tinctly remembered, as the most terrific and disastrous to the lower part of Virginia that had ever occurred within the memory of any man living. The Barracks in which he was staying with his father at the time, were a long row of wooden buildings with brick chimneys running up through the centre of the roofs, and Capt. Barron, very judiciously, caused all the family, with the officers and soldiers of the garrison, to muster on the second floor, with all the weighty articles they could find; which, it was supposed, kept the houses firm on their foundations, and so preserved the lives of all concerned, many of whom lived to witness a political convulsion in 1775, hardly inferior in violence to that of the elements in 1749. This hurricane, however, entirely destroyed the fortifications of Fort George, and Capt. Barron moved with his family to the upper part of Mill Creek, not far off, where he resided during the remainder of his life.

Boys, in those days, were launched into the business world at a much earlier age than they are at present, and of course the young subject of our narrative began very soon to look about him, and to consider the ways and means by which he might make the voyage of life to the best advantage. The sea presented a ready and never failing source of employment to the youngsters of the time, and it was by no means uncommon to see boys of ten years of age, on board a ship that had made two or three voyages; and the most respectable families in the lower country did not think it at all degrading to send one of their sons to sea, when they had three or four others about the house. Accordingly, about the year 1750, Capt. Barron being now dead, our young boy was taken by Colonel Hunter, then the Navy Agent Victualler, (a title corresponding to that of our Navy Agent,) who was an excellent man, and had been his father's friend; and sent to sea in charge of a Capt. Barrington, who sailed in a fine ship belonging to London, a constant trader to James River. This gentleman also proved a kind friend to our young adventu rer, who now made rapid progress in the knowledge of his chosen employment, so much so that in a few voyages he was promoted to be the second mate of the ship. Subsequently, and

before the time of his apprenticeship expired, he had the command of a small vessel belonging to Colonel Hunter, called the Kickotan, in which he sailed for some time; and shortly after the expiration of his minority, he had attained the climax of his highest ambition, by being made the captain of a fine ship.

Thus passed the early life of Commodore Barron, without much variety of incident, until that period when the minds of our countrymen began to be agitated by the proceedings of the mother country, towards her attached colonies. At that time many of the British officers, and others of his Majesty's subjets, were too much in the habit of speaking disparagingly of our country and countrymen, to be borne with by our high-minded Americans, and especially by that portion of them who were most exposed to the taunting arrogance of the British naval officers with whom they were constantly coming in contact on the ocean, and in all our bays and rivers. Among these last was our young Capt. Barron, and in the spring of the year 1774, he gave up the command of a fine ship, belonging to Samuel Guest, Esq., a wealthy and highly respectable merchant of London, to the mate of the ship; but not until he had accompanied her outside of Cape Henry, and entirely satisfied himself that the crew were orderly and desirous to return to England. Some time afterwards he received letters from the owner, which clearly evinced his satisfaction with every part of his Captain's conduct, except that of his espousing the rebel cause; inviting him strenuously to return to his duty to his sovereign, and assuring him that his reward should be the esteem of his English friends, and the command of a fine ship in the transport service. Matters however, had now gone too far to allow the kind feelings of Capt, Barron's friends in England to prevail over what he considered his duty to his country; and with courteous acknowledgments he closed his correspondence with them.

The State Government of Virginia was among the foremost to look to warlike preparations both by sea, (or rather river,) and land. Suitable vessels were sought after, and armed, officered, and manned, for the protection of our craft, and shores, along

the coast of our bays and rivers, where the annoyance of our intercourse with one part of our state and another had become intolerable.

Before any of these vessels were put in commission, Captain Barron had commenced his military career as a Captain of a Minute Company, composed of the young sailors of Hampton, who were numerous at that time, and at the head of that company, was engaged in the action that was fought in the orchard of Mr. Edward Cooper, on the banks of James river, a little to the westward of the mouth of Hampton creek; and also in the action fought at Hampton, with Capt. Squiers's party, which, in the sequel, cost Mr. Cooper his fine house, for, on the following evening, the British who had been driven off, returned with superior force, and burned it to the ground, with the greater part of the furniture in it.

The continuance of the war which had sprung up in this quarter, and which had heretofore been considered as doubtful, seemed now to be certain, and the general cry was "to arms;" but the great difficulty was where shall we find them, or ammnition to render them effective? "Necessity," says the old adage, "is the mother of invention," and we may add, of patience too, for our only resource was to go to work, and build small craft of from 30 to 80 tons burthen, load them with tobacco for the West Indies, and bring home gunpowder, and other articles that were absolutely necessary for immediate use. No man at the present time can form any idea of the wants and sufferings of the people in those days, for the common necessaries of life; yet the Patriots stood firm and true to the cause of Liberty.

Henceforth, whenever the State was free from invasion, the public authorities were as active in preparing the means of defence as our resources would allow; and gradually a fleet of small vessels began to appear in our waters, until at one period of the war there were fifty vessels of all descriptions afloat, and in commission in the service of the State.

During all these movements, Commodore Barron was con&tantly employed, sometimes on board of one vessel, the schoo

ner Liberty, &c., at others cruising with small squadrons under his command, (that is after he succeeded to the command of the Virginia State Navy, on the 3rd of July, 1780,) and also serving occasionally as a member of the Board of War, before the government was transferred to Richmond.

I will only add that after the peace in 1783, he continued in command of the only two vessels retained in the service for the protection of the revenue, until the year 1787-when he died— leaving the services he had rendered his country to live after him.

J. B.

NOTE. We regret that this sketch of Commodore Barron is not as full and particular as we could have wished, and as the writer could certainly have made it. We have some further account of him, however, in a little memoir of the schooner Liberty, by the same hand, which we shall publish in our next number.-[Ed.

THE OLD STOVE.

In the N. Eastern Hall of the Capitol, in this city, near Houdon's noble Statue of the Father of his Country, there stands an interesting relic of other days, which hundreds pass annually without noticing, and which in the course of a few years will yield to the invincible attacks of the great destroyer, whom even iron cannot resist. I allude to the Old Stove, around which are congregated during the winter, the motley purveyors to the public appetite for nuts and ginger-bread, and where may be seen, during the session of the General Assembly, members of either political party mingling harmoniously the fragrant whiffs of their cigars, where perhaps their ancestors "piped it."

This Stove which has manifestly seen better days, purports to have been made by "Buzagio, 1770." It is very capacious, and was obviously constructed for the purpose of warming a large public room. It is very much embellished with grim Lions' heads, through whose mouths pass festoons of flowers, and upon

its front it presents the Royal Coat of Arms of Great Britain, in which are quartered the arms of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, surmounted by the emblem of Virginia-with the motto, "En Dat Virginia Quartam :" the supporters being two men-at-arms in complete armour.

There can be but little donbt that this venerable piece of furniture was procured for the use of the House of Burgesses, before the revolution; that it was removed, in 1779, from Williamsburg to the "Town of Richmond, in Henrico," when the seat of government was transferred from the former place, and that it often administered warmth to the bodies of men whose souls were fired by the eloquence of Patrick Henry, or persuaded by the honied accents of Richard Henry Lee. Can any of your readers, learned in our antiquities, give us any particulars of the Stove? Could it have been made on the Continent, (the name of the maker is Italian,) because the manufacturers of England were then unequal to so great an effort? I pause for a reply. G. A. M.

THE WAR AGAINST MEXICO.

It is a curious fact that our present war against Mexico is the verification of an old prediction, uttered about two centuries ago. This assertion may seem strange, but it is nevertheless true. In a small pamphlet entitled, "A New Description of Virginia," written in 1648, and published in London in 1649, (of which we have a reprint in the library of our Virginia Historical Society,) we read the following remarkable words:

"But it is well known that our English plantations have had little countenance, nay, that our statesmen (when time was) had store of Gondemore's gold," (Gondemore, or Gondomar, was the Spanish minister at the court of James the First,) "to destroy and discountenance the plantation of Virginia; and he effected it in a great part, by dissolving the Company, wherein most of the nobility, gentry, corporate cities, and most merchants of England, were interested and engaged; after the expense of some hun