f the "site of the birthplace of George
Washington, and the home and graves of his progenitors in America,"
and appropriating five thousand dollars "to enclose the same in an
iron fence," etc. Hon. Henry A. Wise, governor of Virginia at the time
this act was passed, entered with zeal and alacrity upon the work, the
execution of which was entrusted to him by the Legislature--went in
person to Westmoreland, examined carefully the sites, negotiated with
the owner of the adjacent farm for right of way, adopted a plan for
the enclosures and tablets, and began a correspondence with mechanics
and artisans at the North with a view to the speedy completion of the
work, and--just then his term expired, the war soon followed, and the
matter was of course dropped.

The money appropriated, together with the accrued interest, is now
in the treasury of Virginia, and although Governor Walker in his late
message did not bring the subject to the attention of the Legislature,
the long-delayed work will be consummated sooner or later, and "a neat
iron fence" with a few plain slabs will be erected on the hallowed
spot. But it strikes the present writer that five thousand dollars, or
even ten thousand dollars, form rather a small sum for such an object,
and that "a neat iron fence" is not exactly the thing that the place
and its memories demand. But not a dollar more may be expected of
Virginia at this time. She owes too much, and has too little. If one
of the many Northern gentlemen who are lavishing their hundreds of
thousands on colleges and other charities would come to Westmoreland
and put something a little better than a "neat iron fence" around the
birthplace of Washington, he would do a noble deed for himself and for
both sections of his lately estranged country.

R.B.E.

VICISSITUDES IN HIGH LIFE.

The London papers lately recorded the death of a lady who was the
representative and last descendant, save one sister, of a house famous
in English history. This was Lady Langdale, widow of Bickersteth,
first and last Lord Langdale, and sister of Harley, last earl of
Oxford. Lady Langdale had but one child, who married Count Teleki, a
Hungarian nobleman, and pre-deceased her mother, dying childless. Lord
Langdale was the son of Mr. Bickersteth, surgeon, of Kirby-Lonsdale,
Westmoreland. He was brought up to his father's vocation, and
traveled, as physician, with the earl of Oxford.

Impressed, no doubt, with Mr. Bickersteth's