back, and from that time he never lost their allegiance. The crowning bereavement of his desolate life came upon him during his temporary political eclipse, in the insanity of his brother Richard's older son, who was a deaf mute, and the death in England of the younger one, Tudor. No wonder he thought that a curse attended him. One after another those dearest to him had been taken from him. The three homes he had known, Cawsons, Matoax and Bizarre had been destroyed by fire, and now he remained the last of his name. His pride of family and of his pater nal inheritance had nothing left to rest upon. His body was tortured by a complication of suffering. His soul and his affections were torn by bereavement. Finally his mind gave way, and a period of actual insanity suc ceeded the eccentricity and freakishness of his whole life. His adopted son, Dr. Dudley, wrote of him at this time, " The truth and beauty of the eastern allegory of the man endowed with two souls, was never more forcibly exempli fied than in his case." His darker moods were full of vindictive enmity, his lucid inter vals expressed tender kindness and benevo lence. This unsettled, excited condition re turned upon Randolph again and again. It kept his friends apprehensive, and made people more tolerant than they might other wise have been of his sharp speeches and unconventional behavior. Seeking physical and mental health, Ran dolph crossed the Atlantic in 1822, and again in 1824 and 1826. In England he found much to interest and delight him, and received much attention and kindness. His letters telling of his travels are very enter taining and instructive, and show that his voyages were beneficial to his body and his mind. His niece, Miss Elizabeth Coaltcr who afterwards married his protege, John Ran dolph Bryan, was a great favorite with Mr. Randolph. He wrote to her frequently and
spoke of her with affectionate admiration. But he did not on that account refrain from making caustic speeches to her. On one occasion he remarked to her, " My dear I hear you set up for a wit." " Oh, no, Uncle John," replied the girl. " Well, don't," he almost snarled, " One wit is enough in the family." After one of his voyages to England he made his appearance unexpectedly in Rich mond at an evening party. Miss Coalter was singing when her uncle entered the room. As soon as she saw him, she rose from the piano, and advanced to meet him, exclaiming, " Dear Uncle John, I had not ' hyerd ' you had come." Knowing his fondness for his niece, the persons near Mr. Randolph stepped aside to give space for his meeting her. As if to disappoint both them and the young lady, Randolph replied to her greeting, " Herd, herd, my dear," and turning on his heel left her re buffed and mortified in the middle of the room. From 1815 to 1827, with the exception of one term when he declined re-election, Mr. Randolph continued in Congress. The two years from 1825 to 1827, he was sena tor from Virginia. It was a period of great national excitement. The Missouri ques tion developed the existence of violent sec tional antagonism and threatened to dissolve the Union. Mr. Randolph saw that the com promise measures recommended by Mr. Clay were unconstitutional, and opposed them vig orously. He himself was no advocate of slavery. He constantly deplored it. He had, in 1803, prevented the admission of slaves into Indiana, considering that the prohibi tion of slavery in the northwest was " wisely calculated to promote its happiness and prosperity." He freed his own large num ber of slaves and provided for their main tenance. But he saw that the spirit and purpose of the Missouri compromise were — as the supreme court pronounced them thirty-six years later — entirely contrary to
