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EIGHTY-NINE AND NINETY.

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ished manners." He was accompanied in New York during the second session of the first Congress by several members of his family, which was in a few years to be so largely represented among the most dignified circles of the British aristocracy. His daughter, Polly Carroll, had been married, in Baltimore, in November, 1786, to Mr. Richard Caton,^[1] an English gentleman who came to this

very erroneous view of his merits and of the place which he filled in the eye of his country, which should represent him as only respected for his patriotism and his virtues. He had talents and acquirements which enabled him effectually to help the cause he espoused. His knowledge was various, and his eloquence was of a high order. It was, like his character, mild and pleasing: like his deportment, correct and faultless, flowing smoothly, and executing far more than it seemed to aim at; every one was charmed by it, and many were persuaded. His taste was peculiarly chaste, for he was a scholar of extraordinary accomplishments, and few, if any, of the speakers in the New World came nearer the models of the more refined oratory practised in the parent state. Nature and ease, want of effort, gentleness, united with sufficient strength, are noted as its enviable characteristics; and as it thus approached the tone of conversation, so, long after he ceased to appear in public, his private society is represented as displaying much of his rhetorical powers, and has been compared, not unhappily, by a late writer, to the words of Nestor, which fell like vernal snows as he spake to the people. In commotions, whether of the senate or the multitude, such a speaker, by his calmness and firmness joined, might well hope to have the weight, and to exert the control and mediatory authority of him, pietate gravis et mentis, who — regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet."

↑ As early as 1809 two of the daughters of Mr. Caton were reigning belles of Baltimore and Washington. The memoirs of the eldest would constitute a narrative of singular and romantic interest. In the first flowering of womanly beauty she was married to Mr. Robert Patterson, an accomplished and wealthy merchant of Baltimore, with whom she travelled in Europe, where she attracted the attention of Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, who followed her over half the continent, and by his unguarded devotion incurred not a little scandal. Mrs. Patterson returned to Maryland, and her admirer for many months wrote a minute diary of what occurred in the gay world abroad, which he transmitted in letters by every packet for the United States. When she became a widow she revisited London; but the future hero of Waterloo was now himself married, and therefore unable to offer her his hand; he however introduced his elder brother, the Marquis of Wellesley, "that great statesman whose outset in life was marked by a cordial support of American independence," and who was now Viceroy of Ireland, and he soon after became her husband. Sir Arthur continued through all his splendid career to be one of the warmest of her friends. The Marchioness of Wellesley died at Hampton Court, on the seventeenth of December, 1853. One of her sisters was married to Colonel Hervey, an aid-de-camp to Lord Wellington in the battle of Waterloo, and, becoming a widow, was subsequently united to the Marquis of Caermarthen, afterwards Duke of Leeds. Another sister married Baron Stafford, and another Mr. McTavish, for many years British consul at Baltimore. Mrs. McTavish still survives, and is one of the most distinguished and respected women of her native city.

[1] As early as 1809 two of the daughters of Mr. Caton were reigning belles of Baltimore and Washington. The memoirs of the eldest would constitute a narrative of singular and romantic interest. In the first flowering of womanly beauty she was married to Mr. Robert Patterson, an accomplished and wealthy merchant of Baltimore, with whom she travelled in Europe, where she attracted the attention of Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, who followed her over half the continent, and by his unguarded devotion incurred not a little scandal. Mrs. Patterson returned to Maryland, and her admirer for many months wrote a minute diary of what occurred in the gay world abroad, which he transmitted in letters by every packet for the United States. When she became a widow she revisited London; but the future hero of Waterloo was now himself married, and therefore unable to offer her his hand; he however introduced his elder brother, the Marquis of Wellesley, "that great statesman whose outset in life was marked by a cordial support of American independence," and who was now Viceroy of Ireland, and he soon after became her husband. Sir Arthur continued through all his splendid career to be one of the warmest of her friends. The Marchioness of Wellesley died at Hampton Court, on the seventeenth of December, 1853. One of her sisters was married to Colonel Hervey, an aid-de-camp to Lord Wellington in the battle of Waterloo, and, becoming a widow, was subsequently united to the Marquis of Caermarthen, afterwards Duke of Leeds. Another sister married Baron Stafford, and another Mr. McTavish, for many years British consul at Baltimore. Mrs. McTavish still survives, and is one of the most distinguished and respected women of her native city.

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