Richmond Enquirer, 10 June 1806
On June 10th, 1806, the Richmond Enquirer published an announcement of the death of George Wythe, with details of the order for his funeral procession, and a biographical sketch (titled "Communication").[1]
Because the Enquirer was only published semi-weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays, the article wasn't printed until the day after Wythe's funeral. Another version of the same article appears in the Virginia Argus, also on June 10th. It also appears in the Evening Fire-side of Philadelphia on August 2nd, 1806.[2]
Article text, 10 June 1806
Page 3
The Enquirer
RICHMOND, 10th JUNE.
"Full of years ; and full of honour'.On Sunday morning the 8th inst., departed this life, the venerable chancellor of the Richmond district, GEORGE WYTHE. Over the suspected causes of his death, let us for a moment draw the veil. Every situation in life has its rights and its duties. Let us therefore respect the rights of the accused.
But of the deep, the solemn, the almost unparalleled impression produced by his death, we may be permitted to speak.— Let the anxious solicitude manifested for his recovery; let that sorrow which buries beneath it all political distinction; let the solemn and lengthened procession which attended him to his grave; declare the loss which we have sustained. Kings may require mausoleums to consecrate their memory; saints may claim the privilege of canonization; but the venerable GEORGE WYTHE needs no other monument than the services rendered to his country, and the universal sorrow which that country sheds over his grave.
When the news of his death was made public, the bells of the city were set a tolling: the executive council assembled in their chamber, and determined on the following order of procession. It was published for the information of the citizens:
COUNCIL CHAMBER, June 8th, 1806.ORDER OF PROCESSION,
Preparatory to the interment of
George Wythe,
Late Judge of the High Court of Chancery for the
Richmond District.A Funeral Oration will be delivered at the Capitol, in the Hall of the House of Delegates, to begin precisely at 4 o'clock, P. M. on to-morrow; after which the Procession will commence in the following order:
1. The Clergymen and Orator of the Day.
[Drawing of a coffin labeled "Corpse."]
3. Physicians.
4. The Executor and Relations of the deceased.
5. The Judges.
6. Members of the Bar.
7. The Officers of the High Court of Chancery.
8. The Governor and Council.
9. Other Officers of Government.
10. The Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of
the City of Richmond.
11. Citizens.Need it be said, that the crowd which assembled in the capital was uncommonly numerous, and respectable? After the delivery of a funeral oration by Mr. Munford, a member of the executive council, the procession set out towards the church.— It is no disparagement to the virtues of the living, to assert, that there is not perhaps another man in Virginia, whom the same solemn procession would have attended to his grave.[3]
COMMUNICATION.GEORGE WYTHE, the patriot, the philosopher, the philanthropist, is dead! Few have more strongly evinced the height of moral and intellectual excellence to which man is capable of ascending. In the knowledge of law he was indeed profound! Under a pressure of business at the bar before the revolution, which would have monopolized the attention of others, and unassisted by personal tuition from others, (for except as a lawyer he was self-taught) he acquired a knowledge of the ancient languages critically correct. Not only was the father of poetry his intimate companion, but the philosophers, historians, and even dramatic poets of antiquity were as familiar to him in their original dress, as were almost all the meritorious works of the day in his vernacular tongue. The writer of this sketch has heard him denominated emphatically "the walking library."
At a period of life, which in others would be deemed at least the verge of old age, he applied to mathematics and natural philosophy, both which sublime subjects he pursued with an ardor and depth seldom attained by a youthful student. When our rights were attacked by Great Britain, at the beginning of what, if unsuccessful, would have been termed a rebellion, but which we now boast of as a glorious revolution, even at that time venerable of age, he was respected for talents and correctness of demeanor, he assumed the then military garb and accoutrements of the volunteers, whom the divine spirit of patriotic enthusiasm had impelled to convene in the sacred cause of freedom.
The entreaties of the fond partner of his bosom could not retain him. He appeared before the soldiery, drawn up in military parade, on an alarm of the arrival of an inimical vessel. An awful silence pervaded the ranks. The spectators looked with admiration on him. At length the commanding officer, with surprise, enquired the cause of his appearing on the field thus accoutered! "I come, replied he, to offer my services to my country, and to do what you shall command." With difficulty he was prevailed on to desist from his design, under a persuasion that he could render more essential service to his country in the civil department.
References
- ↑ Richmond Enquirer, June 10, 1806, 3.
- ↑ "Biographical Sketch of George Wythe", Evening Fire-side, August 2, 1806, 246.
- ↑ This first section of the article is reproduced in the second edition of Wythe's Reports (B.B. Minor, ed. 1852)
