of Congress, there were two or three unlucky expressions in it,
which gave offence to some members. The words 'Scotch and other
auxiliaries,' excited the ire of a gentleman or two of that
country. Severe strictures on the conduct of the British king, in
negativing our repeated repeals of the law which permitted the
importation of slaves, were disapproved by some southern gentlemen,
whose reflections were not yet matured to the full abhorrence of
that traffic. Although the offensive expressions were immediately
yielded, these gentlemen continued their depredations on other parts
of the instrument. I was sitting by Dr. Franklin, who perceived that
I was not insensible to those mutilations. 'I have made it a rule,'
said he, 'whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman
of papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from
an incident which I will relate to you. When I was a journeyman
printer, one of my companions, an apprentice hatter, having served
out his time, was about to open shop for himself. His first concern
was to have a handsome sign-board, with a proper inscription. He
composed it in these words:--'John Thompson, _Hatter_, _makes_ and
_sells hats for ready money_,' with a figure of a hat subjoined.
But he thought he would submit it to his friends for their
amendments. The first he showed it to, thought the word '_hatter_'
tautologous, because followed by the words 'makes hats,' which shew
he was a hatter. It was struck out. The next observed that the word
'_makes_' might as well be omitted, because his customers would not
care who made the hats; if good and to their mind, they would buy,
by whomsoever made. He struck it out. A third said, he thought the
words '_for ready money_,' were useless, as it was not the custom
of the place to sell on credit: every one who purchased expected to
pay. They were parted with, and the inscription now stood, 'John
Thompson sells hats.' '_Sells_ hats?' says his next friend; 'why
nobody will expect you to give them away. What then is the use of
that word?' It was stricken out, and '_hats_' followed it, the
rather, as there was one painted on the board; so his inscription
was reduced ultimately to 'John Thompson,' with the figure of a hat
subjoined.'
"The Doctor told me, at Paris, the following anecdote of the Abbé
Raynal.--He had a party to dine with him one day, at Passy, of whom
one half were Americans, the other half French; among the last
was the Abbé. During the dinner he got on his favourite theory of
the degeneracy of animals, and even of man, in America, and urged
it with his usual eloquence. The Doctor at length noticing the
accidental stature and position of his guests, at table, 'Come,'
said he, 'M. l'Abbé, let us try this question by the fact before us.
We are here one half Americans, and one half French; and it happens
that the Americans have placed themselves on one side of the table,
and our French friends are on the other. Let both parties rise,
and we will see on which side nature has degenerated.' It happened
that his American guests were Carmichael, Harmer, Humphreys, and
others of the finest stature and form; while those of the other side
were remarkably diminutive, and the Abbé himself, particularly, was
a mere shrimp. He parried the appeal however, by a complimentary
admission of exceptions, among which the Doctor himself was a
conspicuous one."
_An Act for the Appraisement of Estates taken in execution._
SECT. 1. _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in general assembly met, and it
is hereby enacted by the authority of the same_, That in all cases
where lands, tenements or hereditaments, have been or hereafter
shall be levied on, by virtue of any writ of _fieri facias_ or other
writ of execution, and an inquest of twelve men summoned by the
sheriff or coroner of any of the cities or counties agreeably to
the existing laws of this commonwealth, shall find that the rents,
issue, and profits of such property, are not sufficient, beyond all
reprises, within the space of seven years to satisfy the damages
and costs or the debt, interest and cost in such writ mentioned, it
shall be the duty of the same inquest to value and appraise the said
property. And in all cases where the defendant or defendants shall
consent to a condemnation agreeable to an act entitled "a supplement
to the act, entitled, An act for taking lands in execution for the
payment of debts," passed on the sixth day of March, one thousand
eight hundred and twenty, and in any case where an inquisition
and condemnation of such estate as aforesaid shall not be deemed
necessary in law, it shall be the duty of the sheriff or coroner of
the proper county to summon an inquest of twelve good and lawful men
of his bailiwick, who shall be under oath or affirmation, and shall
receive the same pay as jurors are entitled to in similar cases, to
value and appraise the same; and the sheriff or coroner shall make
return of such valuation or appraisement, with the writ aforesaid,
to the court from which the same issued, and which valuation or
appraisement shall be conclusive in any future execution which may
be levied on the same property; and in case any writ of _venditioni
exponas_ or other writ shall issue for the sale of said lands,
tenements or hereditaments, and the same cannot be sold at public
vendue or outcry for two-thirds or more of such valuation or
appraisement: that then and in such case the sheriff or coroner
shall not make sale of the premises, but shall make return of the
same accordingly to the court from which the execution process
issued, and that thereupon all further proceedings for the sale of
such lands, tenements or hereditaments, shall be stayed for one year
from and after the return day of the _venditioni exponas_, or other
writ for the sale of the premises: _Provided_, That the sheriff or
coroner, shall not be entitled to poundage unless in those cases
where a sale of the property shall take place.
SECT. 2. _And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid_,
That in all cases where lands, tenements or hereditaments, have
been heretofore levied on and condemned in virtue of any writ of
_fieri facias_, and in all cases where any lands, tenements or
hereditaments, have been or hereafter shall be seized or levied on
by virtue of any writ of _levari facias_, it shall be the duty of
the sheriff or coroner, before exposing the said property to sale
pursuant to any writ for that purpose issued, or in pursuance of
such writ of _levari facias_, to summon twelve good and lawful men
of his bailiwick, who, being first sworn or affirmed, shall make a
true valuation or appraisement of the property aforesaid, and the
same proceedings shall be had as is directed by the first section of
this act.
SECT. 3. _And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid_,
That in all cases where a life estate, or for a term of years, in
any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, have been or shall be seized
and levied on by virtue of any writ of execution, it shall be the
duty of the sheriff or coroner, before he shall proceed to advertise
and sell the premises aforesaid, to summon an inquest of twelve
good and lawful men of his bailiwick, who, being first duly sworn
or affirmed, shall make a true valuation and appraisement of the
same. And if such life estate, or for term of years as aforesaid,
after having been advertised and offered for sale by public vendue
or outcry, according to the laws of this commonwealth, cannot be
sold for two thirds or more of the amount of the valuation and
appraisement aforesaid, the sheriff or coroner shall make return
accordingly; and thereupon all further proceedings for the sale of
the said premises shall be stayed for one year from the return day
of the said execution process.
SECT. 4. _And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid_,
That in all cases where personal property shall be taken in
execution by virtue of any writ of _fieri facias_ issued out of any
court of common pleas in this commonwealth, or by virtue of any
execution issued by a justice of the peace, it shall be the duty
of the sheriff, coroner, constable or other person, to whom such
writ shall be directed, respectively, when it shall be requested by
the debtor, to summon three respectable freeholders or citizens of
the vicinage, who, being first duly sworn or affirmed by the said
officer, shall value and appraise the personal property aforesaid,
for which service they each shall be entitled to receive fifty cents
per day; which valuation or appraisement, signed by the appraisers,
together with a schedule of the property taken in execution, shall
be annexed to the return of said writ. And in case said personal
property, or any part thereof, cannot be sold for two thirds of
the amount of said valuation or appraisement, at a public vendue
of the same, of which notice shall be given to the plaintiff or
plaintiffs, his, her or their agent or attorney, agreeably to the
direction of the first section of this act, that then the sale of
such property shall be stayed for the term of twelve months from
that date: _Provided_, That the said defendant or defendants shall
execute and deliver to the sheriff, coroner or constable, as the
case may be, a bond, with one or more sufficient sureties, in a
penalty double the amount of the said valuation or appraisement,
conditioned for the faithful forthcoming and delivery of all and
every part of the said personal property, upon the expiration of the
said stay of execution, to the proper sheriff, coroner or constable,
or his successor in office, in like good order and condition as when
the same was so as aforesaid offered for sale, or other personal
property equal in value and like good order, to be ascertained in
the manner aforesaid; or in default thereof, for the payment of the
amount of the appraisement or valuation, with interest and costs,
or the amount of the debt, interest and cost, for which the levy
was made. And upon the execution and delivery of such bond, the
said personal property shall be returned and redelivered into the
possession of the said defendant or defendants: _Provided also_,
That nothing in this act contained, shall be construed to prevent
any judgment creditor or creditors from having the property of any
debtor or debtors exposed to sale, in the usual manner, at any time,
and as often as he, she or they may think proper, after it may have
once been exposed to sale as aforesaid, by paying all the costs
which may accrue in consequence thereof, except the time which a
sale may be effected, which cost shall be paid out of the proceeds
of the sale as in other cases.
SECT. 5. _And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid_,
That this act shall be and continue in force for the term of one
year and no longer.
MORTGAGES.
The Legislature of Pennsylvania, at their late session, passed
the following act relative to Mortgages.
SECT. 1. _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met, and
it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same_, That from and
after the first day of October next, all mortgages, or defeasible
deeds in the nature of mortgages, made or to be made or executed
for any lands, tenements or hereditaments within this commonwealth,
shall have a priority according to the date of recording the same,
without regard to the time of making or executing such deeds. And
it shall be the duty of the recorder to endorse the time upon the
mortgages or defeasible deeds when left for record, and to number
the same according to the time they are left for record, and if
two or more are left upon the same day, they shall have priority
according to the time they are left at the office for record. And
that no mortgage, or defeasible deed in the nature of a mortgage,
shall be a lien until such mortgage or defeasible deed shall have
been recorded, or left for record as aforesaid. _Provided_, That no
mortgage given for the purchase money of the land so mortgaged shall
be affected by the passage of this act, if the same be recorded
within sixty days from the execution thereof.
SECT. 2. _And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid_,
That the governor be, and he is hereby requested to cause this act
to be published immediately after the passage of the same, in such
newspapers and for such a length of time as he may think most proper
for the information of the citizens of this commonwealth.
_Whimsical conflict._--It would be well for society, if all
duellists were to find themselves in the same predicament as did
the celebrated poet, Dr. Akenside, and a gentleman of the bar by
the name of Ballow. A challenge had passed from the former--but
they did not get into the field; for one would not consent to
fight in the morning, and the other was equally determined not to
do so in the evening! The one wished to fall in a blaze of glory,
mingled with the brilliant rays of the rising sun, a very fanciful
and poetic notion; and the other, with perhaps an equal degree of
poetic feeling and imagination, thought the shades of eve more
congenial with the work of death and the hour of dissolution.
Whether serious or affected, the difference was perhaps a happy
one for the lovers of literature, who might otherwise have lost
the keen and inexpressible delight which ever flows from the
perusal of Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination--a work which will
charm and instruct mankind through every age, so long as learning,
taste, and genius, shall have a votary or a favourite to relish so
rich a banquet. The hand of blood, that had deprived the republic
of letters of that incomparable poem, would have well deserved
everlasting execration.
[_Plough Boy._
LAW-SUIT.
The longest law-suit ever heard of in England, or perhaps in the
world, was between the heirs of Sir T. Talbot; Viscount Lisle,
on the one part, and the heirs of Lord Berkeley on the other,
respecting certain possessions not far from Wotton-under-Edge, in
the county of Gloucester. The suit was commenced at the end of
Edward IV. and was depending till the reign of James I. when a
compromise took place, it having lasted above a hundred and twenty
years.
THE CAMERONIANS.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1819.
For the Cameronians, those relicks of the stern enthusiastic
Covenanters--those resolute maintainers of the unblemished purity
and rights of the reformed church--those dwellers on the misty
mountain tops--I entertain the greatest respect and reverence. It
was my lot to pass the early part of my life in the neighbourhood of
their hill of worship--often in the company of their leading men,
and most admired professors--and at all times in the society of a
portion of their number. They had hovered for many years about the
mountainous regions of the parish of Kirkmahoe, in Dumfries-shire;
and as they began to confide in the kindness of their less rigid
brethren, they commenced descending, step by step, from a large
hill to a less, till they finally _swarmed_ on a small sterile
mount, with a broomy glen at its foot, beside a little village,
which one of their number named "Graceless Quarrelwood." Quarrelwood
is a long straggling village, built in open hostility to regular
lines, or the graceful curves of imaginary beauty. The cottages
which compose it are scattered as if some wizard had dropt them
down by random; and through the whole a streamlet winds, and a
kind of road infinitely more crooked than the stream. This lane is
fringed chiefly by old plum-trees, and seeks its way to the eastern
extremity of the village, with a difficulty which a stranger will
soon be sensible of, should he be so hardy as to endeavour to
thread this Cameronian labyrinth. There is also a wide wilderness
of gardens, hemmed in by strong walls of rough free-stone. It is a
very defensible position; and, in case of retreat, the deep channels
of two scanty streams present direct openings to the upland holds;
and these are covered ways--for the brooks contrive to maintain
as many stately trees and flourishing bushes on their steep and
impassable banks, as would do honour to mightier streams. To this
rural encampment several hundreds resorted weekly to hear their
pastor's instructions; and at their great midsummer Festival of the
Sacrament, several thousands usually assembled, many of them from
distant parts, even from Fife and Banff. All around were objects to
cherish their ancient spirit, and remind them of other days. The
seat of their bitter persecutor, General Dalzell, was within two
short miles--the grave of the cruel Laird of Lagg was visible from
their mount; and in the church-yard of Dumfries, in the moors of
Irongray, and the moorlands of Nithsdale, were buried, under broad
and inscribed stones, some of the most renowned of the martyrs. With
two of their preachers I had the pleasure of being acquainted; and I
have also heard several of the western professors preach during the
continuance of the sacramental holydays. Of their professors I shall
endeavour to render some account. I still remember, with reverence,
the thin long snowy hair and bald shining crown, and primitive look
of the patriarchal Farely; and it is impossible I should ever forget
the familiar and fervent eloquence of that delightful old pastor.
Towards the close of his life, which was unusually long, he was
accused of cheering his decaying spirits with other beverage than
what cold brooks afforded. Of this infirmity I have heard some of
the sternest of his flock speak with unlooked-for gentleness; and I
believe none of his fellow-preachers chose to rebuke him for this
indulgence, from a just dread of his powers for keen dry sarcasm. He
was a great favourite with the Cameronian ladies, old and young, and
his reputation with them was not at all diminished, by the renown he
acquired by his ability in inflicting the discipline of his sect on
fair trespassers.
Of John Curtis, the regular pastor of the flock, I do not remember
so much as I do of Mr. Farely. He was a man unaffectedly pious,
rather than eloquent, and was deservedly and warmly beloved. He
adorned his discourses with that melodious tone which some call the
Cameronian drawl, and which the pious Cowper complained of in the
Conventicles. Each sentence has a kind of starting note; and I can
discover remains of this old puritanical fashion in the eloquence of
Wilberforce and also Lord Milton. It would require some constraint
in a pious stranger to listen, without an inward smile at least,
to this continually recurring chorus.--With a gifted preacher it
is less ungraceful, for he contrives to make it tell in better
time than an ordinary man--still it might be spared; but a very
sensible divine told me, he dared as soon renounce predestination
as part with the "twang;" it was as dear to his flock as the memory
of Richard Cameron. John Curtis, for he abominated the prelatical
designation of "Master," was not an unfrequent, or unwelcome guest
at my father's house. His coming was a visitation, for it came over
our mirth as a cloud. He invariably was invited on week days; Sunday
was a day that had higher duties. His coming was the signal for
seven children, I was one of them, to cease their play and pranks,
and mix trembling with their mirth. We became as quiet as a brood
of chickens, over which the hawk is hovering. Even the nuts or
raisins which filled the pockets of this primitive person, and which
he divided among us with many a clap on the head and benediction,
failed to inspire confidence.
The chief revolution in the affairs of the Cameronians of
Dumfriesshire, was effected at the death of John Curtis. They had
been driven by persecution to preach on the mountains, and though
persecution had ceased, on the mountains they remained. It was
certainly a beautiful and impressive sight to see a congregation
worshipping God on a mountain side or a wild glen; to see the
upright pulpit-rows of bared, and white, and bald heads decently
ranged around--and more extended ranks of beautiful women and
active men drawn up in a regular confusion--the whole listening
to the eloquence of my old friend Farely. This, with a clear day
and a bright sun, must make an impression of devotion on the most
obtuse intellect. But as the mason said of the wise man who sung,
"Snow is beautiful in its season," "My certes," said he, "it was
easy for him, with his lasses and his wine to sing so; had he been
a poor free-stone mason, he would have sung another sang." For
the weather seemed sometimes to inherit the rancour of the bloody
Claverhouse, or the renowned chieftain of Lagg, to this persecuted
race; and, instead of June giving one of her brightest and balmmiest
days for the Sacrament, I have witnessed the heavy rain come down
sans intermission for four stricken hours, as if ambitious to
measure its mercies by the length of the "Action Sermon." By some
this circumstance was hailed as a divine acknowledgment of their
presence and influence; and after some very dry weather I have
heard Mr. Farely turn a timely thunder shower to good account, by
apostrophizing the Deity for his kindness to "this dry barren land."
On another occasion--the morning was serene during the introductory
discourse, and just as my friend Farely began to administer the
sacrament, a huge black cloud sailed from the westward, and hung
heavy and ominous over the congregation. Ere the ladies could raise
their plaids, it descended perpendicular plump down, and the huge
drops splashed off the bald crown of the preacher, in a manner that
Kemble would have envied in acting King Lear. A Cameronian with an
umbrella, at that time an unusual thing in the country, arose and
stretched it over the Professor's head, regardless of himself. At
this visible interposition between him and heaven, the preacher
was wroth, and said audibly, "Take the Pope's cap off me," and his
conduct was highly applauded.
To such a congregation, after the decease of John Curtis, my friend
of the umbrella made a proposition to have a chapel erected. And
I question much if a proposal to go to mass would have excited
a stronger commotion--particularly among those whom the measure
meant to protect--the old and infirm. He of the umbrella offered
to subscribe largely himself, and promote the subscription among
others, hinting that many of the members of the kirk favoured the
cause, and would be glad of an opportunity to display it. The
motion was well timed too, namely, at the close of one of those
four-hours benedictions from a thunder cloud, which had urged
its way through the broad bonnets and thick plaids of the most
obstinate believers. I cannot enumerate to you all the bitter and
brief exclamations of dismay and indignation which this proposal
excited. The decided wrath of one old moorland dame I shall long
remember, "Foul fall ye," said she, starting up and hurling her
heavy clasped black print Bible at the proposer's head, "foul fall
ye, ye deserve to be brained with the word ye hae abused;" and had
he of the umbrella not caught this religious missile, as the Curtal
fryar's dogs caught the outlaw's arrows, namely, as it flew, he
might have been numbered with the martyrs. "Shall _we_," said she,
"who were hounded like deer to the mountains, there to worship God
in fear of evil men, shall _we_, whom he marvellously protected
there, doubt his providence, and descend to keep yer coupled
timber--yer covered cushions--and yer canopied, fringed, and painted
prelatical pulpits--and yer walls of hewn stane--far frae me--fit
places are they, not for the word, but for ye ken what;"--and so
she sat down. The more sensible part reflecting, however, that
the showers of spring were cold--that the winds of autumn were
not always gentle--and that winter indulged them with various and
dubious blessings, under the resemblance of snows and sleets, and
sudden thaws, resolved, that the erection of a house of worship was
a justifiable measure; and a house was accordingly built. But the
eloquent dame of the moorlands introduced a salvo, by which the
sacrament was directed to be administered in the open air, and so it
still continues.
The religious festival of the sacrament is commenced after due
private preparation by prayers of unwonted length, and the lonely
broomy hollow where it is held, exhibits on Sabbath morn to a
stranger a grand and solemn spectacle.