of the militia of this State, Captain Webster was promoted to the office of Colonel of a Regiment, which office he long held, and took great pride and pleasure in attending to military affairs. It is said of him there was never a finer-looking officer in the field. He was a large, well proportioned, dignified looking man. In giving the word of command his remarkable voice rose above any tumult, no matter how great, and was heard distinctly by every man on parade.

He was often elected a member of the Legislature of this State, sometimes to the Senate and sometimes to the Assembly, and he always exercised that influence which is due to commanding talents and virtuous character. There was in his time a wealthy and influential family belonging to the opposite party in politics, who were his rivals for political distinction, and not unfrequently were opposing candidates. To promote their success they made strenuous efforts and brought to their aid their wealth and other advantages, but all in vain. The recital of one of the deeds of the gallant Colonel, or the repetition of one of his patriotic speeches to his brothers in arms, would outweigh all that could be said or done on the other side, and Colonel Webster never failed to be chosen. In the year 1791 he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the duties of which he discharged with integrity and honor till his death.

Although his education was limited, being selftaught entirely, yet he was a man of strong, good sense; he read much, and was thoroughly acquainted with the Constitution of the States and of the United

States, and he studied profoundly the laws of the land, as they affected the rights and duties of the people. His opinions were held in great respect by all who had the opportunity of knowing them. His general knowledge was very great. Like his sons, Ezekiel and Daniel, he excelled in conversation, and his society was sought by all intelligent men.

Judge Webster selected the farm on the hill, where he first settled, without much regard to its soil, but because it was thickly, wooded with pine timber for market, and on account of a convenient mill privilege afforded by Punch Brook, a considerable stream running through it. There he built a saw-mill and a grist-mill. But after the timber had disappeared, and the population on the flat lands had greatly increased, he sold his land on the hill, and occupied Elms Farm, now owned, as stated in my previous letter, by his son Daniel.

The Judge was twice married, and was the father of ten children-five by his first wife, and five by the second. None are now living except the sage of Marshfield.

The Judge, after a life of sixty-seven years, well spent, died at this place.

.

In the letter to which I have alluded, Mr. Webster, speaking of his father, said "he was the handsomest man I ever saw, except my brother Ezekiel; and he appeared to me, and so he does now seem to me, as my memory restores him, the very finest human form that ever I laid eyes on. I saw him in his coffin-a white forehead, a tinged cheek—a complexion as clear as heavenly light!"

In the grave-yard, a little distant from where I am writing, repose his mortal remains. A plain marble slab marks the spot where he sleeps, and on that slab is this simple inscription: "Ebenezer Webster, Esq., Died April 22nd, 1806, Aged 67." By the side of that grave is the grave of Daniel Webster's mother. On the plain marble slab that tells where she sleeps, is the simple inscription: "Abigail, Wife of Ebenezer Webster, Esq., Died April 25th, 1816, Aged 76. "

In the letter from which I am permitted to make extracts, Mr. Webster thus sums up the character of his father:

"He had in him what I recollect to have been the character of some of the old Puritans. He was deeply religious, but not sour--on the contrary, goodhumored, facetious-showing even in his age, with a contagious laugh, teeth all white as alabaster-gentle, soft, playful-and yet having a heart in him that he seemed to have borrowed from a lion. He could frown-a frown it was; but cheerfulness, good-humor and smiles composed his most usual aspect.

"He died at sixty-seven years of age—after a life of exertion, toil and exposure-a private soldier, an officer, a legislator; a judge-everything that a man could be, to whom Learning never had disclosed her ample page.""

I have seldom considered the biography of a plain man with more satisfaction than his. How I wish he could have been permitted to see the greatness of his

son.

8

Yours, truly.

THE BIRTH-PLACE OF DANIEL WEBSTER-HIS BROTHERS AND

Mr. Webster was born on the 18th day of January, 1782, in the town of Salisbury. The house in which that important event happened, stood on the highway named the North Road, far up the western hill which borders on the valley of the Merrimack. What is Franklin was a part of that old township, and for a long time was called New Salisbury. The farm is now owned by one Captain Sawyer. It was originally owned and occupied by Col. Ebenezer Webster, the father of Mr. Webster, and of whom I have given you some account in a previous letter. Not a vestige of that habitation remains, to mark the place, unless it is the cellar, now partly filled up, and the trunk of an ancient apple-tree, the top of which is dead, but from which, near the earth, are sprouting forth a few thriving branches. From these, I cut a walking staff, which I have sent to my excellent friend, Luther R. Marsh, Esq., an eminent counsellor at the bar in your city.

At a short distance from the place of his birth is the old well, in which hangs an 66 iron-bound bucket." This well was excavated by his father, long before Mr. Webster was born, and from it his family were accustomed to draw the pure and cool water to slake their thirst, as I drew it yesterday to quench mine. By the side of this well stands an elm-tree, planted by his father about the year 1768. It has grown luxuriantly, and its branches extend over a circle

one hundred feet in diameter-affording perpetual shade to the well, and to those who choose to sit under them. For more than sixty years, almost annually, Mr. Webster has sat occasionally under that tree, and drank of that water. Scattered about the

premises, near the well, are a few ancient apple, plum, and pear trees, which were planted by Captain Eastman, his mother's father, and who during the latter part of his life, lived with Col. Webster.

Near the spot runs "Punch Brook," which was then a roaring, rattling, bubbling stream, of considerable importance; but clearing the lands about its sources, has diminished it to a little rivulet, which meanders on its way along the hill-side, through glens and meadows, to the river. It was in this brook that Mr. Webster remembers he caught his first fish. He never passes the spot where that exploit was performed, without relating the anecdote not only of taking the trout, but of the ducking he had when a child.

On the opposite side of the road, is the site of the old mill, built by Col. Webster immediately after he took possession of this land. Yesterday, I called to pay my respects to Lieutenant Benjamin Pettingill, a venerable old man, who related to me many pleasing anecdotes concerning the family of Mr. Webster; and, among other things, he said, that he well remembered going to that mill with his grist, and having waited for it to be ground by Ebenezer Webster the eldest brother of Daniel. Two huge rocks projecting from the bank, on each side of the stream, formed the abutments of the old mill-dam,