The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-03-04
Correspon dence Of the Richmond Dispascn .
Old virgtnia Cooks = n y q 70 "a 2
Poems Rhod0daphn scnooa-
master OF the Northern Neck, sEc.S s.

Old Vlrgtnia Cooks - III NOR %
Poems RhodOdaphne-The schooa-
rnaster OF the Northern Neck, &C.
PETERSBURG, February %, 1868.
In the minds of many persons oid SDooks
are invested with rare interest. Almost
ANYTHING, indeed, that was printed 9 cen !,
tnrv eeo cannot fail to excite some curl
os;tv even in this day of teeming presses
Few perhaps may care to- give them Q
careful pernsal, but they are still regarded
as something Of q treasure.
Afriend has kindly placed in my hands
quite a curiosity of this sort. 1t is enti-
tied &c Poems, and Compositions in Prose
on Several Occasions, by William Mum
ford, of the county Of Mecklenburg, and
State of Virginia -; and bears the imprint
of."Samuel Peasants, Junior, Richmond,
l798.n. It is an octave volume OF l9O
pages, and is in a state of good preserve
ton. The principal poem in the book Is
"Almoran and Hamet,n a tragedy founded
on an eastern tale, which occupies eighty
pages. OF the minor poems there are
several TRANSACTIONS from Horace, and q
number of passages from Ossian versiaed.
Like many literary men of o former day,
the author seems to have been a great adj
mirer of the Celtic bard. 1t may be suffi-
cient to say Of all these poems that the
versifcation is very smooth, and that the
writer was evidently man of taste and
cultivation. But American literature Of
that dag, met with small, encouragement,
however deserving; and nearly every
thing of SO remote date, disconnected
from politics or history, has become ex-
tinct. ksr.s 1sssss tss ss.l.g,ss.s 11. F,.seG
And yet your correspondent remembers
to have read in his youth at least two
poems, written by Virginians, Of very great
merit. The name of one was /" Rhode
daphne" and the writer is believed TO have
been gentleman of the name of Dabney.
It was about half as long as one of Scott's
The scene was laid in Thessaly. The title
of the other is not remembered, but the
characters were Indians, and the banks OF
the Potomac were the scene of the poem.
They were both perfect gems and should
either of them be now extant, and in the
possession Of any one of your subscribers,
it would be a great qualification to have
the privilege Of seeing them again.
There was also little poem, greatly ad-
mired for its wit, and first published some
forty or fifty years ago, OF which no per-
son that have seen has any remembrance.
It;purported to be an inventory of the per-
sonal property of the writer, who was an
old-feld schoolmaster in one of the coun-
ties of the Northern Neck, and was de-,
signed to fill up blank list for the reve-
nue. commissioner. The commissioner
handed it in to the court Us he received it,
aud the justices were SO struck with the
talent displayed by the writer that it was
ordered to be placed on record. West
moreland is believed, to have been the
county. Can any of your subscribers res
cue it from total oblivion9 4..t4
But these are old matters, and even re-
ference to them has perhaps taken up more
space than you can conveniently allot to
anything ont of the course of current
events. And yet you must allow that
everything relating to the Old Virginia of
the past possesses some interest to her
children, though it be nothing more than
string of rhymes, provided they were writ
ten under the inspiration of genius. s. 8