strong perception of the ludicrous. I was his counsel before a court-martial at Fort McHenry growing out of a difficulty with Colonel Belton in which, if I remember, he was successful. He afterwards left the army and became a civil engineer.

"Alison' was Miss Alison Turnbull, now Mrs. Samuel Lawrence of Massachusetts, then one of the very handsomest women I ever knew.

"Charles Harper, the son of General R. G. Harper, with whom I studied law, my most intimate friend, a noble, chivalrous, talented and refined gentleman, who was a member of the Legislature, and, later, Secretary of Legation under Mr. Rives, the American Minister to France. The mention of his name revives recollections that would fill a volume. He died long since at Paris.

"Tom Oliver, a schoolfellow at St. Mary's College, in after life a client. He was the son of Robert Oliver, a merchant prince of Baltimore. He married the daughter of Hall Harrison. She was the sister of W. G. Harrison, one of the most estimable of my old friends, respected and beloved by all who knew him. He was, at one time, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Road.

"R. B. Magruder, a prominent lawyer, afterwards one of the judges of the old County Court, a kindly hearted gentleman, of a very full face, 'making up' admirably as Prior Aymer.

"Cruse and Kennedy, lawyers both, addicted to literature rather than to law. While Cruse had talent as a writer, as witness his contributions to the Baltimore American, of which he was the editor, Kennedy had genius, as witness "Swallow Barn," "Rob of the Bowl," and his other imaginative works. Cruse began and ended with Literature. Kennedy made himself prominent in the political world, was a member of the Legislature, was sent to Congress from

Baltimore, and became Secretary of the Navy, illustrating his ability in every position; and his “Annals of Quodlibet" was one of the best political productions of the day. But he was not as sturdy and finished a writer as Cruse. They were the Damon and Pythias of society in Baltimore. Cruse died of the cholera in 1832. Kennedy died only a few years since. Both had humor; but while Cruse was full of it, Kennedy was overflowing. I knew both well, and while they lived, they were my associates and friends.

"Gibbes, R. M., was one of the handsomest, most refined and elegant gentlemen that we had in Baltimore; a South Carolinian, with all the manners of the old school. He married the daughter of Robert Oliver. He was another of my friends.

"Frick, William, was one of the brightest and most humorous men at the Bar, who, without being a very learned lawyer, made, long after the Fancy Ball, an excellent Judge. Few men were ever more popular, and as a brilliant conversationalist he was unequalled. Among other accomplishments, the Judge was an admirable musician, not only instrumentally, but as a composer; and more than once he set to music verses that I had written or which I wrote for the occasion. One of these, I remember, was "My barque is upon the deep, love," and another "O, lady, if I were the knight of old." Our offices adjoined, and we saw a great deal of each other while he lived. Some of his humorous anecdotes are traditional. Everybody liked Judge Frick.

"Olivia Donaldson was one of the handsomest women in a City where beauty is not rare. She married Grafton Dulany, an able and very distinguished member of our Bar, as handsome almost as a man as his wife was as a woman, and their children still perpetuate the beauty of their parents. Madame Vallenilla is Mrs. Dulany's sister.

"Mr. and Mrs. Skinner. Mr. John S. Skinner was the postmaster, a person of wide and general information and a prominent politician in his day; a clever writer, the editor of the American Farmer, and at home in all agricultural matters. His paper gave him a wide influence in Maryland. His wife was an amiable and hospitable lady.

"Lawyer Finley and Tom Meredith were two members of the Baltimore Bar.

'George Howard was a son of Col. John Eager Howard of revolutionary fame. Howard was, at a later day, Governor of Maryland. He was one of six brothers, John, George, Ben, James, William and Charles, all of whom I knew, and with three of whom, Ben, Charles and William, I was intimate. I was William's groomsman, and Charles was a very dear friend. Colonel Howard's only daughter, Sophia, married my fellow-student in General Harper's law office, William George Read, and both husband and wife were my very dear friends. All are now dead. The widows of Ben, William and Charles are still living. William's widow is now Mrs. Rebecca Tyson. I was groomsman at her first marriage. The widow of Charles is the daughter of Francis S. Key, of Star Spangled Banner renown.

"Tom Adair and young Etting are the last persons named in my sister's letter. Adair was a young merchant, the brother of William R. Adair, a very excellent gentleman. The brothers were intimates in the family into which I married (my first wife). I cannot recall Etting. The American flag remains an incognito to this day.

"Tom Levering, still active at eighty-two, meets me sometimes, and always reminds me of my Don Quixote, which he saw at the Fancy Ball. I am inclined to think that he is the only person now living, except those above mentioned, who was present at the Ball.

"SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI ET BALLORUM"

CHAPTER VIII

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE OF MR. LATROBE AND MISS MARGARET STUART.

A man's affections and his acts in his domestic life form a part, perhaps the most human part, of his character; without a consideration of this phase of life it would be impossible fully to appreciate the character of the subject of any biographical sketch.

Margaret Stuart was the motive of Mr. Latrobe's life from 1824 until her death in 1831, after they had been married for only two years.

His diary was begun on September 1, 1824. In the preface he says: "The last six months have flown while building airy castles upon it." M. S. is a memento of this. In Mr. Latrobe's diary of this period these letters appear frequently, forming, like a dollar mark, the initials of Margaret Stuart.

There are very few men who ever realize the grand passion. Most men get in love, few fall. In the first instance a man realizes that it is a proper status to be married -to be the father of children and the head of a family. In this condition of mind he finds himself interested, and he encourages this interest and declares himself in love. The other condition is an accident, like falling down stairs, without rhyme or reason. "There crosses his life's path a maiden, but little different from other daughters of men; the blood rushes to his heart and all his senses are bewitched. Thereafter, until the madness ends, his life

belongs wholly to the new found being of whom he knows nothing, except that the sunlight seems more beautiful when it touches her; he finds himself swept away by an absorbing passion. He pictures the object with all the perfections a human being can possess. It matters not whether that object has them; the picture is made in his own heart, and she is perfect. His very solicitude and anxiety interfere with his making a good impression or appearing to advantage, and the lover in such case is but a poor advocate for his own cause. He has placed a human object on a pedestal. He feels his inferiority and worships her at a distance. Where, perhaps, a more aggressive lover, who treats the object as a mere woman, would be successful, he fails. The creation of the ideal may be a fabric of the imagination. If he fails to obtain the object of his hope, the image he has created remains in his heart. If he succeeds, and the reality measures up to the ideal, it is a perfect union. Perhaps the veil drops away, and he is among those who "in courtship dream, and in wedlock wake," "-and he realizes that it is a delusion."

Mr. Latrobe's journal shows that he conceived the grand passion for Margaret Stuart, as he writes, Tuesday, September 14, 1824: "I walked out to Maryland Square to see Miss Stuart."

"October 8, 1824. Saw M. S. at the ball. Told B. G. of my t to M. S." These initials B. G. stand for Miss Gill who was a sister of George M. Gill, a great friend of Mr. Latrobe. It is evident that his love affair was not running smoothly when on November 16, 1824 he wrote the following:

"Whoever laughs and jeers at feeling, whoever cries up the callosity of the human mind, whoever insists that it be made perfectly callous, is a fool, or at least knows not the