And

After this disappointment, my father determined to employ a private tutor for his own family, who should reside in the house. It was the only way in which he could educate his daughters, and, indeed, it was the usual way at that time in the county we lived in, where the family was large and the parent could afford the expense of a tutor. Besides, it was no part of my father's plan to give my elder brother a classical education. He was, at that period of his life, strongly imbued with the English notion of perpetuating the family estate in the eldest son. he gave us all to understand, as early as we were capable of understanding it, that his landed estate would go to my elder brother; and that his younger sons would have a liberal education and the means of studying a profession, and, after that, we must rely on ourselves for support. And carrying out this plan, which proved to be an unfortunate one for my elder brother, he designed to give him nothing more than a good English education, that would fit him for the business of a landed gentleman cultivating his own estate, and qualify him to associate upon equal terms, as to education and information, with the gentlemen of the county. All this would be accomplished by a private tutor. Accordingly one was engaged. He was an Irishman, who, I believe, was a ripe scholar, and who was certainly an amiable and accomplished man in his disposition and manners. But he

died of consumption before his first year was out. The second was an American, a native of the State, who was a good English scholar, but whose knowledge of Latin was very slender, and who was altogether ignorant of Greek. He remained with us a year, and at the end of that time a third was engaged, David English, who afterwards edited a paper in George Town, and was for many years employed as an officer in one of the banks of that place. He was, I believe, a native of New Jersey, and had graduated at Princeton, and was in every respect a fortunate selection; for he was undoubtedly an accomplished scholar, and seemed to take pleasure in teaching us, and was altogether an agreeable inmate in the family. At the end of the year he advised my father to send me at once to college, and encouraged him to do so by the very favorable accounts he gave of my progress. His advice was followed; and I went to Dickinson College, Carlisle, when I was little more than fifteen years of age. I recall with pleasure now the unwearied attention and kindness of my old preceptor when I was under his care. He died a few years ago at an advanced age; and it is pleasant to remember the interest he took in my fortunes as long as he lived. He was residing in George Town, retired from business, when I was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I had not seen him for a great many years. But as soon as I went to Washington to take

my seat on the bench, he came to see me, and we met one another full of old recollections and mutual kindness. And day after day I have seen him take his seat on a bench outside of the bar in front of the court, without any business to bring him there or any interest in the case under argument, but solely, as it seemed to me, for the pleasure of seeing his old pupil presiding in that court. I was sensibly touched by these tokens of enduring interest in my fortunes, and never failed to go up to him and converse with him for a few moments, whenever I saw him in court, unless the engagements of the court made it impracticable.

My father was induced to select Dickinson College from the circumstance that two young men, a few years older than myself, were already there, with whose families he was intimately acquainted, and who gave very favorable accounts of the institution. It certainly deserved it while Dr. Nisbet was at its head, and the other departments were in the hands in which I found them.

I went in company with one of the young gentlemen of whom I have spoken, when he returned after the spring vacation in 1792. It was no small undertaking, however, in that day, to get from the lower part of Calvert County to Carlisle. We embarked on board one of the schooners employed in transporting produce and goods between the Patuxent River and Baltimore, and, owing to unfavorable winds, it was

a week before we reached our port of destination; and, as there was no stage or any other public conveyance between Baltimore and Carlisle, we were obliged to stay at an inn until we could find a wagon returning to Carlisle, and not too heavily laden to take our trunks and allow us occasionally to ride in it. This we at length accomplished, and in that way proceeded to Carlisle, and arrived safely, making the whole journey from our homes in about a fortnight. And what made the whole journey more unpleasant was that we were obliged to take, in specie, money enough to pay our expenses until the next vacation. The money was necessarily placed in our trunks, and they were often much exposed in an open wagon in a public wagonyard, while the wagoner and ourselves were somewhere else. But, in truth, we were not very anxious on that score, for a robbery in that day was hardly to be thought of as among the hazards of travel. But times are greatly changed in that respect, although certainly much improved as to travelling itself. I remained at college until the fall of 1795, when I graduated, and received the diploma of Bachelor of Arts. The difficulties of the journey were so great that I went home but twice, and, upon both occasions, walked from Carlisle to Baltimore with one of my school-companions, performing the journey in a little over two days. We came to Owing's Mill, within twelve miles of Baltimore, on the evening of the second day. The dis

tance from Carlisle to Baltimore was then said to be eighty-five miles. But estimated distances are often overstated, and in this instance the true distance may be less.

I have not a great deal to say of my college life. It was, taken altogether, a pleasant one. None of us boarded in the college, but at different private boarding-houses about town,- for the present edifice was not then erected, and the building used was a small and shabby one, fronting on a dirty alley, but with a large open lot in the rear, where we often amused ourselves. with playing bandy. After the first six months I boarded with James McCormick, the professor of mathematics. There were generally eight of us in the house, which were as many as it could accommodate. Mr. McCormick and his wife were as kind to us as if they had been our parents. He was unwearied in his attentions to us in our studies, full of patience and good-nature, and sometimes seemed distressed when, upon examining a pupil, he found him. not quite as learned as he was himself.

I took a letter from my father to Dr. Nisbet, asking him to stand in the place of a guardian to me on account of my youth and distance from home and friends, and the retirement and seclusion in which I had so far been educated. He cheerfully took upon himself the duty, and invited me to visit him often. I did so. And many a pleasant evening have I spent