the
military air of his appearance. He displays a native gravity, but devoid
of all appearance of ostentation." In this same year a friend wrote,
"General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a
well-made man, rather large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address;
his features are manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very
lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the
small-pox; his complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his
countenance sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air
of dignity about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness."

In 1789 Senator Maclay saw "him as he really is. In stature about six
feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would
seem to want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he
showed no signs of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His complexion
pale, nay, almost cadaverous. His voice hollow and indistinct, owing, as I
believe, to artificial teeth before his upper jaw, which occasions a
flatness."

From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797,
William Sullivan described him as "over six feet in stature; of strong,
bony, muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and
straight. He was a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own house,
his action was calm, deliberate, and dignified, without pretension to
gracefulness, or peculiar manner, but merely natural, and such as one
would think it should be in such a man. When walking in the street, his
movement had not the soldierly air which might be expected. His habitual
motions had been formed, long before he took command of the American
Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the surveying of wilderness
lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not likely to be
acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing towards bending
him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was invariably grave; it
was sobriety that stopped short of sadness."

The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbe
Robin found him of "tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole
mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and
even enemies themselves in his favor."

The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, "In speaking of this
perfect whole