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throughout his whole career, as well behind the scenes. as upon the great stage; in his home business as well as in affairs of world-wide moment; in his amusements as well as in the most serious occupations that ever were laid upon mortal man. Here we find him as he was; neither hiding his anger nor parading his charity; full of interest in his own affairs, yet with an ear and hand never inaccessible to the unfortunate; telling as coolly what money he lost and won at cards, as on what occasions he went to church; recording in one line the arrival of splendid guests, and the illness of an old negro woman; reproving an overseer; lecturing a spendthrift; trying to manage the affairs of a troublesome lady; recounting the performance of the dogs and the fortunes of each day's hunt; ordering handsome things for the house and table; giving all the particulars of a day's ploughing or hoeing; making out long lists of Mrs. Washington's and Miss Custis's finery, to be ordered from London, or describing that household implement, a mangle; in short, chronicling every day's doings, without fear or reserve, as one who should say-Here I am; make what you can of me!

Purposely to conceal all this truth, and nature, and variety, for fear that the exhibition of the private side of Washington should lessen the reverence we have all been accustomed to feel for the public one, would be truly the most irreverent thing we could be guilty of. It is substituting for true, heartfelt honor, a kind of superstitious image-worship; parading a statue in

stead of the man, in order that art may ingeniously cover up the deficiencies of nature. Washington needs very little of this kind of consideration.

The desire to know every trifling particular that can be ascertained about those we admire, is so natural that there must be some respectability about it. A feeling nothing less than universal cannot be considered. morbid or unbecoming. Let it be conceded that History must give only the dignified aspect of a public man; biography, especially when intended for the young, may venture a little lower. When we would hold up to young people an example, in which we desire to interest them, we must, if possible, bring that example within their reach, in order to inspire them with hope of imitation. The image of Washington presiding over armies and senates, however magnificent it may be, can only affect us like a picture in the disWe see the grand outline and admire the effect, but we can accord only vague and general admiration. Few expect to be eminent in the cabinet or in the field; and it is natural to look lower for the characteristics on which our lives are to be modelled.

Happily for us, Washington, the man, is not wholly inaccessible to us, and more happily still, the qualities of the man are by his life found to be entirely compatible with those of the hero,-one of the most valuable of facts. He himself said truly, in an address to his officers on retiring from the army, "The private virtues of economy, prudence, and industry will not be

LIMITED OBJECT OF THIS BOOK.

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less amiable in civil life than the more splendid qualities of valor, perseverance, and enterprise were in the field." Such was his modest, abiding sentiment, and happy was it for the great and successful soldier that he could afford to utter it. Happy is it for us that he was enabled to show it in his own case.

I would by no means be understood as promising great things in the way of novelty. No startling facts hitherto concealed; no newly discovered virtues or weaknesses, no qualities as yet unsuspected, have rewarded my faithful study of the Washington manuscripts. All I propose is as familiar and home-like a life of the great man, as can be gathered from his own papers and the sayings of his contemporaries, many of whom wrote about him; and in order to make the story as interesting as I can to young people, I omit much that is usually interwoven with the Life of Washington, such as details of battles and of politics; supplying the place of such particulars by extracts from the diary of daily life at Mount Vernon, and descriptions of Washington's doings, appearance, habits, and manners, as reported by himself and his contemporaries. The world has long been in possession of the facts; in this book there is some attempt to present them in a homely and familiar way, without any departure from the profound respect which should fill every American heart when contemplating the character of Washington.

The notes which Mr. Sparks collected with infinite pains and labor, afford a world of interesting matter,

of a more private and personal kind than that which he embodies in the text. To these I am particularly indebted, though I have sought in many other directions for information suited to my purpose.

CHAPTER II.

English ancestors of Washington-Letter of Sir Henry-Family annals-Curious tradition in England-Intermarriages in Virginia-Washington's birth-placeOld house suffered to go to ruin-Plain and simple manners of the day in Virginia -Advantages of these to Washington-Associations with the Potomac and its shores.

THE English ancestors of Washington were of great respectability, and noted for a spirit of independence and patriotism. The name appears in English annals as early as the twelfth century. The family appellation was originally Hertburn, but William de Hertburn, about the middle of the thirteenth century, assumed the name of his property, the manor of Wessyngton, which, in course of time, came, by means of the ordinary changes, to be written Washington. One of the family, Sir Henry Washington, is celebrated as having held the city of Worcester against Fairfax and the Parliamentary army, in Cromwell's time. The letter he wrote on the occasion is so like what our Washington might have written in similar circumstances, that we must take the liberty of copying it from Irving's Life, Vol. I. page 14.