and died at Boston, January 15, 1865. He graduated at Harvard College in 1811, and after two years preparatory study was ordained (Feb. 9, 1814,) at the early age of nineteen, pastor of the Brattle Street, (Boston) Unitarian Church. In 1815 he was elected professor of Greek language and literature in Harvard, and became president of the university in 1846, serving for three years. Mr. Everett was a member of Congress 1825-35, governor of Mass. 1836-40, minister to England 1841-45, secretary of state from Nov. 1852 to March 1853, and U. S. Senator from that time until May 1854, when he retired to private life on account of ill health. His practical assistance in aid of the movement for the purchase of Mount Vernon, is one of the most notable features in the history of its acquisition by "The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association," the present custodians. His oration on "The Character of Washington," first delivered before the "Mercantile Library Association of Boston," February 22, 1856, and afterwards repeated at intervals till the spring of 1861, in all the principal towns and cities of the country, together with his contributions to the New York Ledger in 1858, realized for the fund nearly seventy thousand dollars. Taking into consideration the labor and discomfort inseparable to such an undertaking, the lecture having been delivered at least one hundred and thirty times, it is extremely doubtful whether a greater example of unwearied industry, and unselfish devotion, can be cited. The "Life of George Washington," from which we quote, published at Boston in 1860, 12m0, was written by Mr. Everett at the suggestion of Lord Macaulay, for the eighth edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," in which it appears. GEORGE W. P. CUSTIS. 1860. THE person of Washington, always graceful, dignified, and commanding, showed to peculiar advantage when mounted; it exhibited, indeed, the very beau ideal of a perfect cavalier. The good Lafayette, during his last visit to America, delighted to discourse of the "times that tried men's souls." From the venerated friend of our country we derived a most graphic description of Washington and the field of battle. Lafayette said, “At Monmouth I commanded a division, and, it may be supposed, I was pretty well occupied; still I took time, amid the roar and confusion of the conflict, to admire our beloved chief, who, mounted on a splendid charger, rode along the ranks amid the shouts of the soldiers, cheering them by his voice and example, and restoring to our standard the fortunes of the fight. I thought then as now," continued Lafayette, "that never had I beheld so superb At the grand dinner given at the headquarters (Yorktown) to the officers of the three armies, Washington filled his glass, and, after his invariable toast, whether in peace or war, of "All our friends," gave "The British Army," with some complimentary remarks upon its chief, his proud career in arms, and his gallant defence of Yorktown. When it came to Cornwallis's turn, he prefaced his toast by saying that the war was virtually at an end, and the contending parties would soon embrace as friends; there might be affairs of posts, but nothing on a more enlarged scale, as it was scarcely to be expected that the ministry would send another army to America. Then turning to Washington, his lordship continued: "And when the illustrious part that your excellency has borne in this long and arduous contest becomes matter of history, fame will gather your brightest laurels rather from the banks of the Delaware than from those of the Chesapeake." GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, grandson of Mrs. Washington, and adopted son of Washington, was born April 30, 1781, and died at Arlington, October 10, 1857. His early home was at Mount Vernon. Mr. Custis wrote some orations and plays, and executed some paintings of Revolutionary battles. His "Recollections and private Memoirs of Washington," from which we quote, were published at New York in 1860. 8vo. THE ATHENÆUM. 1860. EXTRACT FROM A NOTICE OF RECOLLECTIONS AND PRIVATE MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON, BY HIS adopted son GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, IN THE ATHENÆUM, LONDON, MAY 5, 1860. ALL the many attempts to throw a halo of romance about the private life of Washington have failed. Apart from his public career, he was as uninteresting a character as one can easily conceive. Cold, prudent, plodding, a painstaking farmer, fond of field-sports, and highly respectable, he was a type of a sober, well-disposed country gentleman. His appearance was very imposing, and on horseback he looked "a king of men." But notwithstanding his “grand air," he was little calculated to shine in society. His early education had been picked up at inferior schools, and he had not done much to supply the deficiencies of juvenile training. He had no wit, no humour, no readiness in conversation. Sound common sense (as we are wont to name about the most uncommon of faculties) was his distinguishing mental characteristic, just as inflexible probity was his great moral endowment. He had not the genius requisite for a brilliant speaker; but as he never spoke on any subject until he had conscientiously considered it from every point of view, and as he brought to the consideration of a public question the same practical sagacity which he displayed so success fully in the management of his private affairs, he never opened his lips in debate without exercising great influence on his hearers. The secret of his glory lies in the fact that his sterling honesty placed him high above the pettiness of personal ambition. Raised in the troublous times of revolution to the position of Dictator to a powerful people, he kept unbroken the trust reposed in him by his fellow citizens. It is no detraction from his merit to say that any other course would have led him to ruin,—that a career of successful usurpation was an impossibility to any adventurer amongst the American colonists,-and that had any set of infatuated partizans succeeded for a day in establishing a Washington dynasty, it would have been speedily swept away by the combined forces of the Republican and Tory parties, and the cause of liberty in the revolted colonies would have lost that invaluable moral support which it enjoyed in every civilized country of the world. But honour, not less than prudence, precluded Washington from entertaining any foolish design of personal aggrandizement. After a long experience Jefferson said of him, "His integrity was most pure; his justice the most inflexible I have ever known,-no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision.' And in consequence of this integrity, he was "the only man in the United States who possessed the confidence of all, there being no other man who was considered as anything more than a party leader." He was surrounded by more brilliant men, but out of them all-orators, wits, scholarsthere was not one so fit to be trusted. Politicans of every school knew * See page 168.-Ed. 1 |