emainder of Boone's career, full of stirring adventure, belongs
rather to the early history of Kentucky. When the settlements around him
began to grow too thick for his taste, he removed farther westward. This
extraordinary man, who could neither read nor write, in 1792 dictated a
brief account of his life to some youthful writer, whose attempt to
enhance the interest of the narrative by rhetorical embellishments
afforded no little satisfaction to the unsophisticated old voyager of
the woods, and nothing pleased him better than to sit and listen to the
reading of it. He would listen attentively, rub his hands together,
smile complacently and ejaculate, "All true, every word true! not a lie
in it." Solitary hunting, as it had been the charm of his earlier years,
afforded him the solace of his old age; and when too old to walk through
the woods, he would ride to the edge of the salt-licks and lie there in
ambush for the sake of getting a shot at the deer. He was in person
rough and robust; his countenance homely but kind; his manner cold,
grave, taciturn; his conversation simple and unobtrusive; he never
speaking of himself but when questioned. He was withal brave, humane,
prudent, and modest.[598:A] He died in 1820, aged nearly ninety years.

FOOTNOTES:

[595:A] Sketches of Western Adventure.

[597:A] See Journal of Convention of '76.

[598:A] McClung's Sketches of Western Adventure, 92.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

1775.

Lord Dunmore--Second Convention--St. John's Church--Henry's
Resolutions--His Speech--Measures adopted.

In the beginning of 1775 the people of Virginia were in a state of
anxious suspense, expecting an outbreak of civil war. Dunmore remained
in gloomy solicitude in his palace, tenacious of authority, but fearful
of resisting the popular will. Intelligence was now continually received
of commotions among the people; resolutions, essays, and speeches added
new fuel to the excitement.

The second Virginia convention assembled at Richmond, on Monday, the
twentieth day of March. St. John's Church, in which the sessions were
held, stands on Richmond Hill, commanding a panorama of Richmond, (then
a few straggling houses,) hills, and fields, and woods, and the James,
with its rocks and islands, flashing rapids and murmuring falls, and
poetic mists. The convention approved of the proceedings of congress,
and of the conduct of the Virginia delegates. Resolutions were adopted
thanking the assem