FOOTNOTES:
[482] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy, 1810; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 546; and same to same, March, 1809; MS. Thomas Marshall was now Colonel of the Virginia State Regiment of Artillery and continued as such until February 26, 1781, when his men were discharged and he became "a reduced officer." (Memorial of Thomas Marshall, supra. See Appendix IV.) This valuable historical document is the only accurate account of Thomas Marshall's military services. It disproves the statement frequently made that he was captured when under Lincoln at Charleston, South Carolina, May 12, 1780. Not only was he commanding the State Artillery in Virginia at that time, but on March 28 he executed a deed in Fauquier County, Virginia, and in June he was assisting the Ambler family in removing to Richmond. (See infra.) If a Thomas Marshall was captured at Charleston, it must have been one of the many others of that name. There was a South Carolina officer named Thomas Marshall and it is probably he to whom Heitman refers. Heitman (ed. 1914), 381. For account of the surrender of Charleston, see McCrady, iii, 507-09.
[483] "Certain it is that another Revolutionary War can never happen to affect and ruin a family so completely as ours has been!" It "involved our immediate family in poverty and perplexity of every kind." (Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 545-47.)
[484] Ib.
[485] Dog Latin and crude pun for "bell in day."
[486] Jefferson to Page and to Fleming, from Dec. 25, 1762, to March 20, 1764; Works: Ford, i, 434-52. In these delightful letters Jefferson tells of his infatuation, sometimes writing "Adnileb" in Greek.
"He is a boy and is indisputably in love in this good year 1763, and he courts and sighs and tries to capture his pretty little sweetheart, but like his friend George Washington, fails. The young lady will not be captured!" (Susan Randolph's account of Jefferson's wooing Rebecca Burwell; Green Bag, viii, 481.)
[487] Tradition says that George Washington met a like fate at the hands of Edward Ambler, Jacquelin's brother, who won Mary Cary from the young Virginia soldier. While this legend has been exploded, it serves to bring to light the personal attractiveness of the Amblers; for Miss Cary was very beautiful, heiress of a moderate fortune, and much sought after. It was Mary Cary's sister by whom Washington was captivated. (Colonel Wilson Miles Cary, in Pecquet du Bellet, i, 24-25.)
[488] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 547. Of the letters which John Marshall wrote home while in the army, not one has been preserved.
[489] Ib.
[490] Ib.
[491] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 547.
[492] Hist. Mag., iii, 165. While this article is erroneous as to dates, it is otherwise accurate.
[493] Ib., 167.
[494] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 547.
[495] Hist. Mag., iii, 167.
[496] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 547.
[497] Supra, chap. II.
[498] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 547.
[499] "Notes on Virginia": Jefferson; Works: Ford, iv, 65.
[500] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; supra. William and Mary was the first American institution of learning to adopt the modern lecture system. (Tyler; Williamsburg, 153.) The lecture method was inaugurated Dec. 29, 1779 (ib., 174-75), only four months before Marshall entered.
[501] John Brown to Wm. Preston, Feb. 15, 1780; W. and M. C. Q., ix, 76.
[502] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; MS.
[503] See infra.
[504] The Reverend James Madison, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics; James McClung, Professor of Anatomy and Medicine; Charles Bellini, Professor of Modern Languages; George Wythe, Professor of Law; and Robert Andrews, Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. (History of William and Mary College, Baltimore, 1870, 70-71.) There was also a fencing school. (John Brown to Wm. Preston, Feb. 15, 1780; W. and M. C. Q., ix, 76.)
[505] History of William and Mary College, Baltimore, 1870, 45. "Thirty Students and three professors joined the army at the beginning of the Revolutionary War." (Ib., 41.) Cornwallis occupied Williamsburg, June, 1781, and made the president's house his headquarters. (Tyler: Williamsburg, 168.)
[506] Fithian, 107.
[507] John Brown to Wm. Preston, Jan. 26, 1780; W. and M. C. Q., ix, 75. Seventeen years later the total cost to a student for a year at the college was one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy dollars. (La Rochefoucauld, iii, 49-56.) The annual salary of the professors was four hundred dollars and that of the president was six hundred dollars.
[508] In Marshall's time the college laws provided that "No liquors shall be furnished or used at [the college students'] table except beer, cider, toddy or spirits and water." (History of William and Mary College (Baltimore, 1870), 44; and see Fithian, Feb. 12, 1774, 106-07.)
Twelve years after Marshall took his hasty law course at William and Mary College, a college law was published prohibiting "the drinking of spirituous liquors (except in that moderation which becomes the prudent and industrious student)." (History of William and Mary College, 44.)
In 1769 the Board of Visitors formally resolved that for professors to marry was "contrary to the principles on which the College was founded, and their duty as Professors"; and that if any professor took a wife "his Professorship be immediately vacated." (Resolution of Visitors, Sept. 1, 1769; ib., 45.) This law was disregarded; for, at the time when Marshall attended William and Mary, four out of the five professors were married men.
The college laws on drinking were merely a reflection of the customs of that period. (See chaps. VII and VIII.) This historic institution of learning turned out some of the ablest and best-educated men of the whole country. Wythe, Bland, Peyton and Edmund Randolph, Taylor of Caroline, Nicholas, Pendleton, Madison, and Jefferson are a few of the William and Mary's remarkable products. Every one of the most distinguished families of Virginia is found among her alumni. (See Catalogue of Alumni, History of William and Mary College, 73-147. An error in this list puts John Marshall in the class of 1775 instead of that of 1780; also, he did not graduate.)
[509] Infra, chap. VII.
[510] La Rochefoucauld, iii, 49; and see Schoepf, ii, 79-80.
William Wirt, writing twenty-three years after Marshall's short attendance, thus describes the college: "They [Virginians] have only one publick seminary of learning.... This college ... in the niggardly spirit of parsimony which they dignify with the name of economy, these democrats have endowed with a few despicable fragments of surveyors' fees &c. thus converting their national academy into a mere lazaretto and feeding its ... highly respectable professors, like a band of beggars, on the scraps and crumbs that fall from the financial table. And, then, instead of aiding and energizing the police of the college, by a few civil regulations, they permit their youth to run riot in all the wildness of dissipation." (Wirt: The British Spy, 131, 132.)
[511] "Notes on Virginia": Jefferson; Works: Ford, iv, 69.
[512] Chastellux, 299. It is difficult to reconcile Jefferson's description of the college building with that of the French traveler. Possibly the latter was influenced by the French professor, Bellini.
[513] John Brown to Col. Wm. Preston, July 6, 1780: W. and M. C. Q., ix, 80.
[514] John Brown to Col. Wm. Preston, July 6, 1780; W. and M. C. Q., ix, 80.
[515] Records, Phi Beta Kappa Society of William and Mary College, printed in W. and M. C. Q., iv, 236.
[516] Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, now President of William and Mary College, thinks that this date is approximately correct.
[517] Records, Phi Beta Kappa Society of William and Mary College; printed in, W. and M. C. Q., iv, 236.
[518] See infra.
[519] Marshall's Notebook; MS. See infra.
[520] Betsy Ambler to Mildred Smith, 1780; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 536.
[521] See infra.
[522] Marshall to his wife, infra.
[523] Marshall could have had at least one year at William and Mary, for the college did not close until June, 1781. Also he could have continued to attend for several weeks after he left in June, 1780; for student John Brown's letters show that the college was still open on July 20 of that year.
[524] County Court Minutes of Fauquier County, Virginia, 1773-80, 473.
[525] Autobiography.
[526] Marshall, with other officers, did go to Philadelphia in January or February of 1777 to be inoculated for smallpox (Marshall to Colonel Stark, June 12, 1832, supporting latter's pension claim; MSS. Rev. War, S. F. no. 7592, Pension Bureau); but evidently he was not treated or the treatment was not effective.
[527] First, the written permission to be inoculated had to be secured from all the justices of the county; next, all the neighbors for two miles around must consent—if only one of them refused, the treatment could not be given. Any physician was fined ten thousand dollars, if he inoculated without these restrictions. (Hening, ix, 371.) If any one was stricken with smallpox, he was carried to a remote cabin in the woods where a doctor occasionally called upon him. (La Rochefoucauld, iii, 79-80; also De Warville, 433.)
[528] Horses were very scarce in Virginia at this time. It was almost impossible to get them even for military service.
[529] Southern Literary Messenger (quoting from a statement by Marshall), ii, 183.
[530] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 547.
[531] Ib., 548. A story handed down through generations of lawyers confirms Mrs. Carrington. "I would have had my wife if I had had to climb Alleghanys of skulls and swim Atlantics of blood" the legend makes Marshall say in one of his convivial outbursts. (The late Senator Joseph E. McDonald to the author.)
[532] "The Palace" was a public building "not handsome without but ... spacious and commodious within and prettily situated." ("Notes on Virginia": Jefferson; Works: Ford, iv, 69.)
[533] Richard Anderson, the father of the defender of Fort Sumter. (Terhune: Colonial Homesteads, 97.)
[534] A country place of Edward Ambler's family in Hanover County. (See Pecquet du Bellet, i, 35.) Edward Ambler was now dead. His wife lived at "The Cottage" from the outbreak of the war until her death in 1781. (Ib., 26; and Mrs. Carrington to Mrs. Dudley, Oct. 10, 1796; MS.)
[535] Marshall to his wife, Feb. 23, 1826; MS.
[536] Most of the courts were closed because of the British invasion. (Flanders, ii, 301.)
[537] Infra, chap. VI.
[538] Autobiography.
[539] Betsy Ambler to Mildred Smith, 1780; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 537.
[540] Betsy Ambler to Mildred Smith, 1780; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 537.
[541] Jefferson to Short, Dec. 14, 1788; Works: Ford, vi, 24. Twelve years after Marshall's marriage, there were but seven hundred houses in Richmond. (Weld, i, 188.)
[542] Pecquet du Bellet, i, 35-37. He was very rich. (See inventory of John Ambler's holdings, ib.) This opulent John Ambler married John Marshall's sister Lucy in 1792 (ib., 40-41); a circumstance of some interest when we come to trace Marshall's views as influenced by his connections and sympathies.
[543] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 548.
[544] She was born March 18, 1766, and married January 3, 1783. (Paxton, 37.) Marshall's mother was married at the same age.
[545] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 548.
[546] Thomas Marshall's will shows that he owned, when he died, several years later, an immense quantity of land.
[547] Supra, chap. II.
[548] Fauquier County Tithable Book, 1783-84; MS., Va. St. Lib.
[549] Ib.
[550] See infra.
[551] Washington to Lund Washington, Aug. 15, 1778; Writings: Ford, vii, 151-52.
[552] Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, vii, 533.
[553] Supra, chap. II.
[554] See infra, chap. VIII.
[555] Marshall to Monroe, Dec. 28, 1784; Monroe MSS., vii, 832; Lib. Cong.
[556] Marshall, ii, 104.
[557] Marshall to Monroe, Dec. 12, 1783; Draper Collection, Wis. Hist. Soc. Thomas Marshall first went to Kentucky in 1780 by special permission of the Governor of Virginia and while he was still Colonel of the State Artillery Regiment. (Humphrey Marshall, i, 104, 120.) During his absence his regiment apparently became somewhat demoralized. (Thomas Marshall to Colonel George Muter, Feb. 1781; MS. Archives, Va. St. Lib. and partly printed in Cal. Va. St. Prs., i, 549.) Upon his return to Virginia, he was appointed Surveyor of a part of Kentucky, November 1, 1780. (Collins: History of Kentucky, i, 20.) The following year he was appointed on the commission "to examine and settle the Public Accts in the Western Country" and expected to go to Kentucky before the close of the year, but did not, because his military certificates were not given him in time. (Thomas Marshall to Governor Harrison, March 17, 1781; Cal. Va. St. Prs., i, 578; and to Lieutenant-Governor Jameson, Oct. 14, 1781; ib., 549.) He opened his surveyor's office in Kentucky in November, 1782. (Butler: History of Kentucky, 138.) In 1783 he returned to Virginia to take his family to their new home, where he remained until his death in 1802. (Paxton, 19.) Thomas Marshall was immediately recognized as one of the leading men in this western Virginia district, and was elected to the Legislature and became "Surveyor [Collector] of Revenue for the District of Ohio." (See infra, chaps, III and V.)
[558] Betsy Ambler to Mildred Smith; Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 537.
[559] Mrs. Carrington to Mildred Smith, Jan. 10, 1786; MS.
[560] Mordecai, 45-47.
[561] Ib., 40.
[562] Mordecai, chap. ii.
[563] Ib., 51-52. This was more than twenty years after Marshall and his young wife started housekeeping in Richmond.
[564] Ib., 53.
[565] Ib.
[566] Meade, i, 140; Schoepf, ii, 62.
[567] Mordecai, chap, xxi; Schoepf, ii, 63 et seq.
[568] See supra, chaps. I and VII.
[569] Schoepf, ii, 64. Marshall frequented this place and belonged to a club which met there. (See entries from Marshall's Account Book, infra.)
[570] Supra, chap. II.
[571] This invaluable Marshall source is not a law student's commonplace book alphabetically arranged, but merely a large volume of blank leaves. It is six inches wide by eight in length and more than one in thickness. The book also contains Marshall's accounts for twelve years after his marriage. All reference hereafter to his receipts and expenses are from this source.
[572] The notes are not only of lectures actually delivered by Wythe, but of Marshall's reading on topics assigned for study. It is probable that many of these notes were made after Marshall left college.
[573] See infra, chap. VI.
[574] Such entries as these denote only Marshall's social and friendly spirit. At that period and for many years afterward card-playing for money was universal in Virginia (La Rochefoucauld, iii, 77; and Mordecai, ed. 1856, chap. xxi), particularly at Richmond, where the women enjoyed this pastime quite as much as the men. (Ib.) This, indeed, was the case everywhere among women of the best society who habitually played cards for money. (Also see Chastellux, 333-34.)
[575] Marshall's wife.
[576] The references are to pounds, shillings, and pence. Thus "3 14/" means three pounds and fourteen shillings. "30-5-10" means thirty pounds, five shillings, and tenpence; or "3/6" means three shillings, sixpence. Where the Account Book indicates the amount without the signs of denomination, I have stated the amount indicated by the relative positions of the figures in the Account Book. Computation should be by Virginia currency (which was then about three and one half dollars to the Virginia pound) and not by the English pound sterling. This is not very helpful, however, because there is no standard of comparison between the Virginia dollar of that period and the United States dollar of to-day. It is certain only that the latter has greater purchasing power than the former. All paper money had greatly depreciated at the time, however.
[577] The "University" was William and Mary College, then partly supported by a portion of the fees of official surveyors. Thomas Marshall was now Surveyor of Fayette County, Kentucky. (See supra.) This entry occurs several times.
[578] Such entries are frequent throughout his Account Book. During his entire life, Marshall was very fond of the theater. (See infra, II, chap, V; also vol. III of this work.)
[579] Thomas Marshall, born July 21, 1784. (Paxton, 90.)
[580] Buchanan was the Episcopal clergyman in Richmond at the time. (Meade, i, 29, 140.)
[581] The races at Richmond, held bi-annually, were the great social events of Virginia. (Mordecai, 178 et seq.)
[582] This fixes the equivalent in State dollars for Virginia pounds and shillings.
[583] He already owned one tithable negro in Fauquier County in 1783. (Fauquier County Tithable Book, 1783-84; MS., Va. St. Lib. See supra.)
[584] Marshall to Monroe, Feb. 24, 1784; MS., N.Y. Pub. Lib. Compare with Jefferson's sentimental letters at the same age. Very few of Marshall's letters during this period are extant. This one to Monroe is conspicuously noticeable for unrestraint and joyousness. As unreserved as he always was in verbal conversation, Marshall's correspondence soon began to show great caution, unlike that of Jefferson, which increased, with time, in spontaneity. Thus Marshall's letters became more guarded and less engaging; while Jefferson's pen used ever more highly colored ink and progressively wrote more entertaining if less trustworthy matter.
[585] Gallatin to Maxwell, Feb. 15, 1848; Gallatin's Writings: Adams, ii, 659. Also see Mordecai, 94-95.
[586] His father must have kept, for the time being, the Blackstone purchased in 1772, although the volume later turned up in Marshall's possession.
[587] This book, with the others named, bears the signature of Marshall at this period of his life. They are the only books in existence which certainly were bought by Marshall at that time, all other volumes he is positively known to have had in his library being published at a later date. All except one of those named, with others hereafter mentioned, are in the possession of Judge J. K. M. Norton, Alexandria, Virginia. The Lex Mercatoria is, of course, in English. It is a large book containing seven hundred seventy-five pages, seven by eight inches, firmly bound in calf. It is "compiled from many standard authorities." While it is an encyclopædia of law and business containing items such as a comparison of the values of money of all lands, it is very readable and entertaining. It is just the kind of book from which Marshall could have derived information without being wearied by research. John Adams also had a copy of Malynes's Lex Mercatoria, which seems to have been a common possession of commercial lawyers throughout the country.
[588] This book is now in the possession of Hon. William Marshall Bullitt, of Louisville, Kentucky.
[589] The numerous entries of this kind occurring throughout Marshall's Account Book must not be misunderstood. At that time and for many decades afterward, the habitual use of whiskey, wine, rum, brandy, etc., was the universal custom. They were bought in quantities and consumed much as ordinary table waters now are. The common people, especially those in the South, distilled their own stimulants. The people of New England relied on the great distilleries of Boston and vicinity for rum, of which they consumed enormous quantities. (See infra, chap. VII; also chap. II, vol. II, of this work.)
[590] Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, viii, 241, March 16, 1785.
[591] The tavern kept by Farmicola, where Marshall's club met. (See supra.)
[592] Henrico County Tithable Book; Va. St. Lib. He had, of course, other slaves, horses, and cattle on his Fauquier County plantation.
[593] Christian, 28.
[594] Eliza Ambler to Mildred Smith, July 10, 1785; MS.; also printed in Atlantic Monthly, lxxxiv, 540-41.
[595] Drs. McClurg, Foushee, and Mackie.
[596] This book was purchased for his wife, who was extremely religious. The volume is in the possession of Judge J. K. M. Norton, Alexandria, Virginia. On the fly-leaf appears, "Mrs. Mary W. Marshall," in Marshall's handwriting. The book was also useful to Marshall for his own study of rhetoric, since Blair's sermons stood very high, at this time, as examples of style.
[597] Christian, 29, 30.
[598] This unbusinesslike balancing is characteristic of Marshall.
[599] Jacquelin Ambler Marshall, Dec. 3, 1787. (Paxton, 99.)
[600] Ib.
[601] Call, i, 42.
[602] Records of the Court of Appeals.
[603] The estate had been sequestered during the Revolution.
[604] Wertenbaker: V. U. S., 123-26. For history of these grants, see chap. IV, vol. II, of this work.
[605] See infra, chap. VI.
[606] Call, iv, 69-72.
[607] Infra, vol. II, chap. IV.
[608] Records Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, X, 29.
[609] See supra.
[610] See supra, 166, footnote 3.
[611] Mrs. Carrington.
[612] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; MS. The mother and sister of Mrs. Marshall were similarly afflicted. Mrs. Carrington frequently mentions this fact in her correspondence.
[613] See vol. III of this work.