BENJAMIN HARRISON.

It is not often in recording the lives of those who have been distinguished in the history of the revolution, that we can refer to them as the descendants of ancestors long prominent in the annals of the colonies, either for wealth or political reputation. It has rather been our fortune, and it ought, perhaps, to be our pride, that when the exigencies of the nation have demanded it, patriots have arisen from every class of society, who have displayed the energy, integrity and talents which were necessary to fill all the stations, military and civil, which the interests of their country required.

The family of Harrison forms, in some degree, an exception to this rule. At a period extremely early in the history of Virginia, we find it among the foremost names of the province, and the honourable standing which it then held, has descended unsullied to our own times.

Somewhere about the year 1640, a gentleman of this name is found settled in the county of Surrey, in the province of Virginia. A tradition has long prevailed in the family, and appears from many circumstances to be correctly founded, that this gentleman was nearly re

lated to general Harrison, the distinguished revolutionary leader during the English commonwealth. To such an ancestor, an American may look back with becoming pride. The strong prejudices, if we may not use a harsher expression, of a powerful party, long induced them, by every art, to calumniate his character; but the testimony of impartial history has survived the feelings of the times, and that justice which Burnet refused and Clarendon reluctantly yielded, has been at length universally accorded. In point of family he was respectable; in his early profession, that of the law, he had been instructed by an eminent attorney, who had employment under the king; and as a soldier, he displayed skill, courage, and unblemished honour. Although, according to the fashion of his times, he was ardent to enthusiasm, in religion, he was yet open and generous in all his conduct. He sincerely and warmly opposed the ambitious designs of those, who used the revolution for the advancement of their private ends. And when, at last, the return of the triumphant royalists hurried him to the scaffold, he mildly but firmly adhered to those principles which the motives of fear on the one hand, and hope on the other, had induced so many to disavow.

The next of the family in Virginia, of whom any trace remains, is Benjamin Harrison, the son of the preceding inhabitant of Surrey. In that county he was born in the year 1645, and lived there until the thirtieth of January, 1712-13. Of that early period of course few records remain, and though from his bearing on his tomb the

title of "honourable," then not promiscuously bestowed, he held some office in the government of the province, it is now impossible exactly to determine what it was. It is said of him that during his life he did justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God; was loyal to his prince, and a great benefactor to his country.

This gentleman was the father of two sons; of these the eldest, who also bore the name of Benjamin, is said to have been a man of distinguished talents, and great political reputation during his short life, for he expired at the age of thirty-seven. He increased the estate of the family by the addition of extensive tracts of land, and settled himself at Berkeley, in the county of Charles City, and opposite to Surrey on James river. This seat, which has been ever since the mansion of the head branch of the family, and where Mr. Benjamin Harrison the seventh lineal descendant of the first settler, still resides, is beautifully situated on the banks of the river, in full view of City Point, the well known seaport of Petersburg and Richmond. Here he introduced that system of generous hospitality which has long characterized his native state, and it will be readily believed that in his hands that character did not degenerate. His monument, which is constructed of white marble, with unusual taste, is yet to be seen in the church-yard of Westover parish, and is inscribed with a very long account in Latin, not always perfectly pure, of his descent, rank and virtues. He was speaker of the house of burgesses of the colony, and held that office at the time of his death. He was by profession a lawyer, remarka

ble for his disinterestedness, learning, eloquénce, and correctness; ever ready to protect the destitute and helpless; bold in asserting and defending the rights of his country; and always foremost in promoting the public good. His epitaph is closed by the following elegiac stanza; the merit of which perhaps will not be thought to lie in the beauty either of the poetry, or the latinity. Hunc meritò proprium Virginia jactat alumnum.

Tam properè abreptum, sed querebunda dolet; Publicus hic dolor, et nunquam reparabile damnum,

Det Deus ut vitæ sint documenta novæ.

Of his brother Henry Harrison, the founder of that branch of the family which settled at Brandon, a beautiful seat about twelve miles below Berkeley, on James river, a character yet more interesting is recorded. He was a judge of one of the courts, and in all his official duties, was strictly honourable. In private life he was said to be a tender husband, a merciful master, a fair dealer and a generous friend, pious to his God, and beneficent to his fellow creatures. "So kind was he to his relations," says the interesting inscription on his tomb, that his grateful heir, though he gained a large fortune, yet thought himself a loser by his death."

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Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, had married at an early age Elizabeth, the daughter of Lewis Burwell, of the county of Glocester, a gentleman of much distinction in the province. By her he left at his death a son, Benjamin, who succeeded him at Berkeley, and a daughter, who bore her mother's name. Of his son but little is recorded. It is not known that he held any other

political situation, than that of a member of the colonial legislature. In the management of his private property, he was remarkably successful, having added during his life very largely to the family estate. He married the oldest daughter of Mr. Carter, the king's surveyor general, who from his official situation was enabled to select lands of great value, and by this means greatly enriched his family connexions, which were very extensive. Mr. Harrison was killed with two of his daughters, by lightning, in the mansion-house at Berkeley; and left at the time of his death, six sons and two daughters. Of these daughters, one married Peyton Randolph, the first president of congress, and the other, his brother, William Randolph. Of his sons, the subject of this memoir was the oldest.

BENJAMIN HARRISON was born in the family mansion at Berkeley, but on what day we have been unable precisely to ascertain. At the time of his father's death, he was a student in the college of William and Mary, but owing to a quarrel with one of the professors in which he was engaged, he left that institution before the usual period. Although still very young, he had already displayed so much firmness and decision of character, that the management of his estate, which was very extensive, was committed entirely to his charge soon after he returned from college. As the head also of a family, which had always been among the conspicuous political leaders of the colony, he was soon called on to represent his district in the provincial legislature, and took his