In the Doric Hall of the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, near Chantrey's statue of Washington, may be seen two stones with inscriptions commemorative of the father and uncle of the two Washingtons who emigrated to America in 1657, as mentioned on page 20 of Volume I. The history of these stones is revealed in the following correspondence:

To the Honorable House of Representatives:

I have the honor to present to the General Court, as a gift to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from one of its citizens, certain memorials of great historic interest.

The home and resting-place of the ancestors of George Washington were until recently unvisited by and unknown to Americans. In the genealogical table appended to the “Life of Washington” by our distinguished fellow-citizen, Mr. Jared Sparks, it is stated that Lawrence Washington, the father of John Washington (who emigrated to Virginia in 1657), was buried at Brington; but though both Mr. Sparks and Washington Irving visited Sulgrave, an earlier home of the Washingtons, neither of these learned biographers appear by their works to have repaired to this quiet parish in Northamptonshire.

Our fellow-citizen, the Honorable Charles Sumner, on a recent visit to England, identified certain inscriptions in the parish church of Brington, near Althorp, as being those of the father and uncle of John Washington, the emigrant to Virginia, who was the great-grandfather of the Father of his Country.

Earl Spencer, the proprietor of Althorp, so honorably known as an early advocate of parliamentary reform, sought out the quarry from which, more than two centuries ago, these votive tablets were taken, and caused others to be made which are exact facsimiles of the originals. These he has presented to Mr. Sumner, who has expressed the desire that memorials so interesting to all Americans may be placed where they may be seen by the public, and has authorized me to offer them to the Commonwealth, if it be the pleasure of the Legislature to order them to be preserved in some public part of the State House.

I send with this a letter addressed to myself by the learned historian of Washington, bearing testimony to the great interest of these memorials, and expressing the desire that they may (Mr. Sumner assenting) be placed in the Capitol.

A letter from Mr. Sumner to Mr. Sparks also accompanies this Message, describing the church at Brington, and some of the associations which cluster around the resting-place of the ancestors of our Washington.

JOHN A. ANDREW.

Cambridge, February 22, 1861.

Dear Sir: I enclose a copy of a highly interesting letter from Mr. Charles Sumner, describing the church at Brington, near Althorp, in Northamptonshire. In this church were deposited the remains of Lawrence Washington, who was the father of John and Lawrence Washington, the emigrants to America, and who was therefore the last English ancestor of George Washington. A copy of the inscription on the stone which covers the grave of Lawrence Washington, and also of another inscription over the grave of his brother Robert Washington, who was buried in the same church, are given with exactness in Mr. Sumner's letter. As far as I am aware, these inscriptions are now for the first time made known in this country.

The Earl Spencer has sent to Mr. Sumner two stones, being from the same quarry, and having the same form and dimensions as the originals, and containing a facsimile of the inscriptions. It has been suggested that these stones ought to be placed in the State House, where they may be accessible to the public, and my opinion on the subject has been asked. As they are unquestionably genuine memorials of the Washington family, and possess on this account a singular historical interest, I cannot imagine that a more appropriate disposition of them could be made. I understand that Mr. Sumner would cheerfully assent to such an arrangement, and I cannot doubt that your Excellency will be well inclined to take such measures as may effectually aid in attaining so desirable an object.

I am, Sir,
Very respectfully yours,

JARED SPARKS.

His Excellency John A. Andrew,
Governor of Massachusetts.

Boston, November 22, 1860.

My Dear Sir: Since our last conversation, the Earl Spencer has kindly sent to me precise copies of the two “Memorial Stones" of the English family of George Washington, which I have already described to you as harmonizing exactly with the pedigree which has the sanction of your authority. These are of the same stone and of the same size with the originals, and have the original inscriptions—being in all respects facsimiles. They will, therefore, give you an exact idea of these most interesting memorials in the parish church of Brington, near Althorp, in Northamptonshire.

The largest is of Lawrence Washington, the father of John Washington, who emigrated to America. It is a slab of bluish-gray sandstone, and measures five feet and nine inches long, and two feet and seven inches broad. Here is the inscription:

Above the inscription, carved in the stone, are the arms of the Washingtons, with an additional quartering of another family.

The other is of Robert Washington, and of Elizabeth his wife. Robert was the uncle of the emigrant. This is a slab of the same sandstone, and measures three feet and five inches long, and two feet and six inches broad. The inscription is on a small brass plate set into the stone, and is as follows:

On a separate brass, beneath the inscription, are the arms of the Washingtons without any addition. These, as you are well aware, have the combination of stars and stripes, and are sometimes supposed to have suggested our national flag. In heraldic language, there are bars of gules and argent, with three mullets, or stars.

In the interesting chapter on the “Origin and Genealogy of the Washington Family,” which you give in the Appendix to your “Life of Washington,” it appears that Lawrence, the father of the emigrant, died 13th December, and was buried at Brington, 15th December, 1616. But the genealogical tables, which you followed, gave no indication of the locality of this church. Had it appeared that it was the parish church of the Spencer family in Northamptonshire, the locality, which I believe has not been heretofore known in our country, would have been precisely fixed.

In point of fact, the slab which covers Lawrence Washington is in the chancel of the church, by the side of the monuments of the Spencer family. These are all in admirable preservation, with full-length effigies, busts, or other sculptural work, and exhibit an interesting and connected series of sepulchral memorials from the reign of Henry VIII. to the present time. Among them is a monument of the early English sculptor, Nicholas Stone; another from Nollekins from a design by Cipriani, and another by Flaxman, with exquisitely beautiful personifications of Faith and Charity. Beneath repose the successive representatives of this illustrious family, which has added to its aristocratic claims by services to the state, and also by the unique and world-famous library collected by one of its members. In this companionship will be found the last English ancestor of our Washington.

The other slab, covering Robert, the uncle of the emigrant, is in one of the aisles of the nave, where it is scraped by the feet of all who pass.

The parish of Brington is between seven and eight miles from the town of Northampton, not far from the centre of England. It is written in Domesday Book “Brinintone” and also “Brintone.” It contains about 2,210 acres, of which about 1,490 acres belong to Earl Spencer, about 326 acres to the rector in right of the church, and about 130 acres to other persons. The soil is in general a dark-colored loam, with a small trace of clay towards the north. Nearly four-fifths of the whole is pasture and feeding land.

In the village still stands the house said to have been occupied by the Washingtons when the emigrant brother left them. You will see a vignette of it on the title-page of the recent English work entitled “The Washingtons.” Over the door are carved the words, “The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord;” while the Parish Register gives a pathetic commentary by showing that, in the very year when this house was built, a child had been born and another had died in this family.

The church, originally dedicated to the Virgin, stands at the northeast angle of the village, and consists of an embattled tower with five bells, a nave, north and south aisles, a chancel, a chapel, and a modern porch; the tower is flanked by buttresses of two stages. The present fabric goes back in its origin to the beginning of the 14th century, nearly two hundred years before the discovery of America. The chancel and chapel, where repose the Spencers and Lawrence Washington, were rebuilt by Sir John Spencer, the purchaser of the estate, at the beginning of the 16th century. They afford one of the latest specimens of the Tudor style of architecture. The church is beautifully situated on the summit of the highest ground of Brington, and is surrounded by a stone wall flanked on the inside by trees. Dibdin says that a more complete picture of a country churchyard is rarely seen. A well-trimmed walk encircles the whole of the interior, while the fine Gothic windows at the end of the chancel fill the scene with picturesque beauty.

The Register of the Parish, which is still preserved, commences in 1560. From this it appears that Wm. Proctor was the rector from 1601 to 1627, covering the period of the last of the Washingtons there. The following further entries occur relating to this family:

1616. “Mr. Lawrence Washington was buried XVth day of December.”

1620. “Mr. Philip Curtis & Mis Amy Washington were married August 8.”

1622. “Mr. Robert Washington was buried March ye 11th.”

—— “Mrs. Elizabeth Washington, widow, was buried March ye 20th.”

Of one of the ministers in this church we have an interesting glimpse in Evelyn's “Memoirs” (vol. i. p. 612), where the following entry will be found, under date of July, 1688: “Dr. Jeffreys, the minister of Althorp, who was my lord's chaplain when Ambassador in France, preached the shortest discourse I ever heard; but what was defective in the amplitude of his sermon, he had supplied in the largeness and convenience of the parsonage-house.”

At a short distance—less than a mile—is Althorp, the seat of the Spencers, surrounded by a park of five hundred acres, of which one of the gates opens near the church. There are oak-trees bordering on the churchyard, which were growing at the time of the purchase of the estate in the reign of Henry VII. Evelyn was often here a delighted visitor. On one occasion he speaks of “the house or rather palace at Althorp” (vol. i. p. 612). In another place he describes it as “placed in a pretty open bottom, very finely watered, and flanked with stately woods and groves in a park” (vol. i. p. 451). Let me add that there is an engraving of Althorp at this time, by the younger Vosterman, a Dutch artist.

There is one feature of the park which excited the admiration of Evelyn, and at a later day of Mrs. Jameson, who gives to it some beautiful pages in her “Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad.” It is the record of the time when different plantations of trees was begun. While recommending this practice in his “Sylva,” Evelyn remarks, “The only instance I know of the like in our country, is in the park at Althorp.” There are six of these commemorative stones. The first records a wood planted by Sir John Spencer, in 1567 and 1568; the second, a wood planted by Sir John Spencer, son of the former, in 1589; the third, a wood planted by Robert, Lord Spencer, in 1602 and 1603; the fourth, a wood planted by Sir William Spencer, Knight of the Bath, afterwards Lord Spencer, in 1624. The latter stone is ornamented with the arms of the Spencers, and on the back is inscribed, “Up and bee doing, and God will prosper.” It was in this scenery and amidst these associations that the Washingtons lived. When the emigrant left in 1657, these woods must have been well-grown. It was not long afterwards that they arrested the attention of Evelyn.

The Household Books at Althorp show that for many years the Washingtons were frequent guests there. The hospitality of this seat has been renowned. The Queen of James I. and the Prince Henry, on their way to London, in 1603, were welcomed there in an entertainment, memorable for a masque from the vigorous muse of Ben Jonson (Ben Jonson's Works, vol. vi. p. 475). Charles I. was at Althorp, in 1647, when he received the first intelligence of the approach of those pursuers from whom he never escaped until his life had been laid down upon the scaffold. In 1698, King William was there for a week, and, according to Evelyn, was “mightily entertained” (vol. ii. p. 50). At least one of the members of this family was famous for hospitality of a different character. Evelyn records that he used to dine with the Countess of Sunderland—the title then borne by the Spencers—”when she invited fire-eaters, stone-eaters, and opera-singers, after the fashion of the day” (vol. i. pp. 458, 483, 579).

The family was early and constantly associated with literature. Spencer, the poet, belonged to it, and to one of its members he has dedicated his “Tears of the Muses.” It was for Alice Spencer that Milton is said to have written his “Arcades,” and Sir John Harrington has celebrated her memory by an epigram. The Sacharissa of Waller was the Lady Dorothy Sidney, wife of the first Earl of Sunderland, the third Lord Spencer, who perished fighting for King Charles I. at Newbury. I do not dwell on the other associations of a later day, as my object is simply to allude to those which existed in the time of the Washingtons.

“The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough; but I exhort them to consider the 'Fairy Queen' as the most precious jewel of their coronet.” Thus wrote Gibbon in his memoirs, and all must feel the beauty of the passage. Perhaps it is not too much to say that this nobility may claim another illustration from its ties of friendship and neighborhood with the family of Washington. It cannot doubt that hereafter the parish church of Brington will be often visited by our countrymen, who will look with reverence upon a spot so closely associated with American history.

I trust that this little sketch, suggested by what I saw at Althorp, during a brief visit last autumn, will not seem irrelevant. Besides my own personal impressions, and the volumes quoted, I have relied upon Dibdin's “Ædes AlthorpianÆ,” so interesting to all bibliographical students, and especially upon Baker's “History of Northamptonshire”—one of those magnificent local works which illustrate English history—to which you refer in your Appendix, but which was not completed till some time after the “Life of Washington” appeared.

Of course, the Memorial Stones which I have received from Lord Spencer are of much historic value, and I think that I shall best carry out the generous idea of the giver by taking care that they are permanently placed where they can be seen by the public; perhaps at the State House, near Chantrey's beautiful statue of Washington—if this should be agreeable to the Commonwealth.

Pray pardon this long letter, and believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard,

CHARLES SUMNER.

Jared Sparks, Esq.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by its Representatives, thanked Mr. Sumner, and directed the Memorial Stones to be placed where they now are.