"Here lived, so might it seem to Fancy's eye,
The lordly Barons of _our_ feudal day;
On every side, lo! grandeur's relics lie
Scatter'd in ruin o'er their coffin'd clay.--
How vain for man, short-sighted man, to say
What course the tide of human things shall take!
How little dream'd the Founder, that decay
So soon his splendid edifice should shake,
And of its high pretence, a cruel mock'ry make."
There cannot be a more striking exemplification of the powerful
influence of laws upon the state of society, than is exhibited on the
banks of the rivers in the lower part of Virginia. How many spacious
structures are seen there, hastening to decay, which were once the
seats of grandeur and a magnificent hospitality! The barons of old were
scarcely more despotic over their immediate demesnes, than were the
proprietors of these noble mansions, with their long train of servants
and dependents; their dicta were almost paramount to law throughout
their extensive and princely possessions. But since the introduction of
republican institutions, and the alteration in the laws respecting the
descent of property, and more especially since the "docking of
entails," a total change has been effected. Our castles are crumbling
on every side--estates are subdivided into minuter portions, instead of
being transmitted to the eldest son; and so complete is the revolution
in sentiment, that he would be deemed a savage, who would now leave the
greater part of his family destitute, for the sake of aggrandizing an
individual. It is not unusual to find a son in possession of the once
splendid establishment of his fathers, with scarcely paternal acres
enough to afford him sustenance, and hardly wood enough to warm a
single chamber of all his long suite of apartments. The old family
coach, with his mother and sisters, lumbers along after a pair of
superannuated skeletons; and some faithful domestic, like Caleb
Balderstone, is put to the most desperate shifts to support the phantom
of former grandeur. Debts are fast swallowing up the miserable remnant
of what was once a principality, while some wealthy democrat of the
neighborhood, who has accumulated large sums by despising an empty
show, is ready to foreclose his mortgage, and send the wretched heir of
Ravenswood to mingle with the Bucklaws and Craigengelts of the west.
Many a story of deep interest might be written upon the old state of
things in Virginia, if we possessed some indefatigable Jedidiah
Cleishbotham to collect the traditions of our ancestors.
Those who took part in our revolutionary struggle were too much
enlightened not to foresee these consequences, and therefore deserve
immortal credit for their disinterested opposition to Great Britain.
Had they been aristocrats instead of the purest republicans, they would
surely have thrown their weight into the opposite scale. We do not
estimate enough the merit of the rich men of that day. The danger is
now past--the mighty guerdon won--the storm is gone over, and the sun
beams brightly: but though bright our day, it was then a dark
unknown--dark as the hidden path beyond the grave--and it was nobly
dared to risk their all in defence of liberty. They knew that freedom
spurned a vain parade, and would not bow in homage to high-born wealth;
yet their splendid possessions were staked upon the desperate throw,
and the glorious prize was won. Such were not the anticipations of the
_founders_ of these establishments; but such was surely the merit of
their sons: and it is painful to think how few, of all who engaged in
that noble struggle, have been handed down to fame. Many a one, whose
name has been loudly sounded through the earth, would have shrunk from
such a sacrifice, and clung to his paternal hearth; and yet these
modern Curtii, who renounced the advantages of birth, and leaped into
the gulf for their country's sake, have not won a single garland for
their Roman worth.
There is a scene in the county of Lancaster, where these reflections
pressed themselves very forcibly upon my mind. Imagine an ample estate
on the margin of the Rappahannock--with its dilapidated mansion
house--the ruins of an extensive wall, made to arrest the inroads of
the waves, as if the proprietor felt himself a Canute, and able to stay
the progress of the sea--a church of the olden time, beautiful in
structure, and built of brick brought from England, then the home of
our people. Like Old Mortality, I love to chisel out the moss covered
letters of a tombstone; and below I send you the result of my labors,
with a request that some of your correspondents will take the trouble
to give you a faithful translation of the Latin inscription. The only
difficulty consists in a want of knowledge of the names of the officers
under the colonial government. The epitaph will show by whom the church
was built, and the motive for its erection. In the yard are three
tombstones conspicuous above the rest, beneath which repose the bones
of the once lordly proprietor of the soil and his two wives. How vain
are human efforts to perpetuate by monuments the memory of the great!
The sepulchre of Osymandus is said by Diodorus to have been a mile and
a quarter in circumference. It had this inscription: _"I am Osymandus,
King of Kings. If any one is desirous to know how great I am and where
I lie, let him surpass any of my works."_ With more propriety might he
have said, _let him search out my works_; for we are left to conjecture
the very site of his tomb. It would be easy to extend this narrative,
but perhaps what struck me as interesting would be unworthy a place in
your Literary Messenger.
THE EPITAPH. TRANSLATION.
H. S. E. HERE LIES
Vir honorabilis Robertus Carter, Robert Carter, Esquire; an
Armiger, qui genus honestum honorable man, who exalted his high
dotibus eximiis, moribus birth by noble endowments and pure
antiquis illustravit. Collegium morals. He sustained the College of
Gulielmi et Mariæ temporibus William and Mary in the most trying
difficilimis propugnavit. times.
Gubernator, He was Governor,
Senatus Rogator et Quæstor, sub Speaker of the House and Treasurer,
serenissimis Principibus under the most serene Princes
Gulielmo, Anna, Georgio 1 mo. et William, Anne, George the 1st and
2 do. 2d.
A publicis consiliis concilii Elected Speaker by the Public
per sexennium præses, plus annum Assembly for six years, and
Coloniæ Præfectus cum regiam Governor for more than a year, he
dignitatem tam publicum equally upheld the regal dignity
libertatem æquali jure asseruit. and public freedom.
Opibus amplissimis bene partis Possessed of ample wealth,
instructus, ædem hanc sacram In honorably acquired, he built and
Deum pietatis grande monumentum, endowed at his own expense this
propriis sumptibus extruxit. sacred edifice, a lasting monument
of his piety to God.
Locupletavit.
In omnes quos humaniter incepit, Entertaining his friends with
nec prodigus, nec parcus hospes. kindness, he was neither a prodigal
Liberalilatem insignem testantur not a thrifty host.
debita munifice remissa.
Primo Judithum, Johannis His first wife was Judith, daughter
Armistead Armigeri filiam, of John Armistead, Esquire; his
deinde Betty, generosa second Betty, a descendant of the
Landonorum stirpe oriundam sibi noble family of the Landons, by
connubio junctas habuit. E whom he had many children--
quibus prolem numerosam
suscepit.
On whose education he expended a
In qua erudienda pecuniæ vim considerable portion of his
maximam insumpsit property.
Tandem honorum et dierum satur At length, full of honors and
cum omnia vitæ munera egregiæ years, having discharged all the
præstitisset obiit Pri. Non. duties of an exemplary life, he
Aug. An. Dom. 1732 Aet. 69. departed from this world on the 4th
day of August, 1732, in the 69th
year of his age.
Miseri solamen, viduæ The wretched, the widowed and the
præsidium, orbi patrem, ademptum orphans, bereaved of their comfort,
lugent. protector and father, alike lament
his loss.