esent our readers with some of the most striking
passages pencilled in a hasty reading.

WASHINGTON.

During many years did Washington continue to enjoy the pleasures
and fulfil the duties of an independent country gentleman.
Field-sports divided his time with the cultivation and improvement
of his land, and the sales of his tobacco; he showed kindness to
his dependents, and hospitality to his friends; and having been
elected one of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, he was,
whenever that House met, exact in his attendance. To that
well-regulated mind nothing within the course of its ordinary and
appointed avocations seemed unworthy of its care. His ledgers and
day-books were kept by himself: he took note of all the houses
where he partook of hospitality, so that not even the smallest
courtesies might pass by unremembered; and until his press of
business in the Revolutionary War he was wont every evening to set
down the variations of the weather during the preceding day. It
was also his habit through life, whenever he wished to possess
himself perfectly of the contents of any paper, to transcribe it
in his own hand, and apparently with deliberation, so that no
point might escape his notice. Many copies of this kind were after
his death found among his manuscripts.

We may observe, however, that in the mind of Washington
punctuality and precision did not, as we often find them, turn in
any degree to selfishness. On the contrary, he was rather careless
of small points where only his own comfort was concerned. Thus he
could seldom be persuaded to take any remedy, or desist from any
business, whenever he caught a cold, but used to say, "let it go
as it came!"

Nor yet was his constant regularity of habits attended by undue
formality of manner. In one of his most private letters there
appears given incidentally, and as it were by chance, a golden
rule upon that subject:--"As to the gentlemen you mention I cannot
charge myself with incivility, or what in my opinion is
tantamount, ceremonious civility.

In figure Washington was thin and tall (above six feet high), in
countenance grave, unimpassioned, and benign. An inborn worth, an
unaffected dignity, beamed forth in every look as in every word
and deed. His first appearance and address might not