60 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



fences and trees, seemed to bear the marks of perfect 

 order and regularity, which in rural affairs always indicates 

 a prosperous industry." * * * "We entered into a 

 large hall, where there was a long table full of victuals, 

 at the lowest part sat his negroes, his hired men were 

 next, then the family and myself, and at the head the 

 venerable father and wife presided. Each reclined his head 

 and said his prayers, divested of the tedious cant of some 

 and of the ostentatious style of others. After dinner we 

 quaffed an honest bottle of Madeira wine, * * ^ and 

 then retired into his study. I was no sooner entered than I 

 observed a coat-of-arms in a gilt frame, with the name 

 John Bartram. The novelty of such a decoration in such 

 a place struck me. I could not avoid asking : ' Does the 

 Society of Friends take any pride in these armorial bear- 

 ings, which sometimes serve as marks of distinction between 

 families, and much oftener as food for pride and ostenta- 

 tion.' ' Thee must know ' (said he) ' that my father was a 

 Frenchman * ; he brought the piece of painting over with 

 him." 



Nearly forty years afterward, over the front window of 

 his study was engraved this inscription : 



"IT IS GOD ALONE ALMYTY LORD 

 THE HOLY ONE BY ME ADOR'D 

 lOHN BARTRAM 1770." 



Entering the house in which Robert J. Rule, with his 

 family, now (1899) resides, the old dwelling is found to 



* This is an error. The reference is to a Norman Frenchman that came with 

 William the Conqueror into England. The original spelling of the name was 

 Bertram. The description of the coat of arms (see frontispiece) is as follows: 

 Gu. on an escutcheon or, betw. eight crosses pattee ar. an anvil ppr. Crest— Issuing 

 out of an antique crown or, a ram's head ppr. Motto— J'avance. 



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