It is well known for whom Randolph-Macon College was named--John Randolph, of Roanoke, and Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina. How it came about that a Christian and Methodist college should have been named for men who were not professed Christians, and who had never, so far as is known, shown any preference or kindly interest for the Methodist Church, has been a question of interest and speculation. The most probable solution of the question is that the name was determined very much by precedent. The oldest college in the State, William and Mary, founded primarily and specially for educating "the savages" in Christianity, was named for the King and Queen then on the throne. Washington College was named for Washington, the hero of the day (1782); Hampden-Sidney for the champions of liberty and human rights (1783), all of them Christian colleges, but named for public men, representatives of the sentiments of the periods uppermost when they were founded. Following the precedents set by these colleges, the names then most prominent in Virginia and North Carolina were selected, John Randolph, of Roanoke, and Nathaniel Macon, one living on the south side of the Roanoke River and the other on the north side. Neither of these men was in any way connected with the College, nor did either, so far as is recorded, ever manifest any interest in it by making a contribution to it or otherwise, but both were very popular in their native State, in whose service they literally spent their lives. John Randolph has been called an infidel by some Northern writers, but those who knew him best represent him as far from having been such, though he lived at a time when infidelity was far from being uncommon among public men. At one time, at least, he was a professed believer in Christ, and never gave up his belief, however inconsistent in his life, at times, he may have been. Hon. J. K. Paulding, a distinguished author and public man, in a letter accepting membership in one of the literary societies of the College soon after it was built, wrote of these men: "Randolph-Macon combines the names of two very distinguished men, with whom I was acquainted; with the former, long and intimately. Mr. Macon was one of the wisest, most virtuous men I ever knew. His integrity as a private man was only equalled by his devotion to his country and to the great principles of liberty, of which he was a most faithful and devoted advocate. Indeed, I may say, with perfect truth, that in the simplicity of his habits and character, as well as in the purity of his principles, he realized more than any man I ever knew the example of a steadfast, stern, inflexible republican.