USA > Virginia > The history of the Virginia federal convention of 1788, with some account of eminent Virginians of that era who were members of the body, Vol. I > Part 2
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The Sea's hoarse cry May shake the shore ; and the wild toppling waves May open wide for me their welt'ring graves- But I'll ne'er die !
g Mr. Grigsby, in reading the "Life and Letters of John Winthrop," the first Governor of Massachusetts, by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D., was particularly attracted by the sketch of Forth Winthrop's brief career, and has affixed his name to these verses in memoriam. and in token, it may also be taken, to the admirable friend who had piously perpetuated the memory of his young relative of so many pre- ceding generations.
Forth Winthrop, was the third son of Governor John Winthrop. He was born on the 30th of December, 1609, at Great Stambridge, in Essex county, England, where his mother's family-the Forths-resided. He was prepared for college at the somewhat celebrated school founded by Edward VI, at Bury St. Edmunds, and entered Emanuel College, Cam- bridge, in 1627. After finishing his course at the University, he had engaged himself to his cousin, Ursula Sherman, and was contemplating marriage before following his father to New England. But a sudden illness terminated fatally, and the parish register at Groton records his burial on the 23d day of November, 1630. He was a young man of great promise, and his letters, while he was at school and at college, betoken him as one of the most affectionate of sons and brothers.
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True Chivalry, That bathes with patriot blood th' embattled plain, May count my mangled corse among the slain- But I'll ne'er die !
Around may lie, In grassy mound, or 'neath the sculptured stone, The dear fresh dead, and those that long have gone- But I'll ne'er die !
Love's moisten'd eye May watch the falling lip-the gasp for breath- And all the sad investiture of Death- But I'll ne'er die !
My friends may sigh, As the house fills; and as with sable plume The Hearse leads forth the cavalcade of gloom- But I'll ne'er die !
All silently Around the new-made grave my friends may crowd, And my dear young and precious old be bow'd- But I'll ne'er die !
As Ages ply Their round, my shape may vanish from the land, With those that felt the pressure of my hand- But I'll ne'er die !
I soon must lie Beneath the lid; and the triumphant worm May revel on my frail and prostrate form- But I'll ne'er die !
Full solemnly Kind friends may place me in the narrow cell, And in soft tones utter the last farewell- But I'll ne'er die !
Unconsciously My name my dearest friends will cease to call, And the loud laugh ring in my own old hall- But I'll ne'er die ! LIFE'S VICTORY Is mine ! I wear the CONQU'ROR's wreath, Thro' HIM who drew the fatal sting of Death- How can I die ?
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In upper sky, Clothed in the shining robes of Sov'reign Grace, As 'mid Heav'n's hosts I hail my Saviour's face- O! who can die ?
That symphony, L
Sounding from Earth to Heav'n responsively, Exalts me here; "HE THAT BELIEVES IN ME CAN NEVER DIE."
November, 1876.
Among the many of the poetic compositions of Mr. Grigsby, printed and in MS., an ode to Horace Binney, the " Nestor of the American Bar," on the completion of the ninety-third year of his age, and "Lines to my Daughter on her Fourteenth Birth- day," may be noted. The latter, a pamphlet of sixteen 8vo pages, breathes a spirit of tender affection, of lofty patriotism, and of fervent piety.
Mr. Grigsby became the President of the Virginia Historical Society January 3d, 1870," succeeding that profound scholar and eminent statesman, William Cabell Rives. Mr. Grigsby had for many years given essential and earnest service in support of the Society, and was, in truth, one of the vital springs of its con- tinued existence.
He it was to first propose a hall, a safe repository of its own for the preservation of its treasures, and this hope and object he fondly cherished and fostered assiduously to his latest moment. Of his invaluable contributions to its mission, those herein listed, with others of his historical productions, are permanent memo- rials in the annals of American literature.
Of the inestimable value of his services in behalf of the ven- erable institution of learning, William and Mary College, the second in foundation in America, the action of its Board of Visi- tors and Governors will bear best attestation. Of this object of his fervent and constant regard, in the fullness of his heart he said: "The names of her sons have become national property, and their fame illustrates the brightest pages of our country's history."
h He had at a previous period been proffered the post of Correspond- ing Secretary and Librarian, to succeed William Maxwell, LL.D., but the demands of a large plantation and domestic claims properly forbade his acceptance of the trust.
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Two features of the college to which he contributed survive in their offices for good.
He contributed, in 1870, $1,000 to the Library Fund, and in 1871 founded with a gift of a like sum the "Chancellor Scholarship."
In an address delivered by the Rev. William Stoddert, D. D., in the Chapel of William and Mary College, on the 3d of July, 1876, he made this touching mention :
" The speaker of last night gave some instances of men who had won success in spite of obstacles apparently insurmountable-he mentioned the blind professor of optics at Oxford ; Ziska, the Bohemian general, and Milton, both blind ; Prescott, nearly so; Byron and Scott, both lame ; Beethoven, deaf; and, continuing, said : I might, in this connection, allude to one still nearer, even - within these walls, although my words do not reach him. I might speak of his style, with its exquisite attractiveness; of his his- toric research, which has divined the hidden springs of human movement ; of his mind, moulded by classic models until, even in ordinary conversation, his sentences are replete with elegance and strength ; of the charm of his narration, beautified by the graces which have given immortality to Herodotus and Zenophon, to Livy and Tacitus; whose intellect seems still to brighten as
i Rev. William Stoddert, D. D. (whose paternal name was legally changed in early manhood); born 1824; died 1886; was the son of Dr. Thomas Ewell, of Prince William County, Va., a loved and distin- guished practitioner of medicine; the brother of Richard S. Ewell. Lieu- tenant-General C. S. Army, and of Colonel Benjamin S. Ewell, LL.D., President Emeritus of William and Mary College after quite two-score years of devoted service as instructor and President. Dr. Stoddert was graduated from Hampden-Sidney College and the Union Theological Seminary, ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and became a most successful preacher, popular lecturer, and esteemed teacher in Tennes- see. William and Mary College conferred on him, on the occasion above, the degree of D. D.
After a period of suspension it is most gratifying to note that the grand old college of William and Mary has resumed its useful functions under the able and energetic presidency of the Hon. Lyon G. Tyler, son of a former Chanceller, John Tyler, President of the United States. The number of students in attendance was last reported as 120, with the prospect of increase. With its proud prestige, advantages in healthful and central location, it may be hoped that its expanding usefulness may be even greater and more influential than in any period of its glorious past.
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years roll on; whose learning still increases, whose memory still improves, and who is cut off from the sweet converse of friends, so that these words can be uttered as though he were absent, be- fore the Chancellor of William and Mary College, Doctor Hugh Blair Grigsby."
With the studious devotion and generous spirit of Mr. Grigsby it may be inferred that membership in learned institutions was numerously and gladly conferred on him. The writer has been - informed that among such distinctions he was a member of the American Philosophical Society. Circumstances have impelled haste in the preparation of this notice, and the writer has thus been debarred from the desired requisite reference.
Mr. Grigsby's happy and inspiring connection with the Mas- sachusetts Historical Society is with just appreciation attested in the warm utterances of its venerated president as herewith embodied.
It is embarrassing to attempt, without accessible record, an enumeration of the literary contributions of Mr. Grigsby. Mr. Winthrop admiringly alludes to his grace and merit as a volu- minous correspondent.
In his own newspaper, in others of his native city and State, and doubtless in other sections of our Union appeared many instructive articles from his pen.
The Virginia Historical Register, the organ of the Virginia Historical Society, and the Southern Literary Messenger, were frequently contributed to. An article in the latter may be re- ferred to in connection with the library of Mr. Grigsby, that on "The Library of John Randolph of Roanoke." (Vol. XX, 1853, page 76).
Among his public addresses, those most often referred to are the following :
Address on the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, delivered in the Athenaeum, Richmond, Va., in 1848.
Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1829-30, before the Virginia Historical Society, December 15, 1853.
Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1776, delivered before the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, July 3, 1855.
Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1788, before the Vir- ginia Historical Society, February 23, 1858.
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Discourse on the Character of Jefferson, at the unveiling of his statue in the library of the University of Virginia, 1860.
Address on the Life and Character of Littleton Waller Taze- well, before the bar of the city of New York, June 29, 1860.
Address before the Literary Societies of Washington and Lee University, in 1869.
Address, "Some of our Past Historic Periods bearing on the Present," delivered before the Virginia Historical Society, March 10, 1870.
Address before Hampden-Sidney College, on the centenary of its founding, June 14, 1876.
Of this, the last of such public appearances of Mr. Grigsby, it may be well that the following account should be here given :
"Mr. Grigsby, who had passed beyond the age of three-score and ten, was so pale and appeared so feeble that the audience was not surprised when he asked the indulgence of being per- mitted, if necessary, to sit while he delivered his address. But his strength seemed to increase as he advanced, and he remained on his feet during the whole two hours occupied in the delivery. His historical sketch displayed a familiarity with the persons and events connected with the College sixty years ago, and pre- viously and was clothed in language so graphic and elegant, and illustrated with anecdote and narrative so apposite, as to render the performance, in the whole, acceptable and delightful in a high degree to his hearers. The enthusiasm kindled by his theme evinced the warmth of his affection for his native State and all that belongs to her glory in the past, and gave the charm of impressive eloquence to his discourse. His plan embraced personal sketches of the six earlier presidents of the College and of the first trustees ; but he had not time nor strength to deliver all that he had prepared, and was compelled to withhold a part."
The disease which precipitated the death of Mr. Grigsby was incurred in the performance of an affectionate office. In making a visit of condolence to his cousin, Colonel John B. McPhail, who had been bereft of his wife, and who lived some distance from the home of Mr. Grigsby, the latter contracted a deep cold which developed into pneumonia. "During a protracted and painful illness of several weeks' duration, he exhibited an unfalter- ing patience and resignation to the will of God. When he sup-
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posed himself to be dying he summoned his immediate family to his bedside, and bade them adieu, telling them at the same time that he had made his preparation for the other world while he was in health. Three days before the final stroke, which fell April 28th, 1881, he was heard to say : " I desire to live ; yet I feel submissive to the Divine will." An offering from his friend, Mr. Winthrop, a box of exquisite white flowers, reached him in his last moments and served to decorate his grave.
His remains rest beneath a chaste and stately marble obelisk, erected by his widow, in Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk, Va. It bears the following inscription :
Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL. D. Born in Norfolk, Va., November 26th, 1806. Died at "Edgehill," Charlotte county, Va., April 28th, 1881. President of the Virginia Historical Society. Member of the Virginia Convention, 1829-30. Chancellor of the College of William and Mary.
Mr. Grigsby left issue two children : i. Hugh Carrington, born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 13, 1857. . ii. Mary Blair, born in Norfolk, Va., July 9, 1861 ; married December 1, 1882, W. W. Galt, Paymaster United States Navy, son of Prof. W. R. Galt (an esteemed educator of Norfolk, Va.,) and nephew of Alex- ander Galt, the sculptor. Issue : four children : Hugh Blair Grigsby, William R., Robert Waca and Mary Carrington Galt.
At a called meeting of the Executive Committee of the Vir- ginia Historical Society, held at one o'clock P. M. April 30th, 1881-Vice-President William Wirt Henry presiding-the fol- lowing action in tribute to the late President of the Society, the Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL. D., was taken :
WHEREAS, This Committee has just learned of the death of the Hon. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, LL.D., the late President of this Society, which occurred at "Edgehill," his residence, in the county of Charlotte, on Thursday the 28th instant; be it
Resolved, That we cannot too deeply deplore the heavy loss which we have sustained in the death of one whose devotion to the interests of the Society, united to his great learning and accomplishments, have
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been so effective in forwarding the objects for which this Society was formed.
Resolved, That the Hon. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, LL.D., by his natural endowments, by his passionate devotion to learning in all its forms, by his conspicuous purity of life, and by his invaluable contributions to the literature of his native State, has deserved, as he has enjoyed, the admiration, the love, and the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, and has been recognized beyond the borders of his State as a fitting type of the men who have shed so great a lustre around the name of Virginia.
Resolved, That Dr. Charles G. Barney and George A. Barksdale, Esq., be appointed on behalf of this Society to attend the funeral ob- sequies of the deceased in the city of Norfolk, and that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to his widow and children, with the assurance of our deep sympathy with them in their heavy affliction.
WILLIAM WIRT HENRY, Chairman.
At the monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Soci- ety, held in the Dowse Library, Boston, May 12th, 1881, the Presi- dent, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, occupied the chair. In an announcement of the deaths of members of the Society and of other distinguished men, he remarked :' " An absence from home of only three weeks, just ended, has been marked for us, gentlemen, by the loss of several distinguished and valued friends, at least two of whom were connected in different relations with this So- ciety. I had been at Washington less than a week when I was summoned as far back as Philadelphia to serve as a pall-bearer at the funeral of the revered and lamented Dr. Alexander Hamilton Vinton. Returning to Washington from that service, I was met by a telegram announcing the death of an honorary member, who was endeared to more than one of us by long friendship and frequent correspondence-the Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL.D., of Virginia. A day or two only had elapsed before the news- papers informed me that the venerable Dr. John Gorham Palfrey had passed away at Cambridge. The papers of a very few days later apprised me that the excellent Charles Hudson had also been released from the burdens of the flesh. Much more time would have been required than the few hours I have had at my command since I reached home on Thursday evening for prepar-
j Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1880-SI, Vol. XVIII, pp. 419-422.
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ing any adequate notice of such names ; but I should not be for- given for not dwelling for a moment on those which have had a place on our rolls."
After a warm tribute to the worth of Mr. Hudson, Mr. Win- throp continued : " Of the remarkable qu ilities and accomplish- ments of our deceased honorary member, Mr. Grigsby, of Virginia, I hardly dare to speak with the little preparation which it has been in my power to make in the single day since my return home. I trust that our friend, Dr. Deane, who knew him as well and valued him as highly as I did, will now, or hereafter, supply all my deficiencies, and place him on our records as he deserves to be placed. Indeed, he has placed himself there with no mistakable impress.
"No one of our honorary members on either side of the At- lantic has ever exhibited so warm a personal interest in our pro- ceedings, or has so often favored us with interesting letters, which have been gladly printed in our successive serials or volumes.
" A Virginian of the Virginians-President of their Historical Society, and Chancellor of their oldest college ; bound to the Old Dominion by every tie of blood and of affection ; proud of her history, with which he was so familiar ; proud of her great men, with so many of whom he had been personally associated in public as well as private life ; sympathizing deeply in all of her political views and with all her recent trials and reverses-he was never blind to the great men and great deeds of New England, never indifferent to our own Massachusetts history in particular ; on the contrary, he was always eager to cultivate the regard and friendship of our scholars and public men. No work from our press seemed to escape his attention. There was no poem of Longfellow, or Whittier, or Holmes, or Lowell, no history of Prescott, or Bancroft, or Palfrey, or Motley, or Frothingham, or Parkman, which he did not read with lively interest and discuss with discrimination and candor.
" In the little visit which he made us ten years ago, he formed personal friendships with not a few of those whom he had known only by their works, and they were a constant source of pleasure and pride to him. For myself, I look back on more than twenty years of familiar and friendly correspondence with him-inter- rupted by the war, but renewed with the earliest return of peace- which was full of entertainment and instruction, and which I
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shall miss greatly as the years roll on, and as the habit and art of letter-writing is more and more lost in telegraphic and tele- phonic and postal-card communication.
"There is hardly anything more interesting in all our seven- teen volumes of Proceedings than his letter to me of March 30, 1866, beginning : 'Five years and fourteen days have elapsed since I received a letter from you '-giving a vivid description of some of his personal experiences during the Civil War-asking whether it was true that one whom he 'so much esteemed and honored as President Felton was no more,' adding : 'Is Mr. Deane living ?'-and abounding in the kindest allusions to those from whom the war had so sadly separated him.
"I may not forget to mention that Horace Binney, of Phila- delphia, though thirty years older than Mr. Grigsby, was a spe- cial correspondent of his, and that the last letter which Mr. Bin- ney wrote before his death, at ninety-four, was to our lamented friend.
"Mr. Grigsby, from an early period of his life, suffered severely from imperfect hearing-an infirmity which grew upon him year by year, until knowledge at one entrance seemed quite shut out. But he bore it patiently and heroically, and his books and his pen were an unfailing source of consolation and satisfaction.
"Educated for several years at Yale, and admitted to the bar of Norfolk, with every acquisition to fit him for a distinguished ca- reer in the law and in public life, he was constrained to abandon it all and confine himself to his family, his friends and his library.
"As a very young man, however-hardly twenty-one-he had a seat in the great Constitutional Convention of Virginia in 1829-30, and was associated with all the conspicuous men of that period. Meantime, he was studying the characters and careers of the great Virginians of earlier periods, not a few of whom were still living. His ' Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1776,' extended in print to a volume of more than two hundred pages, with its elaborate notes and appendix, is indeed as perfect a sum- mary of the history of some of the great men of his native State-Jefferson and Madison and Patrick Henry and George Mason and others-as can easily be found ; while his discourses on the men with whom he was associated in the Convention of 1830, and on Littleton Waller Tazewell, the Senator and Governor and eminent lawyer of Virginia, are worthy supplements to that
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which had preceded them. Many other publications, both in prose and verse, have manifested the fertility of his mind and the extent of his culture and research, while his letters alone would have occupied more than the leisure of any common man.
"Meantime, he was devoted to agricultural pursuits, planting and hoeing and ditching with his own hands, and prouder of his dike, his ' Julius Cæsar Bridge," and his crops than of any other of his productions. His very last letter to me, dated not long before his illness, concludes by saying: 'My employments for the past two weeks have been the reading of Justin, Suetonius, Tom Moore's Diary, and the building of a rail zigzag fence, nearly a mile long, to keep my neighbors' cattle off my prem- ises.' In a previous paragraph he said that he had just promised an invalid friend, who was anxious on the subject, to call soon and read to him 'the admirable sermon of Paley on the Recog- nition of Friends in Another World.' That may, perchance, have been his last neighborly office before he was called to the verification and enjoyment, as we trust, of those Christian hopes and anticipations in which he ever delighted.
"But I forbear from any further attempt to do justice, in this off-hand, extempore manner, to one of whom I would gladly have spoken with more deliberation and with greater fullness. He had promised to meet me and stand by my side at Yorktown next October, and I shall sorely miss his friendly counsel and assistance for that occasion should I be spared to take part in it. The son of a Presbyterian clergyman, he was to the last warmly attached to the faith and forins of the Church in which he was brought up. While tolerant toward all, 'The Westminster Con- fession' and 'The Shorter Catechism' were his cherished man - uals of religion and theology."
Continuing with warm words of acknowledgment of the merits and services of Dr. Palfrey, Mr. Winthrop offered, with resolu- tions in his memory and that of Mr. Hudson, the following :
Resolved, That the Massachusetts Historical Society offer their sin- cere sympathy to the Historical Society of Virginia on the death of their distinguished and accomplished President, the Hon. HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, LL.D., whom we had long counted it a privilege to include among our own honorary members, and for whom we entertained the highest regard and respect; and that the Secretary communicate a copy of this resolution to our sister Society of Virginia.
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At a Convocation of the Board of Visitors and Governors of the College of William and Mary, held the 8th of July, 1881, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted :
"Since the last meeting of the Board of the College, its officers and friends have been afflicted by the removal from their midst of HUGH BLAIR GRIGSBY, LL.D., Chancellor of the College of William and Mary. In the death of this noble man, the Board, the College, and the com- munity at large have sustained an irreparable loss. A man of the highest character, the most uncommon cultivation, with a mind to grasp the truth, and a heart to love, defend and live it, he was among us a leader in everything true and noble, a guide in everything wise and judicious. His devotion to the College and its interests was unvary- ing, and by his generous, self-sacrificing spirit, by his undying faith and enthusiastic anticipation of the final success and triumph of the College that was so dear to him, he stood forth its champion in the darkest days and encouraged every fainting spirit to continue faithful in its support. The College and this Board owe him a debt of grati- tude which only a loving remembrance can but partially repay, and are moved to pass as their first official act at their annual meeting. the fol- lowing resolutions :
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