Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

Page 24 text:

clergyman, and at one time chaplain of the Continental Congressg but very soon after independence was declared he deserted Philadelphia for New York, where the British then were, and set hirnselfto work with insidious art to spread disaffection in the ranks of his countrymen. Mr. Duche is little known to this generation, but in his day he was a redoubtable figure. There are in the library a great many other books interesting from their associa- tion with distinguished men of more recent date than those referred to aboveg but into an account of these it is impossible now to enter. Qiliwiffwillll lp 1. efsiss H 4 J . 1 ' Q .? W 44- el' , W ' 16

Page 23 text:

John Holt Rice left two memorials of himself in the shape of books : 1. Epicteti Manuale QGlasgow, 17441, in which is written, Union Society, from J. H. Rice. 2. Brookes's General Gazetteer tPhiladelphia, 18065. In this is written, Presented to the Union Society, by Jno. H. Rice, 1824.7 The handwriting in each case is evidently that of Dr. Rice. While the signature of John Witherspoon is the only signature of a signer of the Declaration of Independence that the library possesses, there is a set of books trhree volumesj that probably was presented by another signer, namely, Benjamin Harrison. These three volumes make up the complete set of A Defence of the Constitution of the Government of the United States, by John Adams qPhiladelphia, 17973. In these volumes appears the formula, Presented to the Union Society by Benjn. Harrison, Esqr., of Prince George County. This was not written by Mr. Harrison himself-Harrison's signature is known-but it was probably written by some one here at the college. It is recalled that Mr. Harrison's seat was Berkeley, in Charles City County, not Prince George, but it is argued that Charles City and Prince George are not very far from each other, and that the latter county contains several famous seats of the Harrison family, and that for these reasons the writer of the inscription may have gotten the two mixed and substituted the one for the other. It must be remembered that 1Vm. Henry Harrison, the son of Benjamin Harrison, the signer of the Declaration, was educated at Hampden-Sidney, and was one of the founders of the Union Society. A book extremely interesting in itself connects the name of John Randolph, of Roanoke, with the college. This book is Fables of Mr. John Gay, with an Italian Translation by Gian Francesco Giorgitti fLondon, 17731. It was presented to the Philanthropic Society in 1854 by Wyat Cardwell Thomas, of Charlotte County, but has in it the book-plate of John Randolph, which shows beyond a doubt that it once formed part of his library. John Randolph's opinion of this college in 1806, judging from expressions that he used in a letter to his nephew in that year, was not favorable, but later on his opinion completely changed. For the Rev. Moses Hoge, president of the college from Oct. 30, 1807, to April, 1820, he had the highest admiration and regardg and in 1816, in speaking of his plans for two orphan boys, the care of whom he had assumed, he said : I propose to place them at Prince Edward College, under the care of Dr. Hogue, after they shall have undergone some preparatory tuition at Mr. Lacy's school. So we may be sure that if John Randolph knew of the present resting place of his copy of Gay, he would be gratified. In the first volume of The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. Tillotson QEdinburg, 17603, there is the probable signature of Jacob Ducbe. Mr. Duche was a, T5

Page 25 text:

w 17