University of Virginia Library

PERSONAL HABITS AND CHARACTER.

Though we shall endeavor to portray Mr. Randolph's character fully at the
close of this work, it may not be amiss, and it may prove some relief to the
more serious contemplation of his official course, to present some peculiar traits
of his private life and manners, that do not appear as necessary materials to fill
up his regular picture—and yet seem too interesting to omit altogether. He
retained both a part of the external appearance of his Indian descent, as well as
of its vengeful passions. His color was somewhat tawny; he was straight, and
he walked like the Indian with one foot placed on a straight line before the
other. When he was seated at his desk, he appeared rather below the middle
size, but when he arose, he seemed to unjoint or unfold himself, and stood erect
near six feet high; his lower limbs being disproportionately long for his body.
His head was small, his hair light, and worn long, and tied behind; his eyes
were black and piercing, his mouth handsome, but with the arrangement of his
teeth, gave him a puerile look; his chin rather pointed, and smooth or beardless;
his hands small, and his fingers long and tapering. His dress was that of
the old Virginia gentleman. He wore white top boots, with drab or buckskin
short clothes, and sometimes gaiters, and though neat, he was generally plain
in his appearance, and had no ambition to conform to any prevalent fashion.
He was free from almost every vice—"Never knew woman," like Malcolm,
and never played a game at cards during his seat in Congress. His intimate
friend, Mr. Macon, was fond of the game of whist, and one evening, when
conversing together on the impolicy of joining fences, in which they both

agreed, some friends coming in, a game of whist was proposed, to which Mr.
Macon readily asented, but Mr. Randolph refused, saying, with truth, that he
never played cards.

He was fond of a social circle around his parlor fire of an evening, and of
conversing on agricultural subjects, declining to enter into politics out of the
House. He was the soul of conversation, every person preferring to hear him
than to hear themselves talk. He was as brilliant and original on these occasions
as he was on the floor of Congress, and would sit up till midnight, if he
found a few friends willing to remain as long to listen to his discourses, On
one occasion, a respectable and thrifty farmer, and particular friend of his,
Nathan Luffboro, Esq., of Georgetown, being present, Mr. Randolph and he
commenced and continued for some hours, a most interesting and learned dialogue
on farming. Mr. Monroe, in his last message, happened to inform the House,
rather prematurely, as it appeared, that there was a surplus in the treasury of
about five millions of dollars, and having no definite way to dispose of it, required
of Congress to direct in what manner it should be expended. The President
and Congress were soon spared that trouble, for before the end of the session,
unsatisfied claims were presented to the treasury which completely exhausted
that sum. Mr. Randolph, in his remarks on farming, passed a joke at the
President's expense by seeing himself in a similar predicament, and commenced,
by saying, that finding himself in possession of a large disposable force, "and
nowhere to dispose it," he deemed it necessary to turn it upon reclaiming a
large portion of his exhausted acres for want of a sufficient quantity of fresh or
new soil. He then proceeded to show by what process he had raised a heavy
crop of tobacco, with wheat and Indian corn, in a discourse of two hours' duration,
which, if published, would compose one of the best treatises on agriculture
extant. His judgment and opinions were confirmed by experience, and his
farm of Roanoke, in Charlotte county, was a model farm. He rode much, and
well, and generally travelled to Washington on horseback, with his servant,
dogs, and gun. Once, however, during the non-intercourse, after reaching
Stratford Old Court-house, as he informed us, he met the President's message,
which smelt so strong of gunpowder, that he concluded to send his horses
and boy back, not affording to keep them at board, at a time when produce
would sustain a considerable fall, and he finished his journey in the stage.
From the tenor of his conversation, as well as his habits, you would infer that
he was poor; and so far from boasting of the steady improvement of his circumstances,
and his advance to wealth and independence, he would descant
gloomily on the hardness of the times and bad markets, and complained, while
speaking on the judiciary bill, that he had liked to have been sued. In one of
his trips to Congress, when he alighted at a tavern to dine, he was joined by
another traveller, his body servant, Johnny, being in attendance at the table.
In the course of their meal, the traveller took the liberty of calling on Johnny to
help him to different dishes. Mr. Randolph bore this freedom till the third
call, when he forbad John to answer it. The stranger repeated the command.
Mr. Randolph, fixing his piercing eyes upon him, with a ferocious look, asked

him what he meant, and if he knew who he was. The stranger replied that
he neither knew nor cared, for the servant should wait on him as long as he sat
at the table. Randolph rising in a rage, told him he was John Randolph of
Roanoke, and the boy belonged to him. The stranger arose at the same
moment, and answered, "I am Henry Watkins (we are not certain as to the real
name), of Mecklenburgh, Virginia, and I am determined the fellow shall do
what I command." Mr. Randolph, after surveying the stranger from head to
foot, who stood before him firm and decided, began to unbend his brow, and at
length proffered his hand, said "I knew you must be a Virginian from your high
spirit; I admire your resolution," and shaking hands, he bade Johnny to serve
him as he desired, and took a glass of wine with him. Mr. Randolph was
generally accompanied with one or two pointers, that proved no little troublesome
to the members. As soon as he opened the door of the hall, they would
rush in and thrust their noses among the members, in every direction, and even
indulged in the freedom of the floor, or the privilege of members, while respectable
strangers were excluded. The door-keeper did not like to incur the risk of
turning them out. He was a good shot-on the wing, and with Mr. Garnet took
frequent excursions within the district, a little to the north of the Capitol, most
excellent sporting grounds for quail and woodcock, from whence they generally
returned in the evening with their bags well filled. He used to enter the House
booted and spurred, with whip in hand, a few moments after it had come to
order, and appeared to be desirous of attracting the attention of the members, by
his loud salutation of some of his favored friends, to the fact of his presence,
In the winter he was enveloped in a long lion-skin surtout, and on entering the
small his face was nearly buried in a fur cap. He would sometimes stop short in
the middle aisle, and if he found any one up he did not care to listen to, he
would abruptly turn on his heel and go out. The reporter of the Intelligencer
in the winter of 1820, took a sketch of him in that uncouth and ludicrous
figure, with nothing visible but his two legs protruding out below, with his
mouth, nose, and eyes, and with head erect, as if reconnoitering. It was one of
the best likenesses ever hit off. He had a vast number of them printed, and
kept beside him in his seat, to dispose of to the members, and although he sold
scores of them daily for the balance of the session, the fact was kept a secret
from the original, while the members enjoyed the joke occasioned by this caricature.

His great failing was affectation. He had two kinds of address. One stiff
and formal, with a long-running bow, and touch of the hat, and an artificial
smile, for mere acquaintance, for those former friends towards whom he had
grown cool, and a warm, cordial and long-continued shake of the hands for his
few bosom friends. He has been seen to walk up to Mr. Macon, while the
House was in session, in the most ostentatious manner, and seizing his hand,
would shake it so long and forcibly, that the old gentleman would appear condensed.
On another occasion, upon the eve of adjournment, he went up to Mr.
Quincy to take his farewell. While he shook his hand, he had his face in his
Handkerchief, and held his head aside as if in the act of shedding tears. Mr.

Quincy looked as if he did not know what to make of it; and if there were any
tears spent, it must have been those of merriment at such a ludicrous scene, by
the spectators. In passing out of the Hall with his friend Garnet, he encountered,
near the door, a Lyon (Matthew, of Kentucky), and offered him his
hand. Mr. Lyon drew back, and observed that he could not find it in his heart
to shake hands with Mr. Randolph, because he had called him a "d—d old
rascal." Mr. Randolph appealed to Mr. Garnet, who confirmed Mr. Lyon's
statement, and Mr. Randolph replying, "it can't be helped," departed without
exchanging the farewell with him.

Mr. Randolph's behavior to young members, whose maiden speeches were
indicative of friendly feeling towards the administration, was very illiberal. He
was sure to bear down on them with a supercilious and authoritative manner,
and apply to them personal invective and bitter sarcasm. His conduct put us
in mind of breaking in colts. As soon as they ventured to parade before the
house, to display their parts, he would spring on their backs and apply the
whip and spur, and the more they reared, and pitched, and plunged, and capered,
the more he clung to them and gave them the lash, until having given them
a thorough sweat, and taken off their wiry edge, he would dismount and leave
them, to appearance, well broken political hacks. Sometimes, however, he
would meet with his match, and some high mettled and blooded colts have
proved unmanageable and threw the rider. Among them I may mention the
name of Mr. McDuffie of South Carolina.

Though he seldom went to church, he was a firm believer in the truths of
revelation. He kept himself entirely pure from contact with courtesans, and
never having been married (though he was once in imminent danger of committing
it), it was suspected that, from some cause, he was deficient in virility.
The occasion on which he came near being bound in the silken chains of wedlock,
occurred in Richmond, and not in the county, nor attended with the circumstances
narrated by the Washington correspondent of the Tribune, in July
last. The lady's name was Miss Eggleston, whose father, we believe, was a
member of Congress in 1800 to 1804, and she afterwards became the wife of
Mr. Randolph's cousin, Peyton Randolph, of Richmond. They had proceeded
so far in the ceremony, that a license was obtained, a clergyman sent for, and
the happy pair, hand in hand, were about to stand up to be joined together,
when the mother handed Mr. Randolph a paper to read, and if he agreed, to
sign. It was a deed of release or assignment of all the young lady's property
for her exclusive benefit. Mr. Randolph asked the intended bride if it was a
condition with her, or her will, that he should sign it. She answered in the
affirmative, upon which Mr. Randolph, saying there was no farther use for the
minister, took his leave and departed.

Mr. Randolph was a humane master and a kind neighbor. He saw, personally,
into the wants and the complaints of his numerous slaves, administered to
them as the occasion required, and studied their comfort in every particular.
He used daily to ride over his fields, when they were at work; and when he
approached, they would make their obeisance with a touch of the hat, which

he would return with a nod or bow. When any of his neighbors were a little
behind in their crops, Mr. Randolph would send a force to help them to finish,
and he has been known to send a gang of hands seven or eight miles for that
purpose. This, and his free and easy manner, rendered him so very popular
that they elected him, under all his faults and his growing infirmities, and, notwithstanding
he did not attend his seat for whole sessions, till the day of his
death. He was always spare, but his disease, dyspepsy and general debility,
wasted him away to a mere skeleton. Such was he when he took up his final
rest in Philadelphia, which he reached in May, 1833, in his old family carriage.
His mind was so active, though his body was too weak to be capable of farther
locomotion, that he appeared unconscious of his danger, or the approach of the
king of terrors. Only the day before his death he wrote to a friend that he had
found out the pedigree of a valuable horse. A clergyman, however, attended
him and read portions of the scripture to him, while he lay in bed in an apparent
doze or stupor. While thus occupied, he happened to lay the accent on the
penultimate syllable of the words omnipótent God, when Mr. R., rising on his
elbow and looking firmly at him, repeated omnipotent God, omnipotent. But
the particulars of his death will be given, when we come to the solemn occasion.