The age-herald., 1898-01-04

I
 at his home, in Georgetown. was one day
 good-humoredly twitted by one of these
 gentlemen as to his whatinconsistent
 characters of proclaimer of the gospel or
 peace and forger of weapons Of war, to
 which he replied: "If I do make guns to
 destroy mems bodies I build churches in
 order to save their souls"
 His earliest American home was in Phil-
 adelphia, where he was the partner, in
 the Eagle Iron Works of the great finan-
 cier and signer of the Declaration of Inde-
 pendence, MT. Robert Morris. He came
 to Georgetown at the instance of President
 Jefferson, between whom and himself warm friendship existed and took up ms
 residence in a house on the Chesapeake axe and Ohio canal, near Aqueduct bridge. This house, which is still standing, was built
 by himself, and was situated in what was
 then one of the fashionable quarters. Here
 Jefferson was in the habit of visiting him,
 and the two being musical, and fond of the violin would fiddle away together by the
 hour. Gen. Lafayette was afterwards en-
 Mary Anne Foxall. who married MT Sam
 uel Mckinney, and was the only one Of
 his two children who reached maturity,
 son, Henry Foxall, having died in early youth. This interesting old home. in which five generations have lived. is now owned and occupied by Lieut.. Charles McCarte- ney, who married a granddaughter of MT. Mckinney. The house. in which valuable relics and family portraits are preserved,
 is built of colonial brick. The ample lawn
 and gardens are enclosed by stone walls
 and wooden fences, the double iron gate,
 with it's obsolete fastening, being just as it
 was when 1t yielded to the touch of MT.
 Foxall and his distinguished contempora-
 ries. Perhaps the most interesting of the
 relics are two ancient me-pieces, sou
 venirs of the Reign of Terror.
 The first of these, a clock, a gift to
 Marie Antoinette on the occasion of her
 ,,oar rri cre from her father and mother. is of
 solid marble with gold and armure mount
 ing, and, although only eighteen inches
 high, is so heavy that two strong hands
 are required to lift it. It was presented to
 MT. Foxall by Gouverneur Morris, and was
 one of a number of treasured possessions
 of which the queen made him the custodian
 when the threatened attitude of her sub
 jects and the hostile demonstrations at
 Trianon convinced her of the insecurity of
 her position, the trust being imposed with
 the understanding that should her fate be
 what she feared, the treasured souvenirs
 were to be his. Although nearly a century
 and a half old, it is still a perfect time
 keeper, announcing the hour with the same musical bell which smote on the ear of
 the unfortunate queen during the unqulet days which marked the twenty-three years
 of her welded life. It was made by
 Charles Le Roi, of Paris, whose grand father, also Charles Le Roi, demonstrated
 the fact that the isochronism, equality,
 of time in unequal vibrations of the bal ance wheel would be more easily obtained by lengthening, rather than tapering the spring; and for the testing of whose per fected chronometer'' Louis XIV. caused ship to be built. These Le Rois Cor Le
 Roy, as their descendants in this country
 now spell the name) were the most famous clockmakers in France, several generations of them following the same trade, and transmitting the art from father to son.
 The second timepiece, more ancient still | ha wing heen manufactured m the mid-
 dle of the seventeenth century, is a mag
 nifcent watch exquisitely enameled and
 encirced with two hundred and seventy eight gems, two of the original two hun dred and eighty having been lost. It came into MT. Foxall's possession nearly cen tury ago through a mysterious stranger whom he befriended in many ways. and
 who left it with him a token of grat- itude and affection, with the statement that it was Ian old family heirloom" It is supposed that the donor was one of the exied noblemen who fled to this country during the Reign of Terror: and, when one considers how rare and costly even ordin. ary watches were in those days and then notes the extreme beauty and richness of l this one. sparkling with gems and decor ated by famous artists, one must conclude | that the original owner was parsonage of l great distinction, as we'll as of enormous wealth. The watch is an accurate time keeper today. Its workmanship and his | toric value have made it an object of desire | to those in charge at the Smithsonian In- stitution. who some years ago made ovor- | lures for it's purchase, while it's artistic features have elicted the most enthusiastic encomiums from Prof. Andrews, of the | Corcoran gallery of art
 Of the portraits two curiously-tinted crayons, one of MT. Foxall and the other of his wife, are worthy of special note. | They are the work of celebrated French artist w visited this in the he- ginning of the present century and left about dozen similar specimens of his skill. In 1894 copper-plate engravings were
 made of these crayons, W ich were so beau- l tifully executed that on the occasion of some copies being struck off from them a ! few years ago at the bureau of engraving l and printing in Washington, the engravers asked to be allowed to retain one. the work | far surpassing that upon the treasury notes.
 There are also beautiful specimens of l China of the Empire period at the "old Me | Kinney house." with handsome pieces from Canton, some of which--notably egg cups, | into which the egg fits and from which it l is eaten from the shel-recall obsolete GUS toms. A cabinet of English workmanship which once belonged to MT. Foxall, holds these, together with odd pieces from other sets, which have survived the accidents to which such destructible matter (speak- ing unscientifcally) is here. An India set 1 of 200 pieces. made to order for MT. Foxall by Spode, is preserved in it's entirety and is kept under lock and key in glass cabinet. which Lieut.. McCarteney had made for its reception. This precautionary expedicnt was adopted by him on his return from certain cruise, when he discovered that the canine members of the establishment were in the habit of taking their meals from the plates belonging to it. the colored iconoclast who fed them defending her conduct on the plea of their extreme age, declaring that she wouldn't use any of the new china for such purpose but that ''dem ole plates had been there so long. An oblong mirror with picture of Mount Vernon painted upon the upper part of the glass Is another memento of MT. Foxall; and brass plate warmer, used in his fam fly. is proof that. however much the pres ent age may exceed preceding ones in the matter of household adornment, our ancestors did not lack for solid comfort Two Swedish stoves." which that gentle. man had moulded at his foundry for Mr Jefferson, and which failed to fulfill their mission would seem rather to contradict this theory. MT. Jefferson, who was very fond of tinkering, had workshop fitted TIT, for hiu1salf fin fho ha sapnant If tho