[Footnote 61: The letter of Mr. Field conveying his generous offer to the New York Historical Society (September, 1880) was referred to the Executive Committee. They warmly recommended its favorable consideration by the society. In their report, referring to the event commemorated by the memorial-stone at Tappaan, the committee said it was an "event which, perhaps, more signally than any other act of his life, illustrates the wisdom and firmness of Washington under circumstances of peculiar trial, in which even his devoted followers were disposed to question his humanity, if not his justice, and almost to fall in with the sentimental calumny of the day, which has been so often reviewed and refuted as to become ridiculous. The memorial-stone of André's execution is a monument to Washington."] [Footnote 62: The engraving is from the original drawing of the architect. Just below the inscription, at the bottom of the shaft, is cut "Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster."] [Footnote 63: It was ascertained that the perpetrator of the crime was a "crank"--a printer, in the city of New York--who, after eluding the officers of the law for some time, finally died.] [Footnote 64: A petition addressed to the Governor of the State, asking him to assist in an effort to discover the perpetrator of the crime, was signed by a large number of the most respectable citizens of Rockland County.] MONODY ON MAJOR ANDRÉ. [Illustration: Anna Seward.] THE AUTHOR OF THE MONODY. Anna Seward, the abiding friend and ever-faithful correspondent of Major André until his death, was a daughter of Thomas Seward, the canon-resident of Lichfield Cathedral. She was born at Eyam, in Derbyshire, England, in 1747. Her education, superior to that of most girls of her time, was superintended by her father, who was a graduate of Oxford, a man of great moral worth, and noted for his scholarship. Miss Seward evinced a taste and a genius for poetic composition at a very early age, and before she reached the period of young womanhood she attracted the attention of local literary characters. She became a great favorite of Dr. Samuel Johnson, who was a native of Lichfield and was a frequent guest at the house of her father. On one occasion, when she was about fourteen years of age, she wrote a clever poetical address of welcome to Dr. Johnson, which greatly pleased the recipient. Miss Seward is often incidentally mentioned in Boswell's "Life of Johnson." Writing of a visit at Mr. Seward's in 1775, when Anna was twenty-eight years of age, Boswell, Johnson's shadow, says, "And now, for the first time, I had the pleasure of seeing his celebrated daughter, Miss Anna Seward, to whom I have since been indebted for many civilities."