fine ladyes that was ever seen in town before.—For my part I think it would be impossible for a man to have fixed upon a partner for life, the choice was too general to have fixed on one."
The public buildings in Williamsburg appear
to have been the best in British America
at the time of their erection. Weld, in his
Travels, says that "the town in 1795 contained
about 1200 people, and the society in it is
thought to be more extensive and more genteel
at the same time than any place of its size
in America." The city was then the residence
of the Rev. James Madison, President of the
College, who was the first to teach political
economy at any American college; of George
Wythe, the teacher of both Marshall and Jefferson,
and the first American professor of law;
of Charles Bellimi, the first American professor
of modern languages; of John Blair, Associate
Justice of the United States; of Peter Pelham,
the musician, to whose solemn strains on
the organ the great Washington had often
lent a willing ear as he sat in the old brick
church on Sundays; and of many other persons
of refinement and cultivation.
Williamsburg was the residence in 1841 of John Tyler, when he was called to the Presidential chair by the death of Harrison.
