xt7x3f4kmn77 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7x3f4kmn77/data/mets.xml Peet, Henry Johns. 1883  books b92-95-28578217 English s.n.], : [S.l. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Mead family. Chaumiaere des Prairies (Jessamine County, Ky.) Everett family.Meade, David, 1744-1838 or 9. Meade, Andrew, d. 1745. Chaumiere papers  : containing matters of interest to the descendants of David Meade, of Nansemond County, Va., who died in the year 1757 / edited by Henry J. Peet. text Chaumiere papers  : containing matters of interest to the descendants of David Meade, of Nansemond County, Va., who died in the year 1757 / edited by Henry J. Peet. 1883 2002 true xt7x3f4kmn77 section xt7x3f4kmn77 




































































                      DAVID MEADE
At the age of eight years. From a painting by Thomas Hudson, the instructor of Sir
                    Joshua Reynolds. Painted in 1752.

 






CHAUMIERE



PAPERS,



               Containing Matters of Interest

                       TO 5T



DESCENDANTS OF DAVID MEADE,

                          OF



NANSEMOND COUNTY, VA.,

    Who died in the year 1757.



" It is to be noted that these pages are not intended for, and never will be exposed to, public
      inspection, and are intended only for the amusement, and, peradventure,
               the edification of the House of Meade."



      EDITED BY
HENRY J. PEET.



                     CHICAGO:
HORACE O'DON03HUE, BRIEF AND ABSTRACT PRINTER, 95-97 WASHINGTON ST.
                       1883.


 






            FAMIL.Y HISTORY.

                    BV DAVIDl) MEADE..

     Andrewv Meade, tm-y )paternal grandfather,      as an
Irish Catholic, born in the Countvt of Kerrv.    Tradition
says le left his native cotintry, and went first to Londoli,
and from thence came to New York, about the latter end
of the 17th centtiry.   He resided sonie years in New
Yorkl, and there married Matary Lathan., of Quiaker parent-
age, and somIe time after lie reimoved to Virginia, and
settled permanently at the head of navigation on the
Nanseniond River.
     It has never been ascertained that lhe ever formialiy
renounced the Catholic faith, tiotoghi lhe was many- Vears
a representative of his county in the House of Burgesscs,
judge of the court, and senior colonel of the militia, exe-
ctiting( these offices with advantage to his adopted country
and credit to himself, particularly the two former, for
which lie was eminently qualified by education, which
was scholastic and supposed to have been received either
in France or Flanders.   He is said to have been a large
man, of great corporeal strength and ratheri hard featured,
but of fine form.  In the year 1745, he deceased, leaving
a character without a stain, having had the glorious
epithet connected with his name, long before lie died, of
"The Honest."

    From his holding these offices, we may certainly conclude that he hadl
renounced it, since test-oaths were required of such officers, and he w-as reputed
to be an honest man. In this I am further confirmed by the fact that the
name of Colonel Andrew Meade stands first on the list of vestrymen in the
year 1743, when the list I have commences.-[Bishopp lleatdle in' The Old
Churches and Families qf Virginia," p. 292.

 




4



    Anythirg further than is above related relative to
the origin of my grandfather is chiefly conjecture. When
I was in England, I was much noticed by the Irish, and
very particularly by Lady Forbes and her son, the Hon.
Mr. Forbes, who, after the death of his grandfather and
father, became Earl of Grenard. Counsellor Murphy, an
Irish Catholic, a cousin of my father, who had chambers
in the Temple, but, being a Catholic, could not appear at
the bar, was unremitting in his attentions to me. I do
not know from what source I received the information,
but I understood that his brother was in the French
service, and was high in command, under Count Lalley,
in the East Indies during the war of 1758, and that his
uncle and patron was Colonel Meade, of the Irish brigade,
and a man of much interest at the Court of Versailles.
The Clan William coat of arms is the same as ours. The
honors of that house originated in the reign of George II.,
and, I believe, not very early in it.
    The many circumstances above noted, relative to
Andrew Meade, of America, being taken into considera-
tion, it is not an improbable hypothesis, that being
unfriendly to William the Third's succession to the throne
of England, he was forced out of his native country, not
unhappily for him, as it appears, as his fortune in America
was benign, nor has it been unfortunate for his progeny.
    He left a son, David, and a daughter, Priscilla,
who married Wilson Curle, of Hampton. David Meade,
the son, inherited the pater'nal estate, and about the year
1729 or 1730, married Susannah Everard, the elder of
the two daughters of Sir Richard Everard. Bart., of
Broomfield Hall, Much Waltham Parish, in the County
of Essex. England, and Susannah Kidder, his wife, eldest
daughter of Dr. Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and
Wells.
    My grandfather, Sir Richard Everard, when a young
man, was a captain in Queen Anne's army, and it is

 





5



probable was with Sir George Rooke, admiral of the
British fleet, when he took Gibraltar, as he remained in
garrison eighteen months, being so long against his
inclinations stayed there by his sense of honor altogether,
he having but recently married a young wife, and he
resigned his commission immediately on his return to
England. He was for a few years proprietary governor
of North Carolina, which position he resigned about the
year 1730, soon after all the proprietors, except Lord
Granville, sold out to the crown, not being in any credit
at court; for although he had served Queen Anne as
captain in her army, he was probably no friend to
Hanoverian succession. I have heard my mother say
that he, as well as several others of the Essex Baronets,
found it convenient to make himself as little conspicuous
as possible during the rebellion of 1715, at the beginning
of George the First's reign.
    The Lords Proprietors were all particular friends of
Sir Richird, and it has been understood in the family
that his patrimony had been much reduced by adven-
turing in the South Sea bubble, and he accepted from the
proprietors 'the government of North Carolina to repair
his estate. At his death, he left his dame all the estate
of every kind which he possessed, in event of her sur-
viving their eldest son, as is recorded in her will, to be
found among my papers. Her will appears to have been
written. before the death of her eldest son, Richard,
who, by the death of his father, inherited the title of
Baronet. Hugh, the younger son, survived his brother,
and succeeded to the honors of the family, but not the
estate, as he was disinherited, for what cause is unknown
to the family at this day. He was killed in a naval
engagement. His name is still continued on the list of
English Baronets. By his death, an ancient family
became extinct in the male line, and in my person is con-

 




6



tinued in the female, I being the eldest son of the eldest
daughter of Sir Richard Everard.
    "Dame Susan Everard," as she is styled in the
Testament, left her estate, in the event of her eldest son's
dying without heirs (which proved to be the case), to her
two daughters, Susannah Meade and Ann Everard, a
spinster, but who unadvisedly married Lathbury, who
held some office in the Tower, and who dissipated her
estate. By the will, all her jewels and the furniture of a
house in London were left to my mother. The furniture
of Broomfield Hall is not mentioned. The real property
left to the two children consisted of Broomfield Hall, in
the Parish of Much Waltham and County of Essex, a
farm, called the Walnut Tree Farm, in the same county,
also a copyhold farm in Hardfordshire, also the freehold
of Heathfield, in Sussex, with a handsome mansion on it,
which is said to be the precise spot on which the battle of
Hastings was fought, between the Saxon King Harold and
William the Norman, and from which place Lord Heathfield
takes his title. It was afterwards sold by my mother and
her sister. Also Tower-head farm, in Somersetshire, near
the city of Wells, which was devised solely to my mother,
Susannah Meade, and was sold by my father. On this
farm was built by her grandfather, Dr. Richard Kidder,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, a mansion with a chapel, for
his wife's accommodation, in the event of her surviving
him, which did not happen, for they were both killed in
bed together in the Episcopal Palace of Wells, by the fall
of a stack of chimneys, on the night of the great storm of
the year 1703.
    Langleys, in Essex, once a royal residence, after-
wards became the seat of the Everards, and was sold by
my maternal grandfather.
    My father, David Meade, some time before his mar-
riage, made an acquaintance with the family of Sir Richard
Everard, who resided at Edenton, the then seat of gov-

 




7



ernnment of North Carolina, where an attachment, perfectly
romantic, was mutually formed between my father and the
eldest daughter of Sir Richard.
    A century ago, Hampton Roads was the receptacle
of nearly all the ships which loaded within the waters of
Chesapeake Bay, and the chief part of the trade from
North Carolina with England was through Hampton
Roads. Having relinquished his government, Sir Richard
Everard and his lady and two daughters became the
guests of my grandfather Meade, he living convenient to
Hampton Roads, where the ship lay in which they had
taken their passage to England. From some cause or
other, the ship was delayed longer than was expected,
which delay proved favorable to my father's views, who
had but little expectation of obtaining the parent's con-
sent to his marriage with their daughter in Virginia, and
he was preparing to accompany the family to England,
when the earnest entreaties of his father, who was dis-
tressed at the thought of being so long and so widely
separated from his only son, prevailed upon the parents
of my mother to consent to an immediate marriage.
They, with the most entire confidence in his honor and
affection, put their daughter under the protection of her
enraptured lover. No pair ever enjoyed more happiness
in the hymeneal state than they did. They were both of
them very young when they came together, and with very
little experience in mankind, brought up under the eyes
of fond and virtuous parents.
    My father was of handsome person and fine stature.
He lived a monotonous and tranquil life. The purity of
his heart corresponded with the symmetry of his person.
He was the most affectionate of husbands, the tenderest
of parents, and the best of masters, and an ingenuous and
sincere friend. Brought up in his father's house, with
such a pattern. he-could not but be just, generous and
hospitable. If it were thought to detract anything from

 




                          8

his merits, it would not be here recorded that he had
never studied human nature. Ever disposed to believe
men to be what they should be, if he detected an indi-
vidual deviating from strict probity, he considered him a
monster. Venial faults excited in him astonishment, and
crime horror. In fine, he was a truly virtuous man, but
no philosopher. He deceased in the year 1757, being
then in his 47th year.



 





       AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DAVID MEADE.

    DAVID MEADE, the grandson of Andrew and eldest
son of David, was born July 29th, old style 1744. In
infancy he was so infirm and sickly that his fond parents,
thinking that a change of climate might improve his
health and prolong his life, determined to send him to
England, with a view at the same time to his education.
Soon after he had passed his seventh year he embarked
in Hampton Roads, under the protection of Mr. John
Watson, a particular friend of his father, on board a new
schooner,,Capt. Bowman. The other cabin passengers
were the Rev. Miles Seldon, as he, became after receiving
holy orders, and Don Ronello, the captain of a galleon
from La Vera Cruz stranded upon the coast of North
Carolina, his secretary, and one officer of the ship. The
passage was favorable until the last night the passengers
remained on board, when, at twelve o'clock, the night
being very dark and wind blowing fresh, the schooner
struck upon the Goodwin sands- in the channel, and
continued to strike with such increased violence that it
was expected by all on board that she would every minute
go to pieces.  In this dreadful situation -all hands,
including the passengers, were on deck, some way or
other employed, except the was-to-be clergyman and his
terrified messmate, who remained on their knees in the
cabin from twelve at night until eight in the morning,
when they and the rest of the passengers were taken on
shore at Deal by boats from that place. The Spanish
captain was impressed with the belief that Heaven had
conceded the preservation of the sinners on board to
the prayers of the seam-ien, not allowing any credit to
those of the parson.

 





l0



    Mr. Watson passed with his young companion to
Canterbury, where they visited the Cathedral; thence to
London, arriving at night; but how great was the young
stranger's disappointment, when, on looking out of the
window, or door, next morning, he saw nothing but high
houses built of materials which were not new to him, and
black streets paved with round stones, instead of houses
of gold and streets paved with diamonds, for his imagina-
tion had been thus early highly excited by fairy tales,
such as the Arabian Nights. He was seized with a violent
fever, which cost his parents no uneasiness (they knew
nothing of it until he was well), but a good deal of
money.   Three physicians attended him many weeks,
and part of the time twice a day. When he had attained
to convalescence he was sent to a boarding school, more
for the benefit of country air than for tuition. From
thence he was removed to Harrow and had the good for-
tune to  be placed under the care of the Rev. Dr.
Thackeray, Archdeacon of Surrey and Chaplain to the
Prince of Wales, head master of Harrow school. He was
received by the venerable, worthy Doctor and his pious,
charitable, and in every respect exemplary lady into their
family as their adopted son, and for five years became
bound to them by ties much stronger than those of
nature, insomuch that the most affecting event of his
whole life was his separation from them. At Harrow he
made many a school acquaintance, which, if he had culti-
vated as long as he remained in England, with a view to
the advancement of his fortune, would not have disap-
pointed his expectations, in all probability; but, although
a boy, and a subject at that time, and surely without any
presentiment of the future destiny that was in reserve for
him and his brethren in America, viz.: that of being ele-
vated from the humble station of subject to the eminent
distinction of citizen, he neither felt nor acknowledged.
any superiority in those schoolfellows and playmates who,

 




I I



themselves, were decorated with honorary titles, or whose
fathers were titled men. He associated upon equal terms
wvith any Lord, Duke, or Sir Harry. It may, however,
be proper to mention the names of one schoolfellow
(several years over the age), and one other to whom he
was under greater obligations than to any others, for their
uniform kindness up to the time he left the Kingdom.
The Hon. George Forbes, late Earl of Grenard, father to
the present Earl, was, perhaps, the most steady, warm
friend he had in England, with the exception of Dr.
Thackeray and his wife, who were father and mother to
him. At the house of Lady Forbes he always spent a
time, and from my Lady received all the attention and
tenderness of a near relative. James West, his bedfellow
at Harrow, was the other friend to be noticed. He
was the son of the member of Parliament for St.
Albans, nephew to Lady Grantly, Attorney-General
Norton, and brother to Lady Archer, well known for
fifty years in very gay, elevated life. Titles were familiar
at Harrow, but no more will be mentioned. It must not
be forgotten that the professed scholar and great linguist,
Sir William Jones. was at Harrow school at the time
he was, and if Dr. Parr was his friend, the son of Mr.
Parr, the apothecary of Harrow, he was likewise at school
at the same time, and well remembered by him. The
succession of masters at a school so prominent as that of
Harrow-on-the-Hill is no doubt registered in the records
of that institution, but it probably does not set forth the
causes of the removal of such as were superseded.
    The case of Doctor Cox, the head master immediately
before Doctor Thackeray, was singular and somewhat
tragic. Of the proprietors of Pennsylvania, John and
Richard Penn, who were the last proprietary governors of
that province (now State) were at Harrow school, and it
is probable boarded (with many other boys) at the head
master's. John, as it was said, contracted a fondness for a

 




12



daughter of Doctor Cox, and married her clandestinely.
It was suspected by the family of Penn and his connec-
tions, that the Doctor had connived at the elopement; but
whether he did or not, the unfortunate Doctor Cox and
his guiltless daughter became the sad victims of their
resentment.  The Doctor was disgracefully discharged
from the honorable station of head master of Harrow
school. She soon after died of a broken heart, and her
father, deprived of his living and his reputation, did not
long survive her. It is well known in America that John
Penn afterwards married the daughter of Mr. Allen, of
Philadelphia. The pecuniary advantage of Mr. Penn's
marriage with Miss Allen was probably much greater than
the first which he contracted with Miss Cox: demonstrably
not more honorable, but perhaps less so. The above nar-
rative will be found upon inquiry not to be apocryphal.
The humble subject of this brief biography was present at
an arrow shooting at which his friend West won the prize
or arrow, at which time his honored, good, and venerable
pastor, Doctor Thackeray, havirg relinquished his seat of
head master on account of his age and the many sacerdotal
duties which he had to perform, took his farewell of Harrow,
leaving the succession to Doctor Sumner, well known at
Eaton, but afterwards better known as head master of
Harrow, having for many years filled. the highest seat in
that seminary. He acquired for it so high a reputation
that the number of boys at it was augmented from less
than two hundred to more than five hundred. Eaton alone
cpuld boast of a greater number. After a residence of
about five years with Doctor Thackeray, he was, without
the knowledge or even indirect sanction of his parents,
violently removed from Harrow to a private school at
Dalfton, in Hackney parish, kept by Mr. James Graham.
whose son became a barrister of considerable eminence.
His brother, Richard Kidder Meade, not long before arrived
at London from Virginia, and was sent with him to Gra-

 




13



ham's school. During a continuance at Dalfton of two
years or more he made no progress in classical learning or
indeed in any other. Here it may not be amiss to note
that the progress which boys make at public or private
boarding schools in learning the dead languages depends
less upon the qualification of the masters to teach, than
upon the capacities of the boys for learning. From Dalf-
ton school he was removed to Fuller's academy in London,
where,dropping the dead languages altogether, after having
been at Latin and Greek seven years, he entered upon a
new and very different course of learning, viz: Writing,
ciphering, mathematics, geography, French, grammar,
drawing, perspective, music, etc., etc., of which, at the end
of three years, he did not take away to impoverish the
academy. He had a very small smattering of everything
he had attempted to learn, but less of the languages both
dead and foreign than of the sciences and the elegant arts.
Thus, but ordinarily qualified for the humble walks of pri-
vate life, and without natural talents or acquired knowledge
to move with any credit to himself in public, he left Eng-
land in the year 1761, and arrived in his native Virginia
some time in June of that year, having had a passage of
about two months on board a ship of a hundred hogshead
burden, commanded by Captain Hooper, bound to New
York. and consigned to Mr. Norton of that town. A
considerable fleet of merchantmen, of which Hooper made
one, came into Chesapeake Bay at the same time under con-
voy of the -, 40 guns, Capt. Norton, and the Pos-
tillion, 20 guns, Capt. Jarvis, probably now Lord St. Vin-
cents-sloops of war. The forests and black population
of his native land, after an absence of ten years, were
novel, but not by any means pleasing to him, and nothing
was less familiar to him than the persons of the individ-
uals of his family. He found two sisters-Mary, married to
George Walker; and Anne, married to Richard Randolph
-from whom are now derived a numerous progeny. The

 





14



writer left behind him at Dalfton school two brothers,
Richard Kidder, who afterward became aid-de-camp to
General Washington, and Everard, who was aid-de-camp
to General Lincoln, and was afterward raised to the rank
of General, and found two at his paternal mansion born
since he left Virginia. The persons of his sisters were as
little known to him as those of his brothers whom he had
never seen. But although he had forgotten all persons
and things about his birthplace, he recognized a scene
and the persons of the actors in it, to which he had been
familiar from having been a spectator of ,it for perhaps
nearly every day of his life previous to his going to Eng-
land; it was two old negro men upon a pit in the act of
sawing; precisely as when he left them employed, so he
found them without any apparent change in their persons.
The four following years he passed with the recurrence of
little incident, rather monotonous, there being little in the
county of Nansemond, where his mother's residence-was, to
attract a youth brought up to no occupation, accustomed
to good company, and inheriting a good patrimony. He
found society up James River much more congenial to his
age, temper, and habits, than any his native county could
afford him. Williamsburg was the metropolis of the
colony, and was the resort, before the Revolutionary war,
of all the gentry and merchants in the colony, also of the
planters, for the purpose of drawing bills of exchange upon
London, Bristol, Liverpool, etc.
    The general court held its session -in April and
October. The amusements were balls, sometimes theat-
ricals and races, spring and fall. In conformity with an
engagement entered into some time previous, with his very
intimate and much valued friends Ryland and John Ran-
dolph, the former a fine classical scholar, master of the
French and Italian languages, an eloquent speaker and
most accomplished gentleman, and the latter, his brother,
who was the father of the much celebrated member of

 




15



Congress of the same name, a worthy man of good
natural parts, not so much cultivated as those of his
brother Ryland, and totally without application. In con-
formity with the before mentioned agreement, the writer
left home with the above named gentlemen on a tour
northward. At Hampton he hired a vessel to transport
him to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and embarked at Mill
Creek, July 26th, 1765, and the next day in the evening
arrived at Corotoman, upon the Rappahannock, the seat of
Mr. Carter. There Ryland Randolph joined him; John
Randolph had preceded them to Philadelphia, where he
was inoculated for the small-pox. Calling at Annapolis
they proceeded by way of New Castle to Philadelphia,
there being joined by John Randolph, thence by way of
Amboy to New York. They were there politely received
.and very handsomely entertained by General Gage, then
commander-in-chief. They were introduced by letters from
Colonel Byrd, of Westover, and Colonel Fitzhugh, of
Maryland. During the year 1766, it is well known, all
British America was violently agitated by an attempt of
Government to impress the stamp duty upon the Colonies.
Deputies were appointed by the different legislatures to
meet at New York for the purpose of remonstrating against
it. Very few attended that year at New York, but a pretty
full representation of the Colonies and provinces assembled
in Congress the next year in Maryland.
    Of the company, which was very numerous at General
Gage's table, were three deputies from Massachusetts,
viz., General Ruggles, Col. Partridge, and the distin-
guished champion of his country's rights at that time, Mr.
Otis, who was the father, in all probability, of the modern
Otis, distinguished not for his opposition to, but partiality
for. Britain, and his hospitality to the virtuous and popular
chief, and all otherswho assisted in the administration of the
Government of the United States. Mr. Otis, of the year
'65, appeared to be a modest, sensible man, who was no

 




i6



stranger to good company, of middle stature, inclining to
be fat, and little (if any) over the middle age. Brigadier
Ruggles was, to appearances, not less than seventy years
of age, very tall, very taciturn, and of aspect neither
engaging nor patrician. Col. Partridge was a pert little
man, with the coat of a gentleman, he was a complete
clown in his manners, and manifested the most entire
ignorance of the usages which prevail in polished societies.
In those days industry and enterprise were characteristic
attributes of New Englandmen, hospitality and good
breeding, of all above vulgar, of the Southern colonies and
provinces; and in those days New York was a populous
city, and the population more refined than it was in any
other city, borough or town in North America, except
Charleston, in South Carolina. There were not more
than three or four close carriages in New York; that of the
venerable Chief Justice Horsmanden, a very old coach, was
in their service during the few days they were in the city.
Neither were there any elegant steamboats in those days,
and they very cheerfully took passage in an Albany sloop
for that place, which, although affording but humble ac-
commodations, was the best to be had. During a short
stay at Albany they became acquainted with a Mr. Prevost,
lieutenant in thearmy, and son or nephew to the first general
of that name. How near he was related to the redoubtable
Sir George, the hero of Plattsburg, was not worth the
while enquiring, and now not easily ascertained. From
Albany they advanced to Lake George, by way of Fort
Edward; from Lake George down the lake to Ticonderoga,
on the contracted part of Champlain; thence to Crown
Point; thence down the lake to St. John's; thence by land
i8 miles, all a swamp forest, inhabited by no other living
thing but mosquitoes of the highest magnitude, to La
Prairie, on the hither bank of the St. Lawrence river, in
sight of and nine miles from Montreal, the site of which
ii a great natural curiosity and very beautiful. It may

 




17



be thought worthy of notice, that in the year 1765, as you
advanced tup the North or Hudson river, above Albany,
and near the bank of the river, where the only or most
public road ran, the settlements became less frequent by
pretty regular gradations until you got to Stillwater, i8
miles above Albany. At Stillwater there were very fine
saw-mills, perhaps belonging to the Schuyler family, and,
except the attendants on the mills, no other inhabitants
but an old woman and a female servant or companion, who
occupied a log house of two rooms, where she entertained
travelers. From thence to Saratoga--about 14 miles-few,
if any,settlements; from Saratogato Fort Edward, about 25
miles-at intervals of miles were settlements (so recently
made that the dry leaves were still standing on the dead-
ened timber) altogether upon the bottoms of the river.
Fort Edward was built upon a very beautiful bottom of
considerable extent upon the Hudson, well set with green
sward of great height, and fit for the scythe. Upon an
eminence on the other side of the river, nearly opposite
the fort, stood a block house, mounting eight cannon.
Fort Edward was a square of regular sides, with four bas-
tions built of timber and earth. From thence to Fort
George, on the south end of Lake George, were 14
miles of country without a settlement; from the south end
of the lake to the landing place on the north being 36
miles. On neither side was there any human residence,
except on the west, about six miles from the landing, an
individual lived in a small hut, his only companion a cat.
From the landing'place, where at a small block house a
disbanded provincial officer, attended with an ox-cart to
hire for conveyance, to Ticonderoga-only three weeks
crossing. In this short distance was no kind of settle-
ment, or the appearance of any ever having been, except
the ruins of a saw-mill, which had been erected at the
expense of the Crown for the public use.

 







    Arriving at Ticonderoga some time early in the day,
they were there politely received and hospitably enter-
tained by the commander of the fort, a captain. There
they found Sir Adam Gordon, Captain McDonald, of
his regiment, Mr. Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, father
to the present chief general of the United States, and Mr.
John Allen, of Philadelphia, who were on their return from
a tour to the Falls of Niagara and lower Canada, as far as
Quebec. Lord Adam was so obliging as to make them a
present of his tent, which, although very old and full of
holes, was the only one the company had, and proved
extremely convenient to those who hadl the succession to
it. The next morning (Aug. 23) they embarked in a sail
boat with Captain Brown, who commanded at Crown
Point, and arrived at about ten in theforenoon. The fort
at Crown Point is a pentagon (irregular), with a bastion at
each angle, built very handsomely of hewn timber, and
cost the Crown 150,000 pounds. It was built by order of
Gen. Amherst, and by military men judged a waste of
money. The same was thought of the expenditure of
25,000 pounds by that general upon a single bastion of
stone at the south end of Lake Geoge. as a part of a fort,
which, when completed, was to have been square, with
four bastions. On the morning of the 25th they embarked
in a sail boat, heavy laden with their baggage (of which
they very unadvisedly started with too much), for St.
John's, and encamped, the wind changing to adverse in
the afternoon, at a point .on the west side of the lake,
opposite to four islands called the " Four Brothers, " nearly
where the lake begins to expand above, being only of the
width of a small river forty miles below Crown Point. The
next morning early they continued their journey as far as
Isle Noir, where they were obliged to stop and continue
that night. one of the party being taken with an ague,
which was the second he had had on the lake. Here they
found shelter in an old cottage inhabited by a German fain-

 





19



ily, and it was the only settlement from Crown Point thither,
with the exception of one which was said to have been
made that summer, or perhaps the preceding, by a gentle-
man from Ireland, with several laborers, at the depth of a
bay, commencing at a point opposite the ' Four Brothers, "
from which point to that northward which forms the bay
is about two miles, and is probably the bay near which
Plattsburg is situated, and the same which will be memor-
able in the annals of the United States, and immortalize
the name of McDonough, who, with his gallant associates,
captured a whole British fleet in it.
    On the 27th landed at St. John's before midday,
hired horses and proceeded without delay to La Prairie,
where they arrived at night, a distance of eighteen miles.
La Prairie, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, is higher
tip the river than Montreal, and the passage from the
former to the latter is nine miles in an oblique direction.
The river is nearly all the way full of rocks, visible and
invisible, which cause such considerable rapids that it
requires skillful boatmen to conduct passengers safely
across. After three days spent at Montreal, which they
found under the command of Capt. Stabo in the absence
of the chief commander of the military, who, with many
other officers, had gone down to Quebec to receive two
regiments, one recently arrived from Ireland and another
that was to embark for England. Capt. Stabo, who had
the temporary command at Mont