George Washington's Rules of Civility Part 1

George Was.h.i.+ngton's Rules of Civility.

by Moncure D. Conway.

THE RULES OF CIVILITY.

Among the ma.n.u.script books of George Was.h.i.+ngton, preserved in the State Archives at Was.h.i.+ngton City, the earliest bears the date, written in it by himself, 1745. Was.h.i.+ngton was born February 11, 1731 O.S., so that while writing in this book he was either near the close of his fourteenth, or in his fifteenth, year. It is ent.i.tled "Forms of Writing," has thirty folio pages, and the contents, all in his boyish handwriting, are sufficiently curious. Amid copied forms of exchange, bonds, receipts, sales, and similar exercises, occasionally, in ornate penmans.h.i.+p, there are poetic selections, among them lines of a religious tone on "True Happiness." But the great interest of the book centres in the pages headed: "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation." The book had been gnawed at the bottom by Mount Vernon mice, before it reached the State Archives, and nine of the 110 Rules have thus suffered, the sense of several being lost.

The Rules possess so much historic interest that it seems surprising that none of Was.h.i.+ngton's biographers or editors should have given them to the world. Was.h.i.+ngton Irving, in his "Life of Was.h.i.+ngton," excites interest in them by a tribute, but does not quote even one. Sparks quotes 57, but inexactly, and with his usual literary manipulation; these were reprinted (1886, 16) by W.O. Stoddard, at Denver, Colorado; and in Hale's "Was.h.i.+ngton" (1888). I suspect that the old biographers, more eulogistic than critical, feared it would be an ill service to Was.h.i.+ngton's fame to print all of the Rules. There might be a scandal in the discovery that the military and political deity of America had, even in boyhood, written so gravely of the hat-in-hand deference due to lords, and other "Persons of Quality," or had concerned himself with things so trivial as the proper use of the fork, napkin, and toothpick.

Something is said too about "inferiours," before whom one must not "Act ag'tt y'e Rules Moral." But in 1888 the Rules were subjected to careful and literal treatment by Dr. J.M. Toner, of Was.h.i.+ngton City, in the course of his magnanimous task of preserving, in the Library of Congress, by exact copies, the early and peris.h.i.+ng note-books and journals of Was.h.i.+ngton. This able literary antiquarian has printed his transcript of the Rules (W.H. Morrison: Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. 1888), and the pamphlet, though little known to the general public, is much valued by students of American history. With the exception of one word, to which he called my attention, Dr. Toner has given as exact a reproduction of the Rules, in their present damaged condition, as can be made in print.

The illegible parts are precisely indicated, without any conjectural insertions, and young Was.h.i.+ngton's spelling and punctuation subjected to no literary tampering.

Concerning the source of these remarkable Rules there have been several guesses. Was.h.i.+ngton Irving suggests that it was probably his intercourse with the Fairfax family, and his ambition to acquit himself well in their society, that set him upon "compiling a code of morals and manners." (Knickerbocker Ed. i. p. 30.) Sparks, more cautiously, says: "The most remarkable part of the book is that in which is compiled a system of maxims and regulations of conduct, drawn from miscellaneous sources." (i. p. 7.) Dr. Toner says: "Having searched in vain to find these rules in print, I feel justified, considering all the circ.u.mstances, in a.s.suming that they were compiled by George Was.h.i.+ngton himself when a schoolboy. But while making this claim it is proper to state, that nearly all the principles incorporated and injunctions, given in these 110 maxims had been enunciated over and over again in the various works on good behaviour and manners prior to this compilation and for centuries observed in polite society. It will be noticed that, while the spirit of these maxims is drawn chiefly from the social, life of Europe, yet, as formulated here, they are as broad as civilization itself, though a few of them are especially applicable to Society as it then existed in America, and, also, that but few refer to women."

Except for the word "parents," which occurs twice, Dr. Toner might have said that the Rules contain no allusion whatever to the female s.e.x. This alone proved, to my own mind, that Was.h.i.+ngton was in nowise responsible for these Rules. In the school he was attending when they were written there were girls; and, as he was rather precocious in his admirations, a compilation of his own could hardly omit all consideration of conduct towards ladies, or in their presence. There were other reasons also which led me to dissent from my friend Dr. Toner, in this instance, and to inst.i.tute a search, which has proved successful, for the source of the Rules of Civility.

While gathering materials for a personal and domestic biography of Was.h.i.+ngton,[1] I discovered that in 1745 he was attending school in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The first church (St. George's) of the infant town was just then finished, and the clergyman was the Rev. James Marye, a native of France. It is also stated in the munic.i.p.al records of the town that its first school was taught by French people, and it is tolerably certain that Mr. Marye founded the school soon after his settlement there as Rector, which was in 1735, eight years after the foundation of Fredericksburg. I was thus led to suspect a French origin of the Rules of Civility. This conjecture I mentioned to my friend Dr.

Garnett, of the British Museum, and, on his suggestion, explored an old work in French and Latin in which ninety-two of the Rules were found.

This interesting discovery, and others to which it led, enable me to restore the damaged ma.n.u.script to completeness.

[Footnote 1: George Was.h.i.+ngton and Mount Vernon. A collection of Was.h.i.+ngton's unpublished agricultural and personal letters. Edited, with historical and genealogical Introduction, by Moncure Daniel Conway.

Published by the L.I. Historical Society: Brooklyn, New York, 1889.]

The various intrinsic interest of these Rules is much enhanced by the curious story of their migration from an old Jesuit College in France to the copy-book of George Was.h.i.+ngton. In Backer's Jesuit Bibliography it is related that the "pensionnaires" of the College of La Fleche sent to those of the College at Pont-a-Mousson, in 1595, a treatise ent.i.tled: "Bienseance de la Conversation entre les Hommes." The great Mussipontane father at that time was Leonard Perin (b. at Stenai 1567, d. at Besancon 1658), who had been a Professor of the Humanities at Paris. By order of Nicolas Francois, Bishop of Toul, Father Perin translated the La Fleche treatise into Latin, adding a chapter of his own on behaviour at table. The book, dedicated to the Bishop of Toul, was first printed (16) at Pont-a-Mousson in 1617, (by Car. Marchand). It was printed at Paris in 1638, and at Rouen in 1631; it was translated into Spanish, German, and Bohemian. In 1629 one Nitzmann printed the Latin, German, and Bohemian translations in parallel columns, the German t.i.tle being "Wolstand taglicher Gemainschafft mit dem Menschen." A comparison of this with the French edition of 1663 in the British Museum, on which I have had to depend, shows that there had been no alteration in Father Perin's Latin, though it is newly translated. This copy in the library of the British Museum was printed in Paris for the College of Clermont, and issued by Pierre de Bresche, "auec privilege du Roy." It is ent.i.tled: "Les Maximes de la Gentillesse et de l'Honnestete en la Conversation entre les Hommes. Communis Vitae inter homines scita urbanitas. Par un Pere de la Compagnie de Jesus."

In dedicating this new translation (1663) to the youth of Clermont, Pierre de Bresche is severe on the French of the La Fleche pensionnaires. "It is a novelty surprising enough to find a very unpolished French book translated into the most elegant Latin ever met with." M. de Bresche declares that he was no longer able to leave so beautiful a work in such "abjection," and had added a translation which preserves the purity of the French tongue, and is proportioned to the merit of the exquisite Latin expressions. We can hardly suppose that Pierre de Bresche was eulogising his own work, but there is no other name in the book. Possibly his criticism on the French of the original edition was only that of an _editeur_ desiring to supplant it. At any rate, as Father Perin wrote the elegant Latin we cannot doubt that the chapter he added to the book was in scholarly French.

The old book of the Jesuit "pensionnaires,"--which, had they not ignored woman, might be called the mother of all works on Civility,--is charming as well as curious. It duly opens with a chapter of religious proprieties, at ma.s.s, sacrament, sermon, and grace at meat. The Maxims of secular civility open with the second chapter, and it will be seen that they are for the gentry. They are mainly for youths whose environments are portrayed in the interesting frontispiece of the work, where they are seen in compartments,--at church, in college, in conversation, at the fireside, in promenade, and at table. We have already seen, from Backer's Jesuit bibliography, that Father Leonard Perin added a chapter on "bienseance" at table; but after this there is another chapter--a wonderful chapter--and it would be interesting to learn whether we owe this also to Perin. This last chapter is exquisitely epicurean, dealing with table-setting, table-service, and the proper order of entrees, roasts, salads, and dessert. It closes--and the book closes--with a sort of sugarplum paean, the sweets and spices being in the end gracefully spiritualised. But this concluding pa.s.sage of Chapter XI. ("Des Services & honneurs de la Table") must be quoted:--

"Sugar-plums complete the pleasantness and enjoyment of the dessert, and serve, as it were, to satisfy pleasure. They are brought, while the table is still laid, in a handsome box on a salver, like those given by the ancients to be carried home.[1]

Sometimes, also, they are handed round after the hands have been washed in rose water, and the table covered with a Turkey cloth.

"These are riches which we possess in abundance, and your feasts cannot terminate more agreeably in your quarters than with our Verdun sugar-plums. Besides the exquisite delicacy of their sugar, cinnamon and aniseed, they possess a sweet, fragrant odour like the breeze of the Canaries,--that is to say, like our sincerest attachment for you, of which you will also receive proof. Thus you see, then, the courteous advice we have undertaken to give you to serve for a profitable entertainment, If you please, then, we will bring it to a close, in order to devote ourselves more zealously to other duties which will contribute to your satisfaction, and prove agreeable to all those who truly esteem good-breeding and decent general conversation, as we ardently hope.

"Praise be to G.o.d and to the glorious Virgin!"[2]

[Footnote 1: This is not unknown at some of the civic banquets in London.]

[Footnote 2: "Les dragees acheuent la douceur de la resjouissance du dessert & font comme l'a.s.souuiss.e.m.e.nt du plaisir. Elles sont portees dans vne belle boette posees sur vn plat, les tables restans encore dressees a la facon de celles que les Anciens donnoient a emporter en la maison. Quelquefois aussi les mains estants desia lauees auec l'eau-rose, & la table couuerte de son tapis de Turquie, elle sont presentees.

"Ce sont des richesses que nous possedons en abondance & vos festins ne se peuuent pas terminer plus agreablement que par nos dragees de Verdun en vos quartiers. Elles ont parmy les charmantes delicatesses de leur succre, de leur canelle, & de leur anis, vne douce & suaue odeur qui egale celles de l'air de nos Canaries, c'est a dire de nos plus sinceres inclinations en vostre endroit dont vous receuerez de mesme les tesmoignages. Vous voyez donc icy les advis de la ciuilite que nous auons entrepris de vous donner, pour vous servir d'vn fructueux divertiss.e.m.e.nt. Nous les finissons donc si vous le trouuiez agreable, pour nous porter auec plus de zele aux autres deuoirs qui contribueront a vostre satisfaction, & qui seront agreables a touts les veritables estimateurs de la bien-seance & de l'honnestete de la conuersation commune, comme nous le soutraitions auec pa.s.sion.

"Louange a Dieu & a la glorieuse Vierge."]

The earlier editions of the book do not appear to have been published for the outer world, but were printed in the various colleges where they were used. Another French work on the same subject, but including much about ladies, published about the year 1773, plagiarises largely from the Jesuit manual, but does not mention it. It is probable therefore that the Perin volume was not then known to the general public. The anonymous book just mentioned was translated into English.[1] Some of the phraseology of the Perin book, and many of its ideas, appear in a work of Obadiah Walker, Master of University College, Oxford, on Education, but it is not mentioned.[2] Eighteen of the Was.h.i.+ngton Rules, and an important addition to another, are not among the French Maxims.

Two of these Rules, 24 and 42, are more damaged than any others in the Was.h.i.+ngton MS., and I had despaired of discovering their meaning. But after my translations were in press I learned from Dr. W.C. Minor that an early English version of the Maxims existed, and in this I have found additions to the French, work which substantially include those of the Was.h.i.+ngton MS. Through this fortunate discovery the Rules of Civility are now completely restored.

[Footnote 1: "The Rules of Civility, or Certain Ways of Deportment observed amongst all persons of Quality upon seueral Occasions." The earliest edition I have found is that of 1678 (in the British Museum Library), which is said to be "Newly revised and much Enlarged." The work is a.s.signed a French origin on internal evidence,--e.g., other nations than France are referred to as "foreign," and "Monsieur" is used in examples of conversation. The date is approximately fixed as 1673, because it is said that while it was in press there had appeared "The Education of a Young Prince." The latter work was a translation of "De I'education d'un Prince. Par le Sieur de Chanteresne" [P. Nicole], by Pierre du Moulin, the Younger, and published in London, 1673.]

[Footnote 2: Of Education. Especially of Young Gentlemen. In two Parts.

The Fifth Impression. Oxford: Published at the Theatre for Amos Custeyne. 1887. [It was anonymous, but is known to be by Obadiah Walker, Master of University College, Oxford.]]

The version just alluded to purports to be by a child in his eighth year. It was first printed in 1640 (London), but the earliest edition in the British Museum, where alone I have been able to find a copy, is that of 1646, which is described as the fourth edition.[1] The cover is stamped in gilt, "Gift of G. III." The translations are indeed rude, and sometimes inaccurate as to the sense, but that they were the unaided work of a child under eight is one of the "things hard to be believed"

which a Maxim admonishes us not to tell. In the edition of 1651 there is a portrait of Master Hawkins at the age of eight, and the same picture appears in 1672 as the same person at ten. Moreover, in an edition of 1663 the "Bookseller," in an address "to the reader," seems rather vague in several statements. "A counsellor of the Middle Temple, in 1652, added twenty-five new Precepts marked thus (*) at which time a Gentleman of _Lincoln's_-Inn turned the Book into Latine." There are, however, in this edition thirty-one Precepts not in the French work, and of these twenty-six are in the edition of 1646. The Latin version appended (signed H.B.) is exactly that of Father Perin, with the exception of a few words, considerable omissions, and the additional Precepts. The additions are all evidently by a mature hand.

[Footnote 1: "Youth's Behaviour, or Decency in Conversation amongst men. Composed in French by grave persons for the Use and benefit of their youth. Now newly translated into English by Francis Hawkins. The fourth edition, with the addition of twenty-sixe new Precepts (which are marked thus *) London. Printed by W. Wilson for W. Lee, and are to be sold at the _Turks-head_ neere the _Miter Taverne_ in _Fleetstreet_.

1646." There are some lines "In laudem Authoris" by J.S., and the following:--"Gentle Reader,--Thinke it not amisse to peruse this Peece, yet connive at the Style: for it hath neede thereof, since wrought by an uncouth and rough File of one greene in yeares; as being aged under eight. Hence, worthy Reader, shew not thy self too-too-rigid a Censurer.

This his version is little dignified, and therefore likely will it appears to thee much imperfect. It ought to be his own, or why under the t.i.tle is his name written? Peradventure thou wilt say, what is it to me?

yet heare: Such is it really, as that I presume the Author may therein be rendred faithfully: with this courteously be then satisfied.--This small Treatise in its use, will evidently appear to redound to the singular benefit of many a young spirit, to whom solely and purposely it is addressed. Pa.s.se it therefore without mistake and candidly."]

With the Hawkins volume of 1663 is bound, in the British Museum Library, a companion work, ent.i.tled, "The second Part of Youth's Behaviour, or Decency in Conversation amongst Women. 1664." This little book is apparently by Robert Codrington, whose name is signed to its remarkable dedicatory letter: "To the Mirrour of her s.e.x Mrs. Ellinor Pargiter, and the most accomplished with all reall Perfections Mrs. Elizabeth Was.h.i.+ngton, her only Daughter, and Heiress to the truly Honourable Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton Esquire, lately deceased."

This was Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton of Garsden, Wilts., who married Elianor.

second daughter of Wm. Gyse; their only child, a daughter, having married Robert s.h.i.+rley, Earl Ferrars. Laurence Was.h.i.+ngton died Jan. 17, 1662, and his widow married Sir William Pargiter.[1]

[Footnote 1: See "An Examination of the English Ancestry of George Was.h.i.+ngton. By Henry F. Waters, A.M., Boston. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1889."]

In a letter to the New York _Nation_ (5th June 1890), I said: "Though my theory, that the Rev. James Marye taught Was.h.i.+ngton these 'Rules,' has done good service in leading to the discovery of their origin, it cannot be verified, unless the clergyman's descendants have preserved papers in which they can be traced." I have since learned from the family that no such papers exist. The discovery just mentioned, that a Part Second of Youth's Behaviour was published in 1664, and dedicated to two ladies of the Was.h.i.+ngton family in England, lends force to Dr. Minor's suggestion that Was.h.i.+ngton might have worked out his Rules from the Hawkins version. It would be natural that Part II. so dedicated should be preserved in the Virginia family, and should be bound up with Part I., published the year before, as it is bound in the British Museum. It is certain that one of the later editions of the Hawkins version was used in the preparation of Was.h.i.+ngton's "Rules," for the eighteen Rules not in the French book are all from "Youth's Behaviour" (1663).

Moreover, the phraseology is sometimes the same, and one or two errors of translation follow the Hawkins version. _E.g._, Maxim ii. 16 begins: "Prenez garde de vous echauffer trop au jeu, & aux emportements qui s'y eleuet." The second clause, a warning against being too much carried away by excitements of play, is rendered by Hawkins, "Contend not, nor speake louder than thou maist with moderation;" and in the Was.h.i.+ngton MS., "affect not to Speak Louder than ordenary."

A careful comparison, however, of Was.h.i.+ngton's Rules with the Hawkins version renders it doubtful whether the Virginia boy used the work of the London boy. The differences are more than the resemblances. If in some cases the faults of the Was.h.i.+ngton version appear gratuitous, the printed copy being before him, on the other hand it often suggests a closer approach to the French--of which language Was.h.i.+ngton is known to have been totally ignorant. As to the faults, where Hawkins says ceremonies "are too troublesome," Was.h.i.+ngton says they "is troublesome;"

where the former translates correctly that one must not approach where "another readeth a letter," Was.h.i.+ngton has "is writing a letter;" where he writes "infirmityes" Was.h.i.+ngton has "Infirmaties;" the printed "manful" becomes "manfull," and "courtesy" "curtesie." Among the variations which suggest a more intimate knowledge of French idioms than that of Hawkins the following may be mentioned. The first Maxim with which both versions open is: "Que toutes actions qui se font publiquement fa.s.sent voir son sentiment respectueux a toute la compagnie." Hawkins: "Every action done in view of the world ought to be accompanied with some signe of reverence which one beareth to all who are present." Was.h.i.+ngton: "Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present." Here the restoration of "respectueux," and the limitation of "publiquement" by "compagnie," make the latter rendering much neater. In Maxim viii. 47, which admonishes one not to be angry at table, it is said, "bien si vous vous fachez,"

you are not to show it. Hawkins translates "if so bee thou bee vexed;"

but Was.h.i.+ngton more finely, "if you have reason to be so, Shew it not."

Or compare the following versions of "Si vous vous reposez chez vous, ayt quelque siege, faites en sorte de traiter chacun sel son merite."

Hawkins: "if there be anything for one to sit on, be it a chair, be it a stool, give to each one his due." Was.h.i.+ngton: "when you present seats let it be to every one according to his degree." Rule 45, for "moderation et douceur" has "Sweetness and Mildness," Hawkins only "sweetness." Again: "si vous rencontrez ioliment, si vous donnez quelque bon-mot, en faisant rire les autres, empeschez-vous-en, le plus qu'il vous sera possible." Hawkins: "When so it falleth out that thou deliver some happy lively an jolly conceit abstaine thou, and let others laugh."

Was.h.i.+ngton: "if you Deliver anything witty and Pleasent abtain from laughing thereat yourself."

Yet how curt is the version last quoted, and how blundering the sentence! Was.h.i.+ngton's spelling was always faulty, but it is not characteristic of him to write "abtain" for "abstain." This is one of many signs of haste, suggesting that his pen was following oral instruction. The absence of punctuation is normal; in some cases words have dropped out: such clerical mistakes occur as "eys," "but" for "put," "top" for "of," "whth" for "without," and "affection" for "affectation"--the needed letters being in the last case interlined.

Except as regards punctuation, no similar errors occur in any ma.n.u.script from Was.h.i.+ngton's hand, either in youth or age. Another reason for supposing that he may have been following an instructor is the excessive abbreviation. It was by no means characteristic of Was.h.i.+ngton to suppress details, but here his condensation sometimes deprives maxims of something of their force, if not of their sense. _E.g._, Rule 59: "Never express anything unbecoming, nor Act against the Rules Moral before your inferiours." _Cf._ Hawkins: "Never expresse anything unbeseeming, nor act against the Rules morall, before thy inferiours, for in these things, thy own guilt will multiply Crimes by example, and as it were, confirme Ill by authority." And "s.h.i.+ft not yourself in the sight of others" hardly does duty for the precept, "It is insufferable impoliteness to stretch the body, extend the arms, and a.s.sume different postures." There are, however, but few instances in which the sense of the original has been lost; indeed, the rendering of the Was.h.i.+ngton MS.

is generally an improvement on the original, which is too diffuse, and even more an improvement on the Hawkins version.

Indeed, although Was.h.i.+ngton was precocious,--a surveyor at seventeen,--it would argue qualities not hitherto ascribed to him were we to suppose that, along with his faulty grammar and spelling, he was competent at fourteen for such artistic selection and prudent omission as are shown by a comparison of his 110 Rules with the 170 much longer ones of the English version. The omission of religious pa.s.sages, save the very general ones with which the Rules close, and of all scriptural ones, is equally curious whether we refer the Rules to young Was.h.i.+ngton or to the Rector who taught him. But it would be of some significance if we suppose the boy to have omitted the precept to live "peeceably in that vocation unto which providence hath called thee;" and still more that he should have derived nothing from the following: "Do not think thou canst be a friend to the King whilst thou art an enemy to G.o.d: if thy crying iniquity should invite G.o.d's judgments to the Court, it would cost thy Soveraigne dear, to give them entertainment." If Was.h.i.+ngton was acquainted with Part II. of "Youth's Behaviour," relating to women and dedicated to ladies of the Was.h.i.+ngton race, it is remarkable that no word relating to that s.e.x is found among his Rules.[1]

[Footnote 1: In the edition of Hawkins (1663) bound up with Part II. in the British Museum (bearing on the cover the name and arms of the "Hon'ble Thos. Greville") there is just one precept concerning women: "If thou art yet unmarried, but intendest to get thee a wife modest, rather than beautiful, meddle not with those Ladies of the Game, who make pageants of their Cheeks, and Shops of their Shoulders, and (contrary to all other Trades) keep open their Windows on the Sabbath-day, impudently exposing their nakedness to the view of a whole Congregation," &c. There are, in an appendix, pictures of a puritanically shrouded "Virtue," and a "Vice" who, apart from the patches on her face, singularly resembles a portrait of pretty Lady Ferrars in Codrington's book (_ante_, p. 21) ed. 1672.]

On the whole, though it is very uncertain, the balance of probabilities seems to favour the theory that the Rules of Civility, found in a copy-book among school exercises, exceedingly abbreviated, and marked by clerical errors unusual with Was.h.i.+ngton, were derived from the oral teachings of his preceptor; that this Frenchman utilised (and was once or twice misled by) the English version along with the original, which had been used as a manual in his Rouen College.

The Marie family of Rouen,--from which came the Maryes of Virginia,--is distinguished both in Catholic and Huguenot annals. Among the eminent Jesuit authors was Pierre Marie, who was born at Rouen, 1589, and died at Bourges, 1645. He was author of "La Sainte Solitude; ou les Entretiens solitaires de l'ame," and of "La Science du Crucifix: en forme de meditations." The family was divided by the Huguenot movement, and a Protestant branch took root in England. Concerning the latter, Agnew (_French Protestant Exiles_, i. p. 100) gives the following information:--

"Jean Marie, pasteur of Lion-sur-mer, was a refugee in England from the St. Bartholomew ma.s.sacre. He is supposed to have belonged to the same family as the Huguenot martyr, Marin Marie, a native of St. George in the diocese of Lisieux. It was in the year 1559 that that valiant man, who had become a settler in Geneva, was arrested at Sens when on a missionary journey to France, laden with a bale of Bibles and New Testaments, and publications for the promotion of the Protestant Reformation; he was burnt at Paris, in the place Maubert, on the 3d of August of that year. Our pasteur was well received in England, and was sent to Norwich, of which city he appears to have been the first French minister. He was lent to the reformed churches of France when liberty of preaching revived, and so returned to Normandy, where we find him in 1583. The first National Synod of Vitre held its meetings in that year, between the 15th and 27th of May. Quick's 'Synodicon' (vol. i. p. 153) quotes the following minute:--'Our brother, Monsieur Marie, minister of the church of Norwich in England, but living at present in Normandy, shall be obliged to return unto his church upon its first summons; yet, because of the great success of his ministry in these parts, his church may be entreated to continue for some longer time his absence from it.' He certainly did return to Norwich, because on 29th April 1589 the ma.n.u.script Book of Discipline was submitted to the consistory for signature; and Jan Marie signed first, and his colleague M. Basnage, second. One of his sons, Nathaniel Marie, became one of the pasteurs of the London French Church, and married 1st, Ester, daughter of the pasteur Guillaume De Laune, and 2dly (in 1637), Ester le Hure, widow of Andre Joye. The Norwich pasteur had probably another son named after himself, a commercial residenter in his native city; for two sons of a Jan Marie were baptized in Norwich French Church: (1) Jan on 3d February 1600, and (2) Pierre, on 6th July 1602. Madame Marie, probably the pasteur's widow, was a witness at the first baptism."

James Marye, with whom we are particularly concerned, sprang from the Catholic family, and was born at Rouen near the close of the seventeenth century. He was educated for the priesthood, no doubt at the Jesuit College in Rouen,--where, as we have seen, Father Perin's book on manners was printed in 1651. However, James Marye abjured the Catholic religion in 1726. This caused a breach between himself and the family, which consisted of a widowed mother and her two other sons,--Peter and William (the latter an officer), both of whose names however, reappeared in their protestant brother's family. In consequence of this alienation James migrated to England, where he pursued his studies, and was ordained by the Bishop of London. In 1728 he married Let.i.tia Maria Anne Staige. She was a sister of the Rev. Theodosius Staige, who was already in Virginia. For that colony the Rev. James Marye also embarked, in 1729, with his bride. Their first child (Lucy) was born during the voyage.

It would appear that the purpose of this emigration was to minister to a settlement of French Huguenots at Monacan (or Manakintown, as it was called) on James River. The first band of these refugees had gone over in 1690, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Olivier de la Muce, and 600 others had followed in 1699, with their clergyman, Phillipe de Richebourg. The a.s.sembly of Virginia gave them a large tract of land in Henrico County--not far from where Richmond now stands--exempting them from taxation. The name of James Marye first appears in Virginia (1730) as christening a child in King William Parish, as it was called,--after the King who had favoured this Huguenot colony.