The Bland Papers Being A Selection From The Manuscripts Of Colonel Theodorick Bland Jr To Which Are Prefixed An Introduction And A

Author : Charles Campbell
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332003457
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (34 download)

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Download or read book Bland Papers, Vol. 1 of 2 written by Charles Campbell and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Bland Papers, Vol. 1 of 2: Being a Selection From the Manuscripts of Colonel Theodorick Bland, Jr. Of Prince George County, Virginia; To Which Are Prefixed an Introduction, and a Memoir of Colonel Bland Preliminary to this work, it may be proper to give some history of the original manuscripts from which these papers have been selected, and some particulars connected with their publication. To this is added a succinct chronological detail of some incidents in the life of Col. Theodorick Bland, such as are to be found scattered through the pages of this compilation. Several years since, perhaps in 1833, I chanced to hear, (from the landlord and a gentleman of the neighborhood chatting together in a tavern porch, ) at City Point, mention made of the existence of certain old manuscripts of Colonel Bland. Learning on inquiry that Cawson's, the former seat of Colonel Bland, where these papers were said to be, was distant only a moderate walk from the Point, and being directed the way, I soon struck a footpath, winding along the verge of that elevated plateau which overlooks the fine wide sheet of water, where the "pleasant river of Apamatuck" empties into the James, and in a few minutes reached the house. The lady there, (with whom I had not then the pleasure of an acquaintance, ) on coming to the door and learning the antiquarian purport of my visit, very obligingly reached down a bundle of letters of divers revolutionary worthies, from the interstices of the eaves of the porch, where they were nicely pigeon-holed. The shortness of my time allowed me merely to glance at this parcel, when a little mulatto boy, with a key in his hand, conducted me to a small new-built out-house in one corner of the yard, wherein, on opening the door, was found a capacious wooden chest, full to the brim of manuscripts, lying topsy-turvy, "rudis indigestuquc moles." One of the first my eye lit upon was a letter, on an ample sheet, from General Washington, dated at Cambridge, Mass. The manuscripts were (many of them) mouse-nibbled, rat-eaten, stained, torn and faded; and they certainly breathed any thing but "Sabean odors from the spicy shore of Araby the blest." All this, however, only served to enhance their value, in an antiquarian point of view. I had barely time to thrust my hand among them, turn over a few, and sigh that I could not then explore their merits to the bottom. But "time and tide wait for no man," not even for an antiquary: the sound of the stage-horn suddenly interrupted my revolutionary reflections, and rendered it necessary for me to bid an abrupt adieu to the enchanted chest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.