and then gave amusing
particulars of missives he had received from the South threatening him
with assassination. Among other kindly hints sent through the
post-office was a colored lithograph portrait of himself, with the
picturesque annotation of a rifle-ball on the forehead, and a promise
that such a remedy "would stop his music." He alluded to these
communications with perfect good nature, some of them being identical
with words used towards him by Mr. Gilmer. A further account of them
will be given from the correspondent of the newspapers of the day.[1]

[1] See the _Boston Courier_ and _New York American_ of the
period.

"Among the many strange impressions of these singular scenes,
nothing is more striking than the total, disgraceful ignorance
which prevails as to who John Quincy Adams _is_. That he has been
President of the United States, and had previously borne high
offices, seems occasionally to be vaguely remembered by a few of
the most intelligent of his persecutors. But of the part which he
has borne for half a century in the history of America and of the
world they know no more than they do of the Vedas and Puranas.

"The thread of this great discourse was his present and past
relations to Virginia and Virginians. After gratefully acknowledging
his infinite obligations to the great Virginians of the first age of
the federal republic, he modestly and unpretendingly recounted the
unsought exalted honors heaped upon him by Washington, Madison, and
Monroe, and detailed with touching simplicity and force some of his
leading actions in the discharge of those weighty trusts. As he went
back through the historic vista of patriotic achievements, he seemed
to renew his youth like the eagles, and rose into a still loftier
and bolder strain than in the withering retort with which he struck
down Wise and Marshall. In passing over the preliminaries of his
discourse, he chanced to fix his eye on the latter, who was moving
down one of the side aisles. Instantly, at the suggestion of the
moment, he burst forth into a beautiful appeal to the hallowed
memory of the venerated and immaculate Virginian who once bore the
name of Marshall through a long career of judicial honor and
usefulness. The general interest in this appeal to the past was
impressive. The members of the house drew together around him; even