared That fellowship in danger and in toil Which knits pure souls together. But the name Restored no image of the cherish'd form So long beloved. I should have said farewell, And, with a seerlike majesty, poured forth His holy adjuration to the God Who o'er life's broken wave had borne his bark Safe toward the haven. Deep that thrilling prayer Sank down into my bosom, like a spring Of comfort and of joy. DEBORAH LOGAN I cannot presume to offer, in this place, any thing like a biographical notice of this eminent lady, who did me the honour to be my steadfast friend, and to whom I was so usefully indebted for many facts of the olden times; but it seems not wholly out of place to set her name in close connexion with her much esteemed cousin, Charles Thomson, the name preceding; besides, Mrs. Logan was a diligent and judicious compiler of historical events of Pennsylvania and had received, as she deserved, the appellation of "the female historian of the colonial times". How I valued and appreciated her character and memory may be here expressed in the obituary which I published at the time of her lamented decease, on the 2d February 1839, in the 78th year of her age -- to wit : "Mrs. Deborah Logan, the refined, the enlightened and the good, now sleeps in death ! She died at the family seat, in Stenton, near Germantown, on the 2d instant, in the 78th year of her age. "It is not often that a person descends to the tomb, leaving so wide, so deep a void. Matured and fitted as she was for eternity, she is, nevertheless, painfully missed from the circle which she adorned : a general gloom affects and saddens her numerous friends. "All ranks and classes among us know something of her peculiar excellence -- the poor and the ignorant, as well as the cultivated and refined. Her manners possessed a peculiarly winning grace and ease -- strongly expressive of benevolence and polished politeness combined. Her ability to adapt herself to all circumstances, and to all and every occasion of life, shone in her actions with all the grace and purity of Christian love and gentleness, for she was deeply imbued with Christian affections and graces. "To love such a lovely woman was instinctive in all who approached her -- she was the delight of the young, and the beloved of the aged. Rarely indeed does it fall to the lot of humanity, in old age, to possess so many points of attraction, so many traits of loveliness and goodness, worthy to be admired in life, and fondly remembered in death. "That she was of a superior order of female excellence and intelligence, may be inferred from her fine talent as a composuist, both in prose and verse. Her modesty and unwillingness to meet the public gaze did not allow her to come before the world in her proper name; but it is known to some that she has received the emphatic name of "the female historian of Pennsylvania", as due to her for the large manuscript collections of historical papers which she had compiled and elucidated for future public instruction. She delighted to live in the memory of the past, and her mind was therefore rich in imagery of other times -- "You might have asked her, and she could have told How, step by step, her native place threw off Its rude colonial vestments, for the garb That cities wear. And she could give recitals of a race Now rooted up and perished. Many a date And legend, slumbers in that ample breast, Which History coveted." EDWARD DUFFIELD Was a very respectable inhabitant of Philadelphia -- very intelligent as a reading man; and as a watch and clock maker, at the head of his profession in the city. He was the particular friend, and finally, executor of Dr. Franklin. He made the first medals ever executed in the province -- such as the destruction of the Indians at Kittataning in 1756, by Colonel Armstrong, &c. When he kept his shop at the north-west corner of Second and Arch streets, he used to be so annoyed by frequent applications of passing persons to inquire the time of day -- for in early days only the gentry carried watches -- that he hit upon the expedient of making a clock with a double face, so as to show north and south at once; and projecting this out from the second story, it became the first standard of the town. That same olden clock is the same now in use at the lower Dublin academy; near to which place his son Edward now lives. He is a curious preserver of the relics of his father's day. LINDLEY MURRAY So celebrated for his English Grammar and other elementary works on English education, was a Pennsylvanian by birth -- born in the year 1745, and died at York, in England, in 1826. He was the eldest son of Robert Murray, who established in New York the mercantile houses of Robert and John Murray, and of Murray and Sansom -- houses of eminence in their day. Lindlay Murray studied law in New York, in the same office with John Jay. He afterwards went into mercantile business there, but on account of his declining health, said to have been occasioned by a strain in springing across Burling's slip -- a great distance -- he went to England and settled at York, at the place called Holdgate, where he died, full of years and in love with God and man. His mother, who was Mary Lindley, was also born in Philadelphia -- was the same lady who so ingeniously and patriotically entertained General Howe and his staff at her mansion after their landing at Kip's bay, near New York -- thus giving to General Putnam, who would otherwise have been caught in New York, the chance of getting off with his command of 3000 men and their stores. The fact is admitted by Stedman, in his History of the War -- himself a British officer and a native of Philadelphia. BENJAMIN WEST Our distinguished countryman from Chester county, when he was yet a lad without reputation, boarded, when in Philadelphia, at a house (now down) in Strawberry alley. To indulge his favourite passion for the pencil, he painted in that house while there, two pictures upon the two large cedar panels -- usual in old houses -- over the mantel-pieces. One of them was a sea piece. There they remained, smoked and neglected, until the year 1825, when Thomas Rogers, the proprietor, had them taken out and cleaned and they since have been given to the hospital, to show by way of contrast, his finished production of Christ healing the sick. Samuel R. Wood told me that Benjamin West bid him to seek out and preserve those early efforts of his mind. WILLIAM RUSH Few citizens of Philadelphia are more deserving of commendation for their excellence in their profession than this gentleman, as a ship carver. In his skill in his art he surpasses any other American, and probably any other ship carver in the world ! He gives more grace and character to his figures than are to be found in any other wooden designs. He ought to have been encouraged to leave specimens of his best skill for posterity, by receiving an order to that effect from some of the learned societies. I have heard him say his genius would be most displayed in carving the three great divisions of the human face -- the negro, the American Indian, and the white man. The contour or profile of these run diametrically opposite; because the features of a white man, which stand in relief, all proceed from a perfect perpendicular line, thus l . A negro's has a projecting forehead and lips, precisely the reverse of those of the Indian, thus ( ; but an Indian's thus >. I made it my business to become acquainted with Mr. Rush, because I have admired his remarkable talents. He was born in Philadelphia; his father was a ship carpenter. From his youth he was fond of ships, and used, when a boy, to pass his time in the garret in cutting out ships from blocks of wood, and to exercise himself in drawing figures in chalk and paints. When of a proper age he followed his inclination in engaging his term of apprenticeship with Edward Cutbush, from London, the then best carver of his day. He was a man of spirited execution, but inharmonious proportions. Walking attitudes were then unknown; but all rested astride the cutwater. When Rush first saw, on a foreign vessel, a walking figure, he instantly conceived the design of more tasteful and graceful figures than had been before executed. He instantly surpassed his master; and having once opened his mind to the contemplation and study of such attitudes and figures as he saw in nature, he was very soon enabled to surpass all his former performances. Then his figures began to excite admiration in foreign ports. The figure of the "Indian trader" to the ship William Penn (the Trader was dressed in Indian habiliments) excited great observation in London. The carvers there would come in boats and lay near the ship, and sketch designs from it. They even came to take casts, of plaster of Paris, from the head. This was directly after the Revolution, when she was commanded by Captain Josiah. When he carved a river god as the figure for the ship Ganges, the Hindoos came off in numerous boats to pay their admiration and perhaps reverence to the various emblems in the trail of the image. On one occasion, the house of Nicklin and Griffeth actually had orders from England, to Rush, (nearly forty years ago) to carve two figures for two ships building there. One was a female personation of commerce. The duties in that case cost more than the first cost of the images themselves ! A fine Indian figure, in Rush's best style, should be preserved in some public edifice for many centuries to come; even as he carved the full statue of Washington for the Academy of Arts -- making the figure hollow in the trunk and limbs, to add to its durability. ISAAC HUNT, Esq. This gentleman was the author of many poetic squibs against Dove and his party; they were often affixed to caricatures. This Hunt, a Philadelphian, was educated a lawyer, and proving a strong loyalist at the Revolution, he was carted round the city to be tarred and feathered at the same time with Dr. Kearsley. He then fled to England, and became a clergyman of the established church. He was the father of the present celebrated Leigh Hunt, on the side of the Radicals in England. So different do father and son sometimes walk ! One of Hunt's satires thus spoke of Dove, to wit : "See Lilliput, in beehive wig, A most abandon'd sinner ! Would vote for boar, or sow, or pig, To gain thereby a dinner." JAMES PELLAR MALCOM, F. S. A. An artist of celebrity in England, who died there about the year 1815, was born of the Pellar family, of Solebury township, Bucks county. He was an only son, and his mother, to enable him to prosecute his studies in England, sold her patrimonial estate on the banks of the Delaware. The ancestor of the family, James Pellar, was a Friend, who came out with Penn. In 1689, he built his house here, which remained in the family till sold out and taken down in 1793. Mr. Malcom appears to have visited this country in 1806, and to have been much gratified in finding numerous rich farmers of the name of Pellar, members of the Society of Friends -- "descendants (he says) of original settlers -- `the old Castilians' of the place". A pre-eminence we are ever willing to accord to all families of original settlers, thus constituting such, by courtesy and respect, the proper `primores" of our country. Particulars concerning him may be seen in the Gentlemen's Magazine, vol. 85 -- year 1815. Much concerning old James Pellar, of Solesbury, Buck's county, as given by my aged friend Samuel Preston, Esq., as his recollections of him, is given at some length in my MS. Annals, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 491. He is there described as of great natural genius, a wit -- fond of poetry, and sub-surveyor. ANDREW WALLACE There is now alive, (March 1833) in Chester county, near West Chester, Andrew Wallace, in the one hundred and fourth year of his age -- a pensioner of the United States -- has a wife and two children -- his youngest about fifteen years of age ! Retains a fine intelligent countenance, and is in full possession of his faculties -- his body shakes with paralysis. He was born at Inverness, in Scotland, 14th March, 1730. Was at the battle of Culloden, on the side of the Stuarts. He came to America in 1752; joined soon after Captain Hannum's company at Chester as a sergeant, in the French war; was with Forbes' division at the time of Braddock's defeat. At the Revolutionary war, joined Colonel Anthony Wayne's 4th regiment, and served in it through all the war; was in many of our battles, and was one who escaped at the Paoli massacre; was a sergeant in the Forlorn Hope, at Stony Point, and finally, at the surrender of Cornwallis. In 1791, he served with Captain Doyle, in St. Clair's defeat by the Indians; was finally discharged as disabled, at the age of EIGHTY, at New Orleans in 1812, from the regiment of Colonel Cushing. He always had a bias for military life; never sought a place above a sergeant. Wonderful that such a man should have so long survived "the haps and ills of life". Charles Miner described him to me, as a man he much desired me to see ! There has been made a likeness of him in Philadelphia. WILLIAM BUTLER Another aged wonder I visited at Philadelphia, at his son's house in south Ninth street below Locust street, aged 103-4 years; he being born in Merion, on the 15th February 1730, at the Gulf; he died in May 1838, in his 108th year. (Butler's father died at 89 years; had in his 84th year worked fifteen days in harvesting.) My visit to him was on the 14th May 1833; he had been rambling about the city, a walk of two miles, out and in ! At my salutation of, "Sir, how do you do this warm day?" "Do, sir !" he replied, "why like a young man ! I have been walking up one street and down another, looking about, for several hours, visiting where I chose." All this he spoke with strong, full utterance, and with a lively, good-natured cheerfulness. He had no aches or no pains to annoy him; ate well; his hair but half gray; a man of middle stature and weight; one eye seemingly blind and covered with green silk, and the other small, and of defective vision. He had some time before a paralytic affection, which now caused some tremulous motions to his head occasionally. When a young man of about twenty-four years of age, he became a provincial in the Pennsylvania Greens; was with them at Braddock's defeat; well remembered Washington's services there. At one time he made several voyages to sea; when on shore, he worked as a ship-carpenter. He joined Gen. Wayne in the Revolution, and served till he saw Cornwallis surrender at Yorktown. He seemed to have full recollection of Governor James Hamilton, who was governor from 1749 to `54; spoke also of Governor Morris and Governor Denny, who were here in 1754 and `56. GENERAL WASHINGTON While he lived in Philadelphia as President, he had his formal `levee' visits every two weeks, on Tuesday afternoon, and were understood by himself, to be as President of the United States, and not on his own account. He was therefore not to be seen by any and every body, but required that every one should be introduced by his secretary, or by some gentlemen whom he knew himself. The place of reception was the dining room in the rear -- a room of about 20 feet in length. Mrs. Washington received her visiters in the two rooms on the second floor from front to rear. At 3 o'clock the visiter was introduced to this dining room, from which all seats had been removed for the time. On entering, he saw the tall manly figure of Washington, clad in black silk velvet, his hair in full dress; powdered and gathered behind in a large silk bag; yellow gloves on his hands, holding a cocked hat with a black cockade in it, and the edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. He wore knee and shoe buckles, and a long sword. He stood always in front of the fire place, with his face towards the door of entrance. The visiter was conducted to him, and his name distinctly announced. He received his visiter with a dignified bow, in a manner avoiding to shake hands -- even with best friends. As visiters came they formed a circle round the room; and at a quarter past three the door was closed, and the circle was formed for that day. He then began on the right, and spake to each visiter, calling him by name, and exchanging a few words. When he had completed his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the visiters approaching him in succession, bowed and retired. By 4 o'clock this ceremony was over. These facts have been learned in general from the reminiscences of Gen. Sullivan. Mrs. Washington's `levees' were every Friday evening, at which occasion the General was always present. It was an occasion for emulous and aspiring belles to essay to win his attention; but he was never familiar; his countenance uniformly, even there, preserved its habitual gravity. A lady of his family said it was his habit also when without company; and that she only remembered him to have once made a hearty laugh in a narrative and incident in which she was a party. The truth was, his deportment was unavoidably grave -- it was sobriety -- stopping short of sadness. His presence inspired a veneration and a feeling of awe, rarely experienced in the presence of any man. His mode of speaking was slow and deliberate; not as though he was in search of fine words, but that he might utter those only adapted to his purposes. {Note : emulous = ambitious} Having by one means or other picked up a few scraps concerning this great man, I will at least gratify myself by their record and preservation, to wit: Governeur Morris, at Philadelphia, once made a bet that he could treat Gen. Washington "familiarly". He undertook it at the dinner table, by taking occasion to pat the General on the shoulder and say, "old gentleman do you believe that?" The silent look of Washington made him feel the repulse in the presence of the betters. At Alexandria, on occasion of Washington's dining there as a farmer among farmers, it was agreed before hand not to rise on his entrance, but they all rose involuntarily. These facts were told to me by Dr. Thomas C. James, who had it from persons present. The late Dr. Joseph Priestly, when he resided at Northumberland town, in Pennsylvania, speaking of Gen. Washington, said that he heard the celebrated Edmund Burke, then a member of the English parliament, say he was one of the wisest men in the world. The late Isaac Potts, well known for his good sense, hospitality and urbanity, who resided at the Valley Forge, near Schuylkill river, a preacher to Friends, and with whom my informant spent a few days in March 1788, informed him that at the time our army was encamped there [Ed note: Wintered at Valley Forge, 1777-78], he one day took a walk up Valley Creek, and not far from his dam he heard a solemn voice, and walked quietly towards it, he observed Gen. Washington's horse tied to a small sapling, and in a thicket he saw the General on his knees, praying most fervently. He halted, as he did not wish to disturb him at his devotions, and as the General spoke in a low voice, he could only now and then understand a word, but not enough to connect what he said, but he saw the tears flowing copiously down his cheeks. He retired quietly and unobserved. Mr. Potts informed him he was very much surprised, and considerably agitated, and on returning to his house, the moment he entered the room where his wife was sitting, he burst into tears, and upon her inquiring the cause, he informed her what he had seen, adding that if there was any one on this earth that the Lord will listen to, it is George Washington; -- that now, he had or felt a presentiment, that under such a commander, there could be no doubt of our eventually establishing our independence, and that God in his providence had willed it to be so. This he told my informant in the presence of his amiable family, and though some years had intervened, he was much agitated -- there was something in his manner of relating it, and expatiating on the General's morals, and other good qualities, that all present were in tears. Rev. J. Eastburn saw him so at prayer near Princeton battle. I have the hair of Washington in a gold locket, which is embellished with Washington at the battle of Trenton, it consists of two parcels; the principal body was cut off in 1781, by Martin Perrie, his hairdresser, and was given to me in 1830, by his son John, in Philadelphia. The small circle of two long gray hairs, tied together by a silk thread, was a part of that preserved by Gen. Mifflin, and was given to me in 1828, by Samuel Chew, Esq. I have also a button taken off of Gen. Washington's military coat, received from P.A. Brown, Esq., in 1834. It was taken off the coat in 1802, by Mr. Fields, a portrait painter, in the District of Columbia. It was on his coat of the 22d Regiment, and is so marked. When Congress agreed by law to rest at Philadelphia ten years, the legislature of Pennsylvania voted a large edifice for Gen. Washington as President, in South Ninth street, (the site of present University) but the President, when he saw it, would not occupy it, because of the great expense to furnish it at his own cost; for then the nation never thought of that charge to their account. His dinner parties were given every Thursday at four o'clock precisely, never waiting for any guests; his company usually assembled 15 to 20 minutes before dinner in the drawing room. He always dressed in a suit of black, sword by his side, and hair powdered. Mrs. Washington often, but not always, dined with the company; and if there were ladies present, they sat on each side of her. Mr. Lear, his private secretary, sat at the foot of the table, and was expected to be specially attentive to all the guests. The President himself, set half way from the head to the foot of the table, and on that side which would place Mrs. Washington, though distant from him, on his right hand. He always asked a blessing at his own table, and in a standing posture. If a clergyman was present he asked him to do it. The dishes were always without covers; a small roll of bread enclosed in a napkin was on the side of each plate. The President generally dined on one dish, and that of a very simple kind. He avoided the first or second course, as "too rich for me!" He had a silver pint cup or mug of beer placed by his plate, of which he drank; he took but one glass of wine at dinner, and commonly one after. He then retired, (the ladies having gone a little before) leaving his secretary to tarry with the wine-bibbers, while they might further remain. There were placed upon his table, as ornaments, sundry alabaster mythological figures of about two feet high. The centre of the table contained five or six large silver or plated waiters. The table itself was of an oval shape; at the end were also some silver waiters of an oval form. {Note : waiter = a tray on which something is carried : a salver} It was the habit of Gen. Washington to go every day at 12 o'clock to set his watch at Clark's standard, south-east corner of Front and High streets. There all the porters took off their hats and stood uncovered, till he turned and went back again. He always bowed to such salutation, and lifted his hat in turn. It was a singular thing in the death of this great man, that he died in the last hour, last day of the week, last month of the year, and last year of the century, viz.: -- Saturday night at 12 o'clock, December 1799. In December 1837, the remains of this great father of our nation, after a slumber of 38 years, were once more exposed "to be seen of men", by the circumstance of placing his body once and for ever within the Sarcophagus of marble, made and presented by Mr. Struthers of Philadelphia. The body, as Mr. S. related, was still in wonderful preservation; the high pale brow wore a calm and serene expression, and the lips pressed together, had a grave and solemn smile. A piece of his coffin has been given to me by a lady. The New York Mirror, of May 1834, has a couple of columns of well told tales, showing that Washington once got benighted in a town near the Hudson and the Highlands, and sought a shelter in a poor man's house, and that they heard him pray, at length, for himself and his country. The account adds, the family retain with fond regard a token which he left. The difficulty in this story is, if true, names and places are avoided. It ought not to have been so, if true. Gen Sullivan, in his late publication, states that it was considered, by all his military family, that he had a time every day, set apart for retirement and devotion. Rev. Dr. Jones, of the Presbyterian church at Morristown, has declared that he administered the communion to Gen. Washington by his request, while he was there in command of the American army -- at the public table. Gen. Washington was born on a plantation called Wakefield, lying on Pope's creek, in Westmoreland county, VA. The house was about 300 yards from the creek, at half a mile from its entrance into the Potomac. The mansion was long since in ruins; but in 1815, W. Custis and S. Lewis went there and gathered from the remains a pedestal, and they placed on the top an inscribed stone which they took with them, bearing the words, "Here, the 22nd. Feb. 1732, Washington was born". The situation of this, "his solum natale", is said to be verdant and beautiful, and might be readily visited by steamboat parties, laying in the Potomac. The place now belongs to John Gray, Esq. Washington's coach was presented to him, it is said, by Louis XVI., King of France, as a mark of personal esteem and regard. Others have said it had been brought out for the late Governor Penn. It was cream colored, globular in its shape, and capacious within; ornamented in the French style, with Cupids supporting festoons, and wreaths of flowers, emblematically arranged along the panel work; the figures and flowers beautifully covered with fine glass, very white and dazzling to the eye of youth and simplicity in such matters. It was drawn sometimes by four, but in common by two, very elegant Virginia bays, with long switch tails, and splendid harness, and driven by a German, tall and muscular, possessing an aqueline nose; he wore a cocked hat, square to the front, seemingly in imitation of his principal, but thrown a little back upon his long `cue', and presenting to the memory a figure not unlike the one of Frederick of Prussia, upon the sign in Race street : he exhibited an important air, and was evidently proud of his charge. On the death of Washington, this coach found its way to New Orleans, after the purchase of Louisiana, and there being found at a plantation in the time of Packenham's invasion, got riddled with shot and destroyed. The chief of its iron work has since been used in the palisade to H. Milne's grave. On Sunday morning, at the gate of Christ Church, the appearance of this coach, awaiting the breaking up of the service, never failed in drawing a crowd of persons, eager, when he came forth, for another view of this nobleman of nature -- and stamping with their feet in freezing weather upon the pavement to keep them warm the while. The indistinct sounds of the concluding voluntary upon the organ within was no sooner heard by them than the press became formidable, considering the place and the day. During the slow movement of the dense crowd of worshippers issuing from the opened door, and the increased volume of sound from the organ, it was not necessary for the stranger visiting the city, and straining his vision to behold the General for the first time, to inquire of his jostled neighbour -- which is he ? There could be no mistake in this matter, Washington was to be known at once. His noble height and commanding air, his person enveloped, in what was not very common in those days, a rich blue Spanish cloak, faced with red silk velvet, thrown over the left shoulder; his easy unconstrained movement; his inimitable expression of countenance, on such occasions beaming with mild dignity and beneficence combined; his patient demeanour in the crowd, emerging from it to the eye of the beholder, like the bright silvery moon at night from the edge of a dark cloud; his gentle bendings of the neck, to the right and to the left, parentally, and expressive of delighted feelings on his part : these, with the appearance of the awed, and charmed, and silent crowd of spectators, gently falling back on each side, as he approached, unequivocally announced to the gazing stranger, as with the voice of one "trumpet tongued" -- behold the man ! One day in summer, passing up Market street on a message, the reminiscent was struck with the novel spectacle of this splendid coach, with six elegant bays attached, postilions and outrider in livery, in waiting at the President's door, and although charged to make haste back, was determined to see the end of it. Presently the door opened, when the "beheld of all beholders" in a suit of dark silk velvet of the old cut, silver or steel hilted small sword at left side, hair full powdered, black silk rose and bag, accompanied by "Lady Washington" also in full dress, appeared standing upon the marble steps -- presenting her his hand he led her down to the coach, with that ease and grace peculiar to him in every thing, and as remembered, with the attentive assiduity of an ardent youthful lover; -- having also handed in a young lady, and the door clapped to, Fritz, the coachman, gave a rustling flourish with his lash, which produced a plunging motion in the leading horses, reined in by the postilions, and striking flakes of fire between their heels and the pebbles beneath -- when "Crack went the whip, round went the wheels, As though High street were mad." The President's house, came in time to be occupied the one half as a boarding house, and the other half as a confectionary; but at that time it was considered as the only house, obtainable in the city, suitable for the residence of General George Washington, the first President of the United States. It stood on High street, one door east from the south-east corner of Sixth street. Now N. Burts' three houses, 192 to 194.