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manly determination. How well that work has been accomplished 

 every one knows, for every one has read the work. The fame of the 

 writer gave a prestige to the book before it was read. The charm of 

 the narrative causes the reader to forget the writer in the perusal. 



It is on record that, when Washington Irving was an infant, his 

 nurse, seeing George Washington, then President for the second 

 term, pass by, ran with the child to the august patriot, saying, " This 

 bairn was named for you, sir," and asked his blessing on the boy. 

 It was kindly bestowed. If this blessing rested, in any sense as a 

 holy obligation, to be gratefully acknowledged in after life, Irving 

 has acknowledged and repaid it. All things considered, his " Life'' 

 is the fittest and noblest monument yet erected to the memory of 

 Washington. 



And yet Irving was too good, too uncritical, too reverential, to 

 come boldly up to the great task of writing almost contemporary 

 history. He enters upon it not as a historian, but as a panegyrist. 



Indeed, sir, may I be pardoned for saying it, the history of Wash- 

 ington remains to be written. I question whether an American can 

 do it ; certainly it is yet too soon to look dispassionately at the mag- 

 nificent theme. We are too near the colossus to discern its propor- 

 tions. Washington is the American idol. We will bear the most 

 extravagant, the most ill-directed, praise. Calm analysis of his cha- 

 racter and actions is tame, if not offensive. 



I would not be misunderstood ; I share this reverence ; I bow at 

 the shrine of Washington; but I discern the difficulty, and have 

 ventured to point it out. 



Of all the biographies, that which errs the least in this respect is 

 the work of that cool, calm, and deliberate writer, Chief Justice 

 Marshall.* 



But Marshall erred unconsciously in another particular. He knew 

 Washington well; and having all the information which we could 

 desire, his very familiarity with the subject caused him to neglect, 

 to consider as unimportant much which would greatly elucidate the 

 subject. Thus his work is too concise ; there is no character-painting, 

 no portraiture. We scarcely obtain fair glimpses of the great man 

 as he strides amid the thrilling scenes of Colonial and Revolutionary 

 history. 



Mr. Sparks, having with great labor edited the writings of Wash- 



* A just statement of the various Lives of "Washington, and clear distinctions 

 of their merits, have been given by George W. Greene, Esq., in his "Biographi- 

 cal Studies." 



