M
5 - ntrmiting 51;thij.
IRVING'S LIFE OF WASHINGTON
GEORGE WASHINGTON AT SCHOOL, 1N LOVE, AT
MEE
Messrs. PUTNA fit C C0.,.0f New York, are
about issuing a new life of acoany. WAsnixa
TON, written by the great American Author-
WAsnucp•ros "avian, which promises to be the
most meritorious and popular life of the "Fa
ther of his country" ever written. The Lite•
rnry Editor of the New York Tribune, who tins
been permitted -to examine the advance F hects,
says "its publication will form an, important
c och in American literature. The life long
labors of its illustrious author could not have
been crowned with a more appropriate termin
ation. His name will henceftitth be indissolu
bly connected with that of Washington, not on-
I,y by his baptismal appellation, but by the no
ble mot ument which he has reared to his mem
ory. It was a befitting task that the uriter
who has left such a brilliant imprers of his ge
nius on the nascent literature of his country—
whose fame is devoutly cherished in the hearts
of the American people—held in equally af
fectionate remembrance in the rude cabins of
the frotier, the halls of universities, and the
saloons of fashiouable life, whose successes
itt
the varied walks of classical composition have
done as much to illustrate the character of
America in the eye of the world as the elo
quence' of her Senators or her prowess in rims
—should create a permanent memorial of Wnsh
ington in a style worthy the dignity of the
subject and the reputation of the author."
All former biographers and historians have
presented us with Washington as the great
military commander or civil ruler. In this
volume Mr. Irving presents him as a living
personality, as well as a great hero. Ile has
I tid hare the mighty heart of the hero beneath
the buff and blue encasings of the Continental
uniform, and enabled us to listen to its audible
shrubs. Henceforth we shall know more of the
man than we ever did before. The xi me of
Washington will not only be a household word
us of old, but will awaken sympathies in every
lover of our marvellous humanity. This vol
ume opens with an account of the Washington
family, and although not of exciting interest,
it presents several curious antiquarian details.
Washington was of nn ancient English stock,
the genealogy of which has been traced up to
the century immediately succeeding the Nor
man Conquest. William de Hertburn, a fol
lower of William the Conqueror, was the pro•
genitor of the Washingtons. The surname of
this brave knight was taken from a village
which he held by a feudal tenure and after
ward exchanged for the manor and village of
Wessyngton. The family changed its,surnanie
with its estate and therfccibrward assumed that
of Do Wessyngton. By degrees, the seign , :ria
sign of de disappeared from before the family
surname, which also varied from Wessyngtot
Wassington, Wassington, and finally to Wash
ington. A parish in the County of Durban
bears the name as lat-t written, and in this
probably the ancient manor of Wessyngton
was situated. We give a few extracts from
the earlier life of the hero, reserving a thril
ling description of the battle of Bunker's Hill
for another occasion:
WAS 11INGTON AT SCHOOL
Having no longer the benefit of a father's
instructions at home, and the scope of tuition
of Hobby, the sexton, being too limited for the
growing wants of his pupil, George was now
sent to reside with Augustine 'Washington, at
Bridges Creek, and enjoy the benefit of a su•
perior school in that neighborhood, kept by a
Mr. Williams. His educalitn however was
plain and practical. Ho never attempted the
learned languages, liar ruanifested any inelina-
tion for rhetoric or belles lettres. llis object,
or the object of his friends, seems to havebeen
confined to fitting him for ordinary business.
Ills manuscript school books still exist, and
are models of neatness and accuracy. One of
them, it is true; a ciphering book, preserved in
the library at Mount Vernon, hos some school
boy attempts at calligraphy ; nondescript
birds, executed with a flourish of the pen, or
profiles of faces probably intended for those
of his school mates ; the rest are all grave
and business like. Before ho was thirteen
yearn of ago he had copied into a volume
forms for all kinds of mercantile and legal pa
pers; bills of exchange, notes of hand, deeds,
bonds and the like. This early self tuition
gave him throughout life a lawyer's skill in
'drafting documents and a merchants exactness
in keeping accounts, so that all the concerns
of his various estates, his dealings with his
domiestio stewards and foreign agents, his ac
counts with government, and all his financial
transactions are to this day to bo seen posted
up in books in his , own handwriting, menu•
moats of his method and unwearied accuracy,
He was a self-disciplinarian in physical as
well as mental matters and practised himself
in all kind of athletic 'exercises, such as rim
ning, leaping,:wrestling, pitohing qUoita , and
tossing bars. his frame oven in infancy bad
been large and powerful, and he now excelled
most of lii!playmates, in contests of agility
and strength. As a proof of his muscular
power a place is still pointed out at Freder
icksburg, near the IoW- - er ferry, where-when a
boy he flung n stone across the Ilappaba s iWek.
In h a-semanship too be /already excelled, and
was ready to back and' able to manage the most
fcry steed. Traditional anecdotes remain of
his achievements in this respect.
Above all, his inherent probity and the prin
ciples of justice on which he reglated all his
conduct, even nt this early period of his life,
were soon appreciated by his schoolmates
was refeiTed to as an umpire in their disputes,.
and his decisions were never reversed. As he
had Udell formerly military chieftain he was
now legislator of the school; hut displaying
in boyhood a type of the future man.
THE LOVES OF WASIIINUTON
In ono of 'these manuscripts memerm
his practical studieti and exercises, we have
conic upon some documents singularly in con•
trast with all that we ,have just cited and with
his apparently•'unromantic character. In a
word, there are evidences in his own hand
writing that, before he was fifteen years ()cage,
he had conceived II passion fur sonic unknown•
beauty, so serious as to disturb his otherwise
well regulated mind and to tnake him really
unhappy. • Why this juvenile attachment was
a source of unhappiness we have no positive
means of ascertaining. Perhaps the object of
it may have considered him a mere school boy
and treated him as such ; or his own shyness
may have been in his way nitd his "rules for
behavior and conversation" may as yet Irrove
sat awkwardly on him and rendered him for
mal and ungainly when he most sought tr"
please. Even in later years he was apt to b
silent and embarrassed in female society
'•Ile was a very bashful young man," said an
lady whom he used to visit when they were
I both in their nonage. "I often used to wish
that he would talk more."
Whatever may have been the reason, this
early attachment seems to have been a source
of poignant discomfort to him. it clung to
him after he took a final leave of school the
autumn of 1747 and went to reside will] his
brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. Were he
continued his mathematical studies and his
practise in surveying, discurbed at times by
recurrences of his unlucky pnAssion. Though
by no means of a poetical temperament, the
waste pages of his journal betray several at
tempts to pour forth his amorous sorrows in
verse. They are mere common-place rhymes,
t3ucli as lovers at his age are apt to write, in
which ho bewails his 'poor restless heart,
wounded by Cupid's dart,' and 'bleeding-for
one who remains pityless of his griefs and
woes.'
The tenor of some of his verses induces us to
believe that, he never told his love ; but, ns
we have already surmised, was prevented by
his bashfulness.
"Ah, we is me, that 1 r.hould lore and conceal
Long have 1 wbhed and never dare love td."
It difficult to reconcile one's self to the
idea of the cool and sedate Washington, the
great champion of American,liberty, a woeworti
lover in his youthful days 'sighing like furnace'
and inditing plaintive verses about the groves
of Mount Vernon. We are glad of an oppor•
tunity, however, of penetrating to his native
feelings end finding that under his studied
decorum and reserve he had a heart of flesh,
throbbing 'with the warm impulses of human
nature. --
The merits of Washington were known and
appreciated by the Fairfax family. Though
not quite sixteen years of ago lie no longer
seemed a boy, nor was ho treated as such.
Tall, athletid, and manly for his years, his
early self-training and the code' conduct ho
had devised, gave a gravity and ecision to
his conduct ; his frankness and modesty in
spired cordial regard, and the melan
choly of which he speaks may have produced
n softness in his manner calculated to win favor
in ladies' eyes. According to his own account
the female society by which he was surroun
ded had a soothing effect on that melancholy.
The charms of Miss Carey, the sister of the
bride, seem even to have caused a slight lint
tering in his bosom ; which, however, was con
stantly rebuked by the remembrance of his
former passion—so at least we judge from let
ters to his youthful confidants, rough drafts
of which are still to be seen in his tell tale
journal. -
To ono whom ho addresses as hes dear
friend Robin, he writes; 4 My residence is
at present at his lordship's, where I might
was my heart disengaged, pass my time very
plesantly, as there's a very agreeable young
lady lives in the , same house . (Col. George
Fairfai's wife's Sister); but as that's only
adding fuel to tire, it makes me the more un
easy, for by often and unavoidably being in
Company with her, revives my former passion
for your Lowland Beauty ; whereas was I to
live more retired frOm young women, I might
in some nionsure alleviate my sorrows .by
burying that ()haste and troublo some passion
in . the gilave of oblivion,' too,
,'Similar avowals ho maims to another of his
young correspondents, wbom ho styles Dear
2
friend John,' as also to female confidant,
btyled IDear Sally,' to whom he acknowledges
.I`sill'a itZa,t 111-0,:*1110
the company of the ' very agreeable young
lady, sister-in-law of Colonel Georgo.Fairfax , '
in n great- measure cheers his sorrow and. de
jectedness. The object of this early pas ion
is not positively known. Tradition states
that the ' lowland beauty' was n Miss Grimes
of Westmoreland, afterward Mis. Lee, and
mother of Gen Henry Lee, who figured in
revolutionary history as Light horse Harry,'
and was always a favorate with Washington.
probably from the recollections of his early
tenderness for the mother.
Whatever may have been the soothing effect
of the female bociety by which he was sur
rounded at Belvoir, the youth found a more
effectual remedy for his love -melancholy in
the company of Lord Fairfax. Ills lordship
was a staunch fox hunter, and kept hor-;es
- and - hounds — in --- Eoglist sty lc. The---kuivting
seroon had arrived. The neighborhood aboun
ded with sport ; but fox-hunting ill Virginia
required bold and skilful horsemanship. He
found Washington as hold as hhnselt in the
saddle and as eager to follow the hounds lle
forthwith took him into pectiliar favor; made
him his hunting companion ; and it Was pro
bably under the tuition of this hard riding al
nobleman that the youth imbibed that fond
ness for the chase for which he was afterward
remarked.
ME
Tradition giv'es very different motives from
those of business for his two sojourns in the
latter city. He found there an early friend
and schoolmate. Beverly Enbinsrn, son of
John Robinson, speaker of the Virginia
l lottse of Borgesses. lle was living happily
and prosperously with a young and wealthy
bride, having married one of the nieces and
heiresses of Mr. Adolphus Philipse, a rich
landholder, whose manor house IS still to be
seen uu the banks of the Hudson. At the
house of Nlr. Beverly Robinson, where Wash
ington was an honored guest, he met 7qIFIS
Mary Philipse, sister and co-heiress of Mrs
Robinson, a young lady whose personal at
tractions are said to have rivaled her reputed
wealth.
We have already given an instance of Wash
ington's early sensibility to female charms.—
A life however of constant activity and care—
past for the most part in the wilderness and
on the frontier, far from female alciety—had
left the mood or leisure for the indulgence of
the tender sentiment ; but made him more
sensible, in the present brief interval of gay
and social life, to the attractions of an elegant
woman, brought up in the polite circle of New
York.
That be was an open admirer of Miss Phil
ipso is a historical fat ; that ho sought her
hand, but was refused, is traditional and not
very probable. His military rank, his early
laurels and distinguished presence were all
calculated to find favor in female eyes; but
this sojourn in New York was brief; he may
have been diffident in urging his suit with
lady accustomed to the homage of society and
surrounded by admirers. The most probable
version of the story is that he was called away
by his public duties before lie bad made suf
ficient approaches in his siege of the lady's
heart to warrant a summons to surrender,
Washington was now ordered by Sir John
St. Clair, the quartermaster general of the
forces under General Forbes, to repair to
Williamsburg and lay the state of the case be
fore the Council. He set off promptly on
horseback, attended by Bishop, the well
trained military servant who had served the
late General Braddock. It proved an event
ful journey, though not in a military point of
view. In crossing a ferry of the Pamunkey,
a branch — of York River, be fell in company
with a Mr. Chamberlayno who lived in the
neighborhood, and who, in the spirit of Vir
ginian hospitality, claimed him as a guest.—
It was with difficulty Washington could be
prevailed on to halt for dinner so impatient
was he to arrive at Williamsburg and accom
plish his mission. . •
Among the guests nt Mr. Chamberlayne's
was a young.and blooming widow. Mrs. Mar
tha Custis, daughter of 'My: John' Banbridge,
both.patrician names in the province. Her
husband, John Parke •Curtis, had been dead
about three years, leaving her with two young
children and a large fortune. She is repre
sented as being rather below the middle size,
but extremely well shaped, with nn agreeable
countenance, dark hazel eyes and hair, and
those frank, engaging manners, so captivating
in Southern women. We are not informed
whether Washington had mot with her before;
probably not during her widowhood, as dur
ing that time he had been almost continually
on the frontier. We• have shown that, with
all his gravity and reserve, he was quickly
susceptible to female charms ; and they may
have. had a greater effect upon him when thus
csaually oneountered in fleeting, moments
snatched from the cares and perplexities and
rude scenes of frontier• warfare: - At any rate
- hierheart appears to have been taken by sur
prise..._ •
.The dinner, which in those days was an
earlier meal than at present, seemed all too
short• The afternoon pAssed away like a
dream. Bishop was punoal to the orders ho
. .
had received on halting ; the horses pawed at •
'the door, but for once Washington loitered in
the path orduty, The horses were counter
manded, and it was not until the next morn
ing that he was again in the saddle, spurring
for Williamsburg Happily the White House,
the resi•lenCe of Mrs. Custis, Was in New
Kent County at no great di:Aance from that
city, so that he had opportunities of visiting
her in the intervals of business.' His time for
courtship, however was brief, Military du
ties called him almost immediately to Win
( Amster: but Le feared, should he leave the
matter in suspense, F owe more enterprising
rival might supplant him during his absence,
as in the ease of Miss Philipse at New York.
.lie improved therefore his brief opportunity
to the utmost. The blooming widrw had
sutors, but Washington was graced with
aill
that renown so ennobling in the eyes of wo
men. Tn n war I, before they separated, they
had mutually plighted their faith, and the
tnniriage wn's to take place as soon as the
campaign against Fert Duquesne was at an
end..
WASTIINGTON AT 1101I1'.
Mount Vernon was his harbor of repose,
where he repeatedly furled his sail, and fan
cied himself for life. N impulse of ambition
tempted him thence ; nothing but the call of
his country, and L s devotion to the public
good. The place was endeared to him by the
remembrance of his brother Lawrence, and of •
the happy days he had passed here with that
brother in the days Of bo:, hood ; hut it was a
delightful place in itself, and well calculated
to inspire the rural feeling.
The mansion was beautifully situateA on a
swelling height, crowned with wood, and com
manding a mngnitieient view up and down the
Potomac. The grounds immediately about
it were laid out somewhat in the English taste.
The estate was apportioned into separate farms,
devote] to different hinds of culture, each hav
ing its allotted laborers. Much, however, was
still covered with wild woods, seamed with
deep dells and runs of water, and indented
with inlets; haunts of deer and lurking places
of foxes. 'rue whole woody region along the
Potomac from Mount Vernon to Belvoir, and
far beyond, with its range of forests and hills,
and picturesque promontories, afforded sport
-of various kinds, and was a noble hunting
ground. Washington had hunted through it
with old Lo•d Fairfax in his stripling days;
we do not wonder that his feelings .throughout
life incessantly reverted to it.
'No estate in United States,' observes be, in
one of his letters, 'is more pleasantly situated.
In a high, and healthy country; in a latitude
between the extremes of heat and cold ; on
one of the finest rivers in the world ; a river
well stocked with various kinds of fish at all
seasons of the year, and in the spring .with
had, herring, bass, carp, sturgeon, &c , in
great abundance. The borders of the estate
are washed by more than tea miles of tide
water ; several valuable fisheries appertain to
it; the whole shore, in fact, is one entire fish
ery.
These were as yet the aristocratical days of
Virginia
The estates were large, and continued in
the same families by entails. Many of the
wealthy planters were connected with old foul
Hies in England. The young men, especially
the elder sons, were often sent to finish their
education there, and on their return brought
out the tastes and habits of the mother coun
try. The Governors of Virginia were from the
higher ranks of society and maintained a cot-
responding state. The 'established' or Epis.
copal Church predominated through the 'an
cient dominion,' as it was termed; each coun
ty was divided into parishes, as in England,
each with its parochial church, itS parsonage
and glebe. Washington was vestryman of two
parishes, Fairfax and Truro; the parochial
church of the former was at Alexandria, ton
miles from Mount Vernon ; of the latter, at
Pohick, about seven miles. The church at
rollick was rebuilt on a plan of his own, and
in a great measure at his oxpease. At one or
other of these churches he attended every Sun
day, when the weather end the roads permit
ted. Ills demeanor was reverential and de
vout. Mrs. Washington knelt during the
prayers ; he always stood, as was the custom
at that time. Both were communicants.
Among his occasional Visitors and associates
were Captain Hugh Mercer and Doctor Craik ;
the former, after his narrow escape from the
tomahawk and scalping knife, was quietly
settled at Fredericksburg; the latter, after the
campaigns ou the frontiers were over; lead ta
ken up his residence at Alexandria, and was
now Washington's family physician. Both
were drawn to him by eampaiguing ties and
recollection, and wore over welcome at Mount
Vernon.
A style of living prevailed among the opulent
Virginian fanatics in those dayi that has long
since faded away. The houses wore spacious,
commodious, liberal in all their appointments,
and fitted to cope with the • free-handed, open
hearted hospitality of' the owners. Nothing
was more common than to see handsome set ,
vicee of plate, elegant equipages and Seperb
carriage—horses—all imported from England,
The 'Virginians have always been noted for
their love of horsA 4" manly 'passion which
in those days of opulence, they indulged with
out regard to expense. The rich planters vie,
frith each other in their studs, importing th
best English stoats. Mention is made of on
of the Bantlelphs of Tuck:thee, who built
stable for his favorite dapplegray horse Slink
spear, with a recess for the bed of the negr
groom, who always slept beside him nt night
Washington, by his in trriage, had :idle
above one hundred thousand dollars to hi
already considerable fortune, and was eniilde
to live in ample and dignified style. His int
macy with the Fairfaxes, and his intorcour
with British officers of rank, had, perhaps hn
their influence on his mode of living. He lie
his chariot and four, With black postilions i
livery, for the use of Mrs. Washington at
her Indy visitors. As for himself, ho appear(
riiiThorseln - Tek. 'lris stable twas well filled; ar
admirably regulated. His stud was thorout
I red and in excellent order. His househo
oks contain registers of the names, ng
tal marks of his favorite horses; suchlts Aja
, •Blueskin, Valiant, Magnolia (an Arrib - ,) &c.-
Also .his dogs, chiefly foic-hounds, Arnica
RingwoOd, Forrester, Sweetlips, Music, Roe
wood, Truelove, &a."
A large Virginia estate, in those days, w
a little empire. The mansion-house, was ti
sent of government, with its numerous del - if?
duncies, such as kitchens, smokehouse, wort
shops and stables. In this manqiun the plant
ruled supreme ; his .'steward or overseer w
his prime minister aud executive officer; I
had his legion ofv.house negroes fur donunq
service, and his host of field negroes for tl
culture of tobacco, Indian corn, and I , th
crops, anti for other out•of doer labor. Tht.
qunite'r formed a kind of hamlet apart, col
posed of various huts, with little gardrrn ,
poultry yards, all well stocked, and swain:4
little negroes gamboling in the sunshine.
Then there were largo wooden edifices t
curing tobacco, the staple and most protital
production, and mills for grinding wheat nt
Indian corn, of which large fields were cul
vated for the supply of the family and t
maintenance of the negroes
He was an early riser, often before do,
break in the winter when the nights wi
long. On such occasions ,he lit his own fit
and wrote or read by candle light. He brea
fasted at seven in Summer, at eight in \Vint(
Two small cups of tea and three or four cal:
of Indian meal (called hoe-cakes) formed 1
frugal repast. Immediately after breakfast
mounted his Lorse and visited those parts
the estate where any work was going on, se
ing to everything with his own eyes,.and oft,
aiding with his own bands.
Dinner was served a 2 o'clock. He a
heartily, but was no epicure nor critical abc
his food. His beverage was small-beer
cider and two glasses of old Madeira. I
took tea, of which be was very f , tpl, early
the evening and retired for the night /Wont
o'clock.
If confined to the house by had weather
took that occasion to arrange his papers, II
up his accounts or write letters--passing pr
of the time in Tending and occasionally rc - a
ing aloud to the family.
lle treated his negroes wilh kindness ;
tended to their comforts ; was partietdn
careful of them in sickness, but never tch •
ated idleness, and exacted a faithful purr\ I:
slice of all their allotted tasks. lie had
quick eye at calculating each- man's capal.
ties. An entry in his diary gives a curie
instance ef.this. Four of his negroes err pi
ed as carpenters wore hewing and shaid:
timber. It appeared to him in noticing
amount of work accomplished between t
succeding mornings, that they loitered at th
labor. Sitting down quietly he timed th.
operations, how long it took them to get till
cross-cut saw and other implements real
how long to clear away the branches from t
trunk of a fallen tree; how long to hew a
saw it; what time was expended in consider\
and consulting, and, after all, how much we
was effected during the time he looked on.
from this he made his computation of It,
much they could execute in the course of
day, working entirely at their ease.
. At another time we find him working fot
part of two days with Peter, his smith,
make a plow on .a now invention of his ow
This, after two or three failures, ho acco
Oahe& Then,, with less than his usual jud
ment, he put his two chariot horses to t
plow and ran a great risk of spoiling-ocm
giving his • now„invention a trial over grou
thiokly awarded.
Anon, during IL thunder-storm a frighten(
negio alarms, the house with word that t
mill is.giving way, upon Which there is a go
oral turnout 9f all tho forces, with Washiu
tou at their head, wheeling and shoveling gr
vel, daring a pelting rain, to check the rus
lug water.
Washington' delightod in the chase. In t
huntiog season, whou he rode .out early in t
morning to visit distant parts of - the est:,
whore work was going on, he often •took sot
of the dogs With him for the chance of sun
lug a fox, which ho occassionally did, thou
CONTINUED ON BEY_RNTII I'ACE
El
D