such long and unpronounceable names to some of the loveliest of Flora's treasures. It is as if the pet Marys and Emmas of our households were suddenly to be changed to harsh Russian cognomens, or to the barbarous appellations of some of the feminine natives of the South Sea Islands. There is one peculiarity about flowers; they are never de trop, and their presence is never inappropriate. They grace the brow of the bride, and lend their charms to the gayety of the festival. Their colours shine in the dress of beauty, and fashion imitates them in the wreaths and posies woven in her costliest fabrics. Their hues glow in curtains and carpets, and their forms are perpetuated in furniture, and embalmed in precious vases and mosaics. Theirs also is a tender office. They speak of hope in the chamber of sickness; and when life has departed, they shed a faint perfume around the coffined dead, and we plant them with affectionate thoughts upon the grave, and near the tomb. What beauty would be taken from the earth if its flowers were forever annihilated, and we were never more to see their sweet faces, or to feel the influence of their loveliness upon the sense or the heart. Their loss would soon be felt in everything that relates to "There grew pied wind flowers and violets, "And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, With dark buds and leaves, wandering astray; Shelley's preference is evidently for deeply odourous flowers, such as exhale their perfume in tropical lands, or under the influence of our balmiest midsummer evenings. "The light clear element which the isle wears And from the moss violets and jonquils peep, And dart their arrowy odour through the brain Shakspeare writes of flowers with the same tenderness and love that he has shown for humanity. One must love the flowers whose names linger on the lips of the poor, distract Ophelia-" there is pansies, that's for thoughts"-"there's a daisy: I would give you some violets; but they withered all, when my father died." What a fulness of pathos in these simple words! They tell the whole story of a bewildered mind and a broken heart. It would require many volumes to enumerate half the beautiful things the poets have said of flowers. No praise of ours could consecrate them as they have done. We cherish them, however, with a devotion as earnest, and we love them, not only as the tender children of our Mother Earth, but as pure and lovely gifts from the Infinite Father. CECILIA. VIRGINIA, May, 1857. TO MY LYRE. FROM ANACREON. I strive to tell the laurelled deeds Of Grecian Atreus' famous race. I strive to yield the lyric meeds That should the fame of Cadmus grace. 'Twas yestermorn I changed the strings And boldly soared on epic wings Farewell, henceforth, for me the strain That boasts of heroes and their deeds! Welcome the murmuring of the reeds! JUDGE PENDLETON'S ORIGIN. RICHMOND, May, 1857. Editor Southern Literary Messenger: DEAR SIR--The department of "Notes and Queries" seems to have lately become very popular in English and New England literary papers: more specially in connection with questions of historic or biographical importance. I think that we should not be behind-hand in our good Old Dominion, where so many interesting facts, relating to our great leaders in the past, lie perdus in the memories of men, or in family papers. These documents are seldom brought to the light, and seem destined, gradually, to moulder away into that oblivion which finally takes all that is not pepetuated in print. I wish therefore to place upon record, through this brief letter, two or three facts relating to Judge Edmund Pendleton-a man justly famous for his services in the Revolution. Judge Pendleton was far from possessing the fiery eloquence of Mr. Henry, or the genius for overturning which characterized Mr. Jefferson. In speaking, he exhibited much more of eloquence and grace than of rugged and commanding oratoryand nourished a deep attachment for much which his associates aimed to overthrow. But this peculiarity of temperament seems to have been, in a large measure, the source of his influence. He was the conservative Revolutionist of that day. Mr. Jefferson, in his memoirs, alludes briefly to the state of parties at the time. The more violent advocates of Revolution, he declares, marched too fast for the great body of the people whose minds were not sufficiently ripe: like generals, they spurred on, leaving the rank and file behind. They were restrained however, he adds, by the cooler minds of the period-bent like themselves upon a "redress of grievances," but determined to act with calmness, and advance step by step. Thus, says Mr. Jefferson, the phalanx marched evenly, and in order, to the attack. Of these cooler advocates of resistance, Judge Pendleton was one of the most distinguished representatives, if not the leader. He opposed, along with nearly every great patriot of the period, the earlier and more violent movements of Henry-and even as late as the spring of -'75 was loth to throw down the gauntlet of war. But it is certain that his popularity, and the public confidence in his patriotism never wavered. His position at the head of the Committee of Safety, which was almost a dictatorial body, indicates this fact. Men seem to have looked to him as to a calm and collected statesman for counsel and guidance: and this confidence in his integrity and attachment to the cause of true liberty, is traceable throughout the entire annals of the period. He was afterwards called to many distinguished posts of honor and responsi bility, of which it is not necessary to speak; and died "full of honors.” The foregoing may appear too lengthy a preface for the brief notice of a slight error touching the Judge's origin, which I propose to correct: but in relation to the lives and characters of these good and great men of the Revolutionary era, we should collect, I think, every fact of interest. History is, after all, but a series of biographies-and all which tends to illustrate its distinguished names, is worthy of record. The slight error I refer to is found in the works of Mr. Wirt and Mr. Grigsby-as in others, containing notices of Judge Pendleton. Mr. Wirt says, "Edmund Pendleton, the protege of the Speaker Robinson, was also among the most prominent members in the house. He had in a great measure overcome the disadvantages of an extremely defective education, and by the force of good company and the study of correct authors, had attained to great accuracy and perspicuity of style. The patronage of the Speaker had introduced him to the first circles, and his manners were elevated, graceful, and insinuating." In that admirable contribution to the annals of our State, the " Convention of 1776," Mr. Grigsby says: "The origin of this remarkable man was obscure. He was not in a legal sense, nobody's son, but in the estimation of a haughty gentry, he was something worse,-he was the son of nobody." Mr. Grigsby then adds, in correction of Mr. Wirt:"From the similarity of the names of Benjamin Robinson, his old master, as he always called him, and of John Robinson, the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, it has been usual to regard Pendleton as the protegè of the Speaker; but it is probable that the Speaker was more deeply indebted to Pendleton than Pendleton was to the Speaker." There seems certainly no ground for Wirt's assertion, thus noticed by Mr. Grigsby. When he went to the House of Burgesses, Mr. Pendleton had passed his thirtieth year,--was widely and favourably known as an elegant advocate, and a man of elevated character. It would appear scarcely credible, that he stood in want of "patronage" of any description. His "old master" was Col. Robinson, clerk of Caroline Court, whose office he entered in boyhood. In relation to his origin, there seems to have been a similar mistake. Desiring to ascertain the truth, I lately addressed a letter to one of the Judge's descendants, who has indulged a pardonable pride in collecting memorials of his ancestor, -some of which are in the Judge's own hand-writing. The following notes are Lased upon this gentleman's communi cation. married Mary Taylor,-and died in 1721, the same year with his father. There were seven children, the issue of this marriage also. Isabella Gaines, Mary Gaines, James, Philip, John, Nathaniel, and Edmund Pendleton, the Judge. Nathaniel married his first cousin, Elizabeth Clayton; from which branch are descended the worthy family of the name in Berkeley county. The Judge was born in 1721, the year of his father's, and grand-father's death. My authority adds: Mary Taylor, the mother of Judge Edmund Pendleton, was the daughter of James Taylor, an Englishman. Judge Pendleton's mother was also the sister of John Taylor, who married Catharine Pendleton. The wellknown Col. John Taylor, of Caroline, was his grand-son." The following is from a paper in the Judge's hand-writing: "I have had pleasure in hearing uniformly that my grand-father, and his immediate descendants were very respectable for their piety and moral virtue; a character preserved in the family to a degree scarcely to be expected in one so numerous. My mother was among the best of women, and her family highly respectable. "EDMUND PENDLETON, Dec. 1801." may Some of readers your doubt whether this genealogical matter was worthy of thus much attention; but it may be said in reply, that if the nature of Judge Pendleton's origin be of sufficient interest to find place in many books, as seems to have been considered, it is proper that the actual truth should be known. I think it a very excusable sentiment in this worthy man-his pride in stating that his grand-father, father, and mother, were highly respectable, and noted for their moral virtue and piety. There is something even more absurd than the inordinate pride of the Duke of Somerset,--and that is, an utter indifference to the moral purity, or depravity of one's ancestry. The first of the name who came to Virginia, were Philip and Nathaniel Pendleton, sons of Henry Pendleton, of the city of Norwich in England. The brothers came over in the year 1676, and seem to have settled in Caroline county, Nathaniel, who was a minister, dying soon afterwards without issue. Philip was the father of seven children. Catherine married John Taylor; Elizabeth, a It seems plain that Judge Pendleton Mr. Clayton. The only other name was from that honest English stock which given is that of Henry, oldest son, who has produced so much vigorous intel |