made by all around us. Nothing was real. Every thing acted through the imagination. Each object was dim with associations, and seemed but the exponent of some thought or emotion, the shadow of something great and past. The whole was enchanted ground; and the occupants seemed privileged persons, whom the guardian spirits of the place allowed to remain its tenants and keepers. When the young proprietor took leave of us at the piazza, he stood where Washington had stood to welcome and to part from the immortal men of France and America. He stood there his representative to a third generation. It may well be supposed that as we rode slowly home, our thoughts were in no ordinary course. We repassed the gate, the rivulet, and the open field, but still we were on enchanted ground. So impressed was I with this feeling, that had I met a procession of the great men of the past, riding slowly towards the mansion of their companion in arms and in the cabinet, it would have seemed only a natural consummation. It was not until we had reached the town, and our horses' hoofs struck upon the pavement, that the illusion was fairly broken. The following was found inscribed on the back of a small portrait of Washington at Mount Vernon. It was written by some unknown visitor, supposed to have been an English traveller: WASHINGTON, The Defender of his Country.-The Founder of Liberty: History and Tradition are explored in vain, In the Annals of Modern Greatness And the noblest names of antiquity, He made himself virtuous. Called by his country to the defence of her Liberties, The Glories of the Field. And voluntarily resigning the Sceptre and the Sword, Was contemplated with the profoundest admiration. Adding new lustre to humanity, Resounded to the remotest regions of the earth. Great in Death. His highest ambition, the Happiness of Mankind; Gunston Hall, which was the seat of the celebrated GEORGE MASON, stands on an elevated and commanding site overlooking the Potomac. Mr. Jefferson said that he was "of the first order of wisdom, among those who acted on the theatre of the revolution, of expansive mind, profound judgment, cogent in argument, learned in the lore of our former constitution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic principles. His eloquence was neither flowing nor smooth; but his language was strong, his manner most impressive, and strengthened by a dash of biting criticism when provocation made it seasonable." Mr. Mason was the framer of the constitution of Virginia, and a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution, but he did not sign that instrument. In conjunction with Patrick Henry, he opposed its adoption in the Virginia convention, believing that it would tend to the conversion of the government into a monarchy. He also opposed the slave trade with great zeal. He died at his seat in the autumn of 1792, aged 67 years. The annexed epitaph was copied from a tombstone on the banks of Neabsco Creek, in October, 1837. It is, without doubt, the oldest monumental inscription in the United States. From the earliness of the date, 1608, it is supposed that the deceased was a companion of Capt. John Smith on one of his exploratory voyages. Here lies ye body of Lieut. William Herris, who died May ye 16th, 1608: aged 065 years; by birth a Britain, a good soldier; a good husband and neighbor. FAUQUIER. FAUQUIER was created in 1759, from Prince William, and named from Francis Fauquier, Gov. of Va. from 1758 to 1767. Its greatest length is 45 miles, mean breadth 16. The surface is agreeably diversified, and the soil, when judiciously cultivated, susceptible of high improvement, and very productive. In the county exist valuable beds of magnesia and soapstone, and there are several gold mines worked by the farmers with tolerable profit, at intervals of leisure from their agricultural labors. Pop., whites 10,501, slaves 10,708, free colored 688; total, 21,891. Warrenton, the county-seat, is 102 miles NNW. from Richmond. It is a beautiful village in the heart of the county, adorned with shade-trees. standing upon an eminence commanding a fine view of some of the spurs of the Blue Ridge. It contains about a dozer mercantile stores, 1 Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, and 1 Methodist church, a fine male academy where ancient and modern languages are taught, a female academy in excellent repute, a newspaper printing office, the county buildings, among which is a handsome court-house, (shown in the annexed view,) and a population of about 1,400. An excellent macadamized road leads from here to Alexandria. Among the anecdotes we have gathered "by the way," the one here with presented is, perhaps, worthy of insertion. Some thirty or more years since, at the close of a long summer's day, a stranger entered this village. He was alone and on foot, and his appearance was any thing but prepossessing. His garments, coarse and dust-covered, indicated an individual in the humbler walks. From a cane resting across his shoulders was suspended a handkerchief containing his clothing. Stopping in front of Turner's tavern, he took from his hat a paper and handed it to a gentleman standing on the steps: it read as follows The celebrated historian and naturalist, VOLNEY, needs no recommendation from G. WASHINGTON There are several other villages in Fauquier. Upperville, at the foot of the Blue Ridge, in the Nw. angle of the county, is a new and flourishing village in a very rich agricultural country, on the main road from Winchester to Alexandria. It contains 1 Met., 1 Epis., and 1 Baptist church, and a population of about 500. Paris and Somerville contain each about 40, and New Baltimore 20 dwellings. The Fauquier White Sulphur Springs are 6 miles sw. of Warrenton. The improvements are very extensive, and the grounds beautifully adorned with shrubbery. These springs are very popular, and of easy access from the eastern cities. hall жить JOHN MARSHALL, late Chief Justice of the United States, was born at a locality called Germantown, in this county, 9 miles below War. renton. The house in which he was born is not in existence. When he was quite young, the family moved to Goose's Creek, under Manassa's Gap, near the Blue Ridge, and still later to Oak Hill, where the family lived at the commencement of the revolution. His father, Thomas Marshall, was a planter of limited means and education, but of strong natural powers, which, cultivated by observation and reflection, gave him the reputation of extraordinary ability. He served with distinction in the revolution, as a colonel in the continental army. John was the eldest of fifteen children. The narrow fortune of Col. Marshall, and the sparsely inhabited condition of Fauquier, compelled him to be almost exclusively the teacher of his children, and to his instructions the Chief-Justice said, "he owed the solid foundation of all his success in life." He early implanted in his eldest son a taste for English literature, especially for poetry and history. At the age of twelve, John had transcribed the whole of Pope's Essay on Man, and some of his Moral Essays; and had committed to memory many of the most interesting passages of that distinguished poet. At the age of 14 he was placed with the Rev. Mr. Campbell, in Westmoreland, where, for a year, he was instructed in Latin, and had for a fellow-student James Monroe. The succeeding year was passed at his father's, where he continued the study under the Rev. Mr. Thompson, a Scotch gentleman, which "was the whole of the classical tuition he ever obtained. By the assistance of his father, however, and the persevering efforts of his own mind, he continued to enlarge his knowledge, while he strengthened his body by hardy, athletic exercises in the open air. He engaged in field sports; he indulged his |