Never  was  there  a  livelier  companion,  and  his  wit  and
humor  seemed  to  flow  in  an  unfailing  stream.  It  is  a
species  of  jovial  grand  seigneur  and  easy  master  of  all
tlie  graces  that  we  see  in  the  person  of  this  old  author-
planter  of  the  banks  of  James  River.  He  wrote  with-
out thinking  of  or  caring  at  all  for  the  critics ;  as  men
do  when  the  spirit  moves  them,  and  for  their  personal
pleasure.  Two  or  three  pamphlets  contain  all  his  writ-
ings, of  which  the  longest  is  the  "  History  of  the  Divid-
ing Line,"  a  record  of  his  journey  to  establish  the  bound-
ary between  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  This  sparkles
all  over  wit4i  wit  and  the  broadest  humor,  much  too
broad  and  comic  indeed  for  a  <irawing-room  table  in  the
nineteenth  century.  But  it  is  a  virile  and  healthy  book,
full  of  high  spirits  and  the  zest  of  open-air  life.  The
gay  Colonel  afterwards  wrote  his  *'  Journey  to  the  Land
of  li^len,"  and  *'  Progress  to  the  Mines ;  "  and  the  large
manuscript  volume,  containing   the    three  works,  may


WRITINGS  OF  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD.       363

Btill  be  seen  under  his  portrait  at  "  Brandon,"  on  James
River.  They  brim  with  humor  and  incessant  jests,
particularly  at  the  expense  of  the  ladies,  whom  the
writer  seems  to  have  liked  so  much  that  he  could  never
forbear  from  teasing  them.  We  may  fancy  the  worthy
planter  in  ruffles  and  powder,  leaning  back  in  his  arm-
chair at  Westover,  and  dictating,  with  a  smile  on  his
lips,  the  gay  pages  to  his  secretary.  The  smile  may  be
seen  to-day  on  the  face  of  his  portrait;  a  face  of  re-
markable personal  beauty  framed  in  the  curls  of  a  flow-
ing peruke  of  the  time  of  Queen  Anne.
