but nothing, as may well be imagined, could restore or supply the loss which her heart had experienced, and she followed her beloved and honored partner to the grave, in a few short years. General Washington had no children. The collateral branches of his family still exist, in considerable numbers, and in high respectability.* neither to contend with the opposition of rivals, nor the revenge of enemies. As his authority was undisputed, so it required no rigorous severity. His government was mild and gentle; it was beneficent and liberal; it was wise and just. His prudent administration consolidated and enlarged the dominion of an infant republic. In voluntarily resigning the magistracy which he had filled with such distinguished honor, he enjoyed the unequalled satisfaction of leaving to the State he had contributed to establish, the fruits of his wisdom and the example of his virtues. It is some consolation, amidst the violence of ambition and criminal thirst of power, of which so many instances occur around us, to find a character whom it is honorable to admire, and virtuous to imitate. A conqueror for the freedom of his country! a legislator for its security! a magistrate for its happiness! His glories were never sullied by those excesses into which the highest qualities are apt to degenerate. With the greatest virtues, he was exempt from the corresponding vices. He was a man in whom the elements were so mixed, that Nature might have stood up to all the world and owned him as her work.' His fame, bounded by no country, will be confined to no age. The character of General Washington, which his contemporaries regret and admire, will be transmitted to posterity; and the memory of his virtues, while patriotism and virtue are held sacred among men, will remain undiminished."

* An interesting memoir of Mrs. Washington may be found in The National Portrait Gallery of distinguished Americans,' conducted by Messrs Herring and Longacre, Part XII. Her maiden name was Martha Dandridge. She was born in the County of New Kent, Virginia, in May, 1732. At the age of seventeen, she was married to Colonel Daniel Parke Custis. The unanimous testimony of all, who knew her, was borne in favor of her graces and virtues. She was beautiful, accomplished, prudent, and faithful to every duty. The letters, written by her, which have appeared in these volumes, and which, with a single exception, have not been printed before, prove that she was an affectionate and delightful correspondent, that she loved the scenes of domestic peace and quiet, more than the gayeties of the fashionable, or the splendors of the great, world, and that she was a sincere and humble Christian.

The following extracts from the memoir above alluded to, give some interesting particulars relating to Mrs. Washington. It was written by her grandson, George W. P. Custis, Esq., of Arlington, D. C.

"At the close of each campaign, an aid-de-camp repaired to Mount Vernon, to escort the lady to the Head-Quarters. The arrival of Lady

CHAPTER XXVII.

Washington's Character.

GENERAL WASHINGTON was remarkable for the sobriety, gravity, and dignity of his manners and aspect. In early life, there is reason to believe that he was cheerful and social, even to a more than ordinary degree; but the weight and magnitude of the cares which were afterwards accumulated upon him, gradually imparted to his bearing and mien an appearance of abstraction and reserve. This became the fixed expression of his countenance at the time of the Revolution. His far-reaching mind discerned the vast importance of the cause intrusted to his hands. He regarded the contest with the deepest solicitude, and was impressed with awe, when he considered the interest at stake. It has been said by those who were near his person, that they never knew him to smile throughout the whole war. The elevation of his position, and his unrivalled reputation, naturally created a distance between Washington at camp was an event much anticipated, and was always the signal for the ladies of the general officers to repair to the bosoms of their lords. The arrival of the aid-de-camp, escorting the plain chariot, with the neat postillions in their scarlet and white liveries, was deemed an epoch in the army, and served to diffuse a cheering influence, amid the gloom which hung over our destinies at Valley Forge, Morristown, and West Point. Lady Washington always remained at the Head-Quarters till the opening of the campaign, and often remarked, in afterlife, that it had been her fortune to hear the first cannon at the opening, and the last at the closing, of all the campaigns of the Revolutionary War."

Mrs. Washington was an uncommonly early riser, leaving her pillow at day-dawn, at all seasons of the year, and becoming, at once, actively engaged in her household duties. After breakfast, she retired for an hour to her chamber, which hour was spent in prayer, and reading the Holy Scriptures, a practice that she never omitted, during half a century of her varied life."

"In person, Mrs. Washington was well formed, and somewhat below the middle size. To judge from her portrait at Arlington House, done by Woolaston, when she was in the bloom of life, she must, at that period, have been eminently handsome. In her dress, though

him and others. His thoughts were continually occupied by the variety, as well as the importance, of the duties, both of a private and public nature, in which he was involved. Besides all this, he was a truly modest man, and was never led, either by the greatness to which he had attained, or by the applause and admiration of which he was the object, to undervalue the opinions or the powers of other men. He always received with respect, and weighed with candor, whatever they had to offer. For this reason, he preferred to be a listener, rather than a talker. As his reserve of manner, the brevity and infrequency of his conversation, evidently did not arise from hauteur, or affectation, or from a want of the information or the sensibility required for a participation in the exercises and enjoyments of sociality, it did not diminish the interest of his character, but contributed, on the contrary, to perpetuate and increase his personal influence.

The intellect of Washington was of the highest order. His judgement was superlatively clear and strong. His reasoning faculties, in what must unquestionably be considered the surest test of their power, that is, an application to practical questions, of the greatest complexity and plain, she was so scrupulously neat, that ladies have often wondered, how Mrs. Washington could wear a gown for a week, go through her kitchen and laundries, and all the varieties of places in the routine of domestic management, and yet, the gown retain its snow-like whiteness, unsullied, by even a single speck. In her conduct to her servants, her discipline was prompt, yet humane; and her household was remarkable for the excellence of its domestics.

"Few females have ever figured in the great drama of life, amid scenes so varied and imposing, with so few faults and so many virtues, as the subject of this brief memoir. Identified with the Father of his country in the great events which led to the establishment of a nation's independence, Mrs. Washington necessarily partook much of his thoughts, his councils, and his views. Often at his side, in that awful period that" tried men's souls," her cheerfulness soothed his anxieties, her firmness inspired confidence, while her devotional piety toward the Supreme Being, enabled her to discern a ray of hope, amid the darkness of an horizon clouded by despair.

"After a long life, abounding in vicissitudes, having a full measure of sorrows, but with many and high enjoyments, the venerable MARTHA WASHINGTON descended to the grave, cheered by the prospect of a blessed immortality, and mourned by the millions of a mighty empire."

the widest comprehension, were wonderfully exact, forcible, and effective in their operations. As a military commander, he succeeded in reaching a perfectly accurate estimate of the character and amount of the resources which his own country could supply, and also of those within the reach of the enemy, and was thus enabled to form a plan for conducting the war which was the only one adapted to the circumstances of the occasion, and which alone could have been crowned with success. The same unerring judgement, grasping every detail, and surveying with the clearest vision the whole ground, led him in safety and in triumph through all the difficulties of his civil administration. It was in consequence of the conviction universally felt of his superior judgement, of the unrivalled strength and efficiency of his reasoning faculties, in all practical applications, that his opinions were clothed with such authority, not only over the great body of the people, but also and equally over the first minds of that day. The same admirable judgement appears in his numerous writings, and, combined with good. taste, and a style of remarkable neatness, perspicuity, simplicity, and dignity, has given to the productions of his pen a character and value proportioned to the greatness of his services and the glory of his name.

His whole life, from the beginning to the end, is a translucent illustration of the excellence of his moral principles. The carefulness with which, when a boy, he collected, and impressed upon his memory and his heart, the rules of good behavior and the principles of virtue, continued through life to be a marked characteristic. In the midst of the vast concerns committed to his care, and in the blaze of glory which surrounded him, while occupying, by universal consent, the foremost place in the admiration. of his countrymen and of mankind, he never neglected the minutest obligation of social life, but, by his scrupulous and unwearied attention to all the details of private duty, added to his public fame and influence, the everincreasing attachment, confidence, and gratitude of his family, his neighbors, and his dependants. Among the innumerable evidences and illustrations of his fidelity to

all the requirements of justice and benevolence, in the smallest concerns and relations of life and conduct, which are recorded or related by those who knew him, the following instance, extracted from a newspaper, notwithstanding the humble sphere within which its incidents occurred, and the unimportant nature of the action it describes, will be regarded with interest and with benefit by all who reflect, that it is in such slight particulars that the real character is best displayed; and that the example of Washington, in the discharge of the duties of a private citizen, is of more value than while at the head of armies or in the chair of state, inasmuch as but few can imitate the latter, and all may be stimulated to virtue and fidelity by the former.

ORIGINAL ANECDOTE OF WASHINGTON.

"General Washington, while engaged in the arduous duties of the Revolution, was called to leave Cambridge, where he was then located, to go to Malden on some business of importance. Accompanied by an aid-decamp, he mounted his steed and started for Malden, while the sun poured down its scorching rays with more than common intensity. Having arrived at Malden, and being somewhat thirsty and fatigued by their journey, they called at a neat-looking house, and inquired of the landlady if she would furnish them with some beer. Being answered in the affirmative, they dismounted their horses, and, securing them, proceeded to the house. After they had sufficiently refreshed themselves with the cooling beverage, and held quite a pleasant conversation with the ladies, they again were ready to proceed on their journey. But the aid-de-camp, while unloosing his horse, accidentally knocked a stone from the wall. The General, seeing that he was not inclined to pick it up, kindly asked him to replace it; he replied that he would leave that for the next man to do, and then mounted his horse. The General, with looks of disapprobation pictured on his countenance, again dismounted his steed and replaced the stone himself, at the same time saying, that it was his rule always to leave a fence as good as he found it. Although this incident may, by some, be thought hardly worth preserving,