The Washington times., 1904-01-24
By Right of Northumber-
land, and a Percy,
So 'TiS Said.
TRADITIONS GROW APACE
Father Died in 1886 and Was
Buried in WeStmin-
ster Abbey.
BY SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY,
Secretary Of the Smithsonian Institution.

BY SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY,
Secretary Of the Smithsonian Institution.
The founder of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition was known in his earlier years as
James Lewis Macie. his mother, Eliza
beth Keate Macie. being at the time of
his birth. in 1765. the widow Of James
Macie. a country gentleman of an old
family resident at Weston. near Bath
She was of the Hungerfords Of Studley.
q great-grandniece of Charles, Duke of
Somerset, through whom she was line
ally descended from Henry the Seventh,
and was cousin of that Elizabeth Percy
who married Hugh Smithson. who later
became Duke Of Northumberland. and
by act df Parliament took the name OF
Percy.
Smithson's Mother.
An unverified story represents Smith
sons mother as at one time hoping to
have contracted a marriage with the
Duke of Northumberland, and seeking.
for that purpose, a divorce from her
husband. which he successfully opposed:
but. in any case. the subject of our
sketch, who only apparently after his
mothers death applied to the Crown for
permission TO take the name of Smith
son. describes himself in his final will
as ''son 10 Hugh. first Duke Of North
cumberland. and Elizabeth. heiress Of the
Hungerfords of Studley. and niece OF
Charles. the proud Duke of Somerset"
1t is especially TO these facts that
the foundation which bears his name
is due. for Smithson always seems to
have regarded the circumstances Of his
birth as doing him peculiar injustice.
an6 It was apparently this sense that
he had been deprived OF honors prop
erly his whi u made him look for other
sources OF feIne than those which birth
had denied him. and constituted the mo-
tive Of the most important action of
his life. the creation Of the Smithsonian
Institution.
Judge of Conduct.
BY the student Of human nature every
mans conduct is judged in reference TO
its determining motives. and If we try
Smithson's from the point of view OF
his own time, not of ours, we shall not
Judge too hardly. the fact that the cir
cumstances of his birth and his feeling
that he was by right a Northumberland
and Percy were a subject OF pride
10 him as well as of pain. He once
wrote:
The best blood Of England flows in
my veins; on my fathers side 1 am a
Northumberland, on my mothers 1 am
related TO kings. but this avails me not
Ny name shall live in the memory OF
man when the titles of the Northum-
berlands and the Percys are extinct and
forgotten"
II will be observed from facts given
later that IL was only under circum-
stances which showed that he had no
right TO the name of Maeie that he in
later life had that of Smithson. to which
he had every moral right, legally con-
firmed TO him.
Hugh Smithson. the father of the
founder OF the Smithsonian Institution,
was the son OF Langdale Smithson. who
according TO another unverifed tradi-
tion, occupied for a time the Sthen rela-
lively unconsidered position of a medi-
cal practitioner. The Smithsons, how
ever. were an old family, which was. IN
fact, remotely connected by lineage with
the Percys. AS country gentlemen
they were reared in the habit of per.
sonaliy managing their estates; and
notwithstanding his culture and his re
fined and artistic tastes, the bushes,
aptitude Of his race was strong ii
Smithson's father
SCIENTISTS Birth.
The father died in 1856 and was buried
in Westminster Abbey
The birth OF James Smithson is fixed
by the Pembroke College record a.
1865. His mother. Elizabeth Hungerforc
Keate CMacie). is described in the vii
of Penelope Keate. grandmother oi
grlithson, In a bequest dated July IL
1884 as my daughter, Elizabeth Macie
OF Bath. widow" so that at this tim,
her husband was already dead Thil
fact. only recently ascertained. is i'm
portant in the estimate # leads US {,
put on one Of the principal actions o
smithson's life his taking OF his father
name instead OF that OF Mace, b,
which he was previously known.
In 1894 / ascertained through the kind
ness OF Chester Waters, esq, that tn
Rev. Frederick Brown had occupies
himself during a large part OF his If
with the biographies OF the Hungerfor
family, and learned from his survivin
daughter that his manuscript was de
posted IN the British Museum. Thi
manuscript (Which is numbered 334I2)
/, with Dr. Cyrus Adler. spent som
time IN examining. with the results her
given. Among other facts 1 learne
that Smithson was born in France. an
was brought to England for his educa
ton, and naturalized. I further wa
fortunately led to consult the Oxfor
records, which show that he In his edrl
years entered as a gentleman cOmmOne
at Pembroke College, where ne matricU
lated IN 1872, his age then being give
in the registry as seventeen, so that hi
matriculation record shows him TO hay
been BORN eleven years later than wa
supposed.
Was Best Chemist.
Nothing material is remembered OF III
life at the college except a traditio
that he was the best chemist and mir
eralogist OF his year, though in his joul
nal. when but a youth OF nineteen. h
gives a description OF a geological tou