him of going along with them; and so betook himself, with his whole family, to Richmond, where he was the possessor of houses enough to afford him a good habitation and a genteel income.  Here, then, along with his brothers and sisters, William was taught, through an ascending series of schools, until, at last, he arrived at what was the wonder of that day,—­the academy of Ogilvie, the Scotchman.  He, be it noted, had an earldom, (that of Finlater,) which slept while its heir was playing pedagogue in America:  a strange mixture of the ancient rhapsodist with the modern strolling actor, of the lord with him who lives by his wits.  Scot as he was, he was better fitted to teach anything rather than common sense.  The writer must not give the idea, however, that there was in Lord Ogilvie anything but eccentricity to derogate from the honors of either his lineage or his learning.  A very solid teacher he was not.  A great enthusiast by nature, and a master of the whole art of discoursing finely of even those things which he knew not well, he dazzled much, pleased greatly, and obtained a high reputation; so that, if he did not regularly inform or discipline the minds of his pupils, he probably made them, to an unusual degree, amends on another side:  he infused into them, by the glitter of his accomplishments, a high admiration for learning and for letters.  Certainly, the number of his scholars that arrived at distinction was remarkable; and this is, of course, a fact conclusive of great merit of some sort as a teacher, where, as in his case, the pupils were not many.  Without pausing to mention others of them who arrived at honor, it may be well enough to refer to Winfield Scott, William Campbell Preston, B. Watkins Leigh, William S. Archer, and William C. Rives.

The writer does not know if it had ever been designed that young Seaton should proceed from Ogilvie’s classes to the more systematic courses of a college.  Possibly not.  Even among the wealthy, at that time, home-education was often employed.  The children of both sexes were committed to the care of private tutors, usually young Scotchmen, the graduates of Glasgow, Edinburgh, or Aberdeen, sent over to the planter, upon order, along with his yearly supply of goods, by his merchant abroad.  Or else the sons were sent to select private schools, like that of Ogilvie, set up by men of such abilities and scholarship as were supposed capable of performing the whole work of institutions.

At any rate, our youth, without further preparation, at about the age of eighteen, entered earnestly upon the duties of life.  He fell at once into his vocation,—­impelled to it, no doubt, by the ambition for letters and public affairs which the lessons of Ogilvie usually produced.  Party ran high.  Virginia politics, flushed with recent success, had added to the usual passions of the contest those of victory.