1 Written soon after his death.

Start not, great spirit of the mighty dead!
No sneering cynic comes with fiendish tread,
To mock the laurels of thy honored brow,
And ask,—where lies thy strength or glory now?
No snarling critic, jackal-like, to brave
The fearful lion, nerveless in his grave,
Whose living look had shrunk his trembling form,
As craven creatures crouch before the storm:
No saintly, sinning bigot vents his spite
For crimes exposed, or horrors brought to light;
No puppy-patriot, peculator bold,
Would bark at thee, for sneering at his gold:
No spaniel dog, to gain a master's smile,
Would crunch thy bones, thy hallowed grave defile;
No smiling sycophant, or grovelling hind,
Whose soul succumbs beneath a mastermind:
No little gatherer of great men's words,
No album-filling fool of flowers and birds,
Or autographic-maniac now weeps
In sickly sympathy, where Randolph sleeps.
Bereaved Virginia's voice majestic calls
In mournful wailings from her fun'ral halls,
"Whose strength shall terror strike? Whose voice shall charm?
Who wound, or win, the wretch who wills me harm?
Since thy great soul hath left its feeble frame,
My only pride is thy undying name;
My sun hath set in parting glory bright,
My Randolph's dead, my shores are wrapt in night.
Oh choose,—great spirit, from my blood alone,
Some worthy one, with genius like thine own;
Lest prophets false, my gallant sons deceive,—
To him, Elisha-like, thy mantle leave."

HESPERUS.

ADDRESS

Delivered by the Hon. Henry St. George Tucker, before the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society.1

1 The anniversary meeting of this Society was held at the Capitol in Richmond, on the second of March, in presence of a numerous auditory of both sexes. There was much disappointment at the absence of Professor Dew, who was expected to deliver the annual Address, but whose attendance was prevented by ill health. The Hon. Henry St. Geo. Tucker was unanimously appointed President in the room of Chief Justice Marshall, and the address which we now have the pleasure of publishing was delivered by the new President upon taking the chair. It was listened to with profound attention and pleasure. So, also, was a speech to be found on [page 260] of Mr. Maxwell on presenting a resolution commemorative of the services and virtues of the late Chief Justice.

During the meeting, Mr. Winder, the Clerk of Northampton, presented a collection of MSS. found in some of the dark corners of the clerk's office of that ancient county. These papers, we are informed, are highly valuable, and shed new and interesting light upon an early period of Virginia History. They were the papers, it appears, of a Mr. Godfrey Poole, who early in the eighteenth century, was the clerk of Northampton court—was also a lawyer of considerable practice, and for many years clerk of the committee of Propositions and Grievances, an office, we suppose, of much higher relative grade then than at present. The MSS. are various in their character—consisting for the most part, of addresses by the then governors Spotswood and Dugsdale to the House of Burgesses—answers to those addresses, by the House, and copies of various acts of Assembly and Reports of Committees, not found in any printed record extant. There is also an undoubted copy of the Colonial Charter which received the signet of King Charles, and was stopped in the Hamper office upon that monarch's receiving intelligence of Bacon's rebellion. This charter, we believe, is not to be found in any of the printed collections of State papers or Historical Records in this country, having eluded the researches of Mr. Burke, and of the indefatigable Mr. Hening, the compiler of the Statutes at Large.