me leave to bring with me. This learned gentleman was thus gratified with a very high intellectual feast, by not only being in company with Doctor Johnson, but with General Oglethorpe, who had been so long a celebrated name, both at home and abroad. 1775."

These extracts from Boswell, have been made particularly to show his long, unbroken intimacy with the literary men of England. They might have been multiplied, but they are sufficient. They serve also to show the early period at which he had resigned his commission in the Guards, and become a volunteer with Prince Eugene; and of course will in some degree establish his age. And they confirm beyond question, the bitterness which the ruling party of England felt towards him, and how very improbable it is that they should have offered him any command at the commencement of the American war, a command that if offered to him, and if his age had permitted him to accept, he would have spurned with indignation; as we know from the sentiments expressed by him, of the character and principles of that war, to all who had an opportunity of hearing his sentiments at the time. An attempt was made to introduce his name into the first commission sent out to negotiate with the first congress. But believing that the commission was intended to be delusive, and only designed to abate American zeal, to divide the American people, and to unnerve the American arm, at the first overture the proposition was civilly declined.

In youth, General Oglethorpe was very handsome, and through life retained the power of pleasing in a high degree.

Mrs. Hannah More, in a letter to her sister dated 1784, says: "I have got a new admirer, and we flirt together prodigiously. It is the famous Gen. Oglethorpe, perhaps the most remarkable man of his time. He was the fosterbrother of the Pretender, and much above ninety years old. The finest figure you ever saw. He frequently realizes all my ideas of Nestor. His literature is great; his knowledge of the world extensive, and his faculties as bright as ever. He is one of the three persons mentioned by Pope, still living; Lord Mansfield, and Lord Marchmont are the other two. He was the intimate friend of Southern, the Tragic Poet, and all the wits of that time. He is perhaps the oldest man of a gentleman living; and he could have entertained me by re

peating passages from Sir Eldered. He is quite a preux chevalier; heroic, romantic, and full of the old gallantry."

There has been a mystery hanging about the age of Gen. Oglethorpe, and the period of his birth, whether he was born in the year 1689 or 1698. The last date is recorded upon his tomb by the direction of his wife. The first is contained in a certificate obtained from the Parish Clerk of St. James in London. It will be remembered that this is the transposition of a single figure. The first recorded upon his tomb would make him eighty-seven years of age at his death, the last ninety-six. But there was another rumor afloat in the west of England, among the remaining friends of the house of Stuart, that he was the son of James II. ; and the beauty of his person, the grace of his manners and his chivalrous character, made it the more readily believed.*

But after the most deliberate consideration of all the circumstances, the writer of this, without spending words in idle disquisition, is satisfied to take that recorded upon his tomb as his true age, and to put the rest down to the propensity in men to mystify whatever is extraordinary. And it is extraordinary enough that General Oglethorpe should have carried his faculties in all their freshness to eighty-seven, and then not sink in cold decay, but like a tropical sun go down in all his strength. So much so, that the friends who were looking to him and listening for his last inspiration, had lost the opportunity; for he had passed away.

Mr. Boswell, after reciting a conversation between General Oglethorpe and Doctor Johnson, which took place in 1775, and in which Doctor Johnson had urged General Oglethorpe to give the world his life, and in which the Doctor said, "I know no man whose life would be more interesting; if I was furnished with materials I should be very glad to write it,"adds in this note: "The General seemed unwilling to enter upon it at that time. But upon a subsequent occasion, he communicated to me a number of particulars which I have committed to writing. But I was not sufficiently diligent in obtaining more from him; not apprehending that his friends were so soon to lose him; for notwithstanding his

*This is no doubt another edition of the same story. General Oglethorpe could not have been the foster-brother of Prince George, as the Revolution occurred some months before his birth, as given in the supposed certificate of the Parish Clerk, and they are no doubt both incorrect.

great age, he was very healthy and vigorous, and was at last carried off by a violent fever, which is often fatal, at any period of life."

General Oglethorpe at his death left no children behind him, and as far as we know, no very near collateral relative in England. His wife, after having lived with him for more than forty years, in great harmony and affection, was left to weep over his grave.

In France are to be found his nearest collateral relations. The family of the late Marquis De Bellegard are descended from his sister, Elizabeth Oglethorpe, who was attached to the family of James II. after their exile. That family are yet living, and, we suppose, one of them is a ducal peer of France. Not long before the decease of Mr. Harris, of Savannah, he received a letter from Mr. De. Neuville, French minister at Washington, covering a letter from a French nobleman, stating himself to be the direct lineal descendant of Elizabeth Oglethorpe, the sister of General Oglethorpe; and making the same inquiries respecting the landed property of General Oglethorpe, which were made of General Washington, in the year 1790, and to which the annexed letter is an answer. Had this letter to General Washington reached the public while the family were in exile, from the French Revolution, Georgia would not have forgotten them.

When Mr. Harris submitted this letter to the writer of these notices, the family had been restored to high rank, and we supposed to fortune, and required no pecuniary aid. This letter must have been put into the hands of Mr. Bevan, by Mr. Harris.

To the Marquis De Bellegard, United Netherlands.

NEW YORK, JAN. 15, 1790. Sir, I have received your letter dated the 18th of September, 1789; and in reply to it must inform you that so far from living upon terms of intimacy and friendship with the late General Oglethorpe, as it appears by your letter you have understood that I did, I never was so happy as to have any personal acquaintance with that gentleman, nor any other knowledge of him than from his general character. The distance of our place of residence from each other, which is nearly one thousand miles, and the different periods in which we have lived, are circumstances which pre

clude the probability of our having been upon an intimate footing.

I have however directed inquiries to be made, among the gentlemen from the state of Georgia who are now attending congress in this place, respecting the affairs of the late General Oglethorpe, and am informed by them, that they know of no lands belonging to him. One of them, a senator from the state of Georgia, mentions his having been written to some time since by Mr. Jefferson, our minister at the court of Versailles, upon the same subject, and in consequence thereof, he made every inquiry in his power, relative to the matter; but there were no lands in Georgia belonging to General Oglethorpe. And he farther adds, that if there had been property of that gentleman in Georgia in the time of the late war with Great Britain, so far from its having been confiscated, it would have met with singular protection, in consequence of the high estimation in which the character of General Oglethorpe stood in that state. I should have been happy, sir, to have had it in my power to give you more pleasing information upon this subject. I am, &c.

[Vol. 10, of Washington's Letters.]

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

The above letter, it will be remembered, was written within five years of General Oglethorpe's death, when all the circumstances of his family would be known to hundreds.

Sapelo Island, March 20th, 1840.

APPENDIX.

An Act to incorparate the Georgia Historical Society.

WHEREAS, the members of a Society instituted in the city of Savannah for the purpose of collecting, preserving, and diffusing information relating to the history of the State of Georgia in particular, and of American history generally, have applied for an Act of Incorporation;

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Représentatives of Georgia in general assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That J. M. Berrien and such other persons as now are and may from time to time become members of said Society, be and they are hereby declared and constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name of the "Georgia Historical Society," and by that name shall have perpetual succession and be capable to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended in all courts or places whatsoever, to have a common seal, and the same at pleasure to change or alter, to make, establish, and ordain such à constitution and such by-laws not repugnant to the constitution of this State or of the United States, as shall from time to time be necessary and expedient, and to annex to the breach thereof such penalty, by fine, suspension, or expulsion as they may deem fit, and to purchase, take, receive, hold, and enjoy, to them and their successors, any goods, and chattels, lands and tenements, and to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the same, or of any part thereof, at their will and pleasure. Provided, that the clear annual income of such real and personal estate shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and provided also that the funds of the said corporation shall be used and appropriated to the purposes stated in the preamble of this Act and those only.