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levee, his discourse with strangers turned principally upon the subject of America; 

 and if they had been through any remarkable places, his conversation was free and 

 particularly interesting, for he was intimately acquainted with every part of the 

 country. He was much more open and free in his behaviour at the levee than in 

 private, and in the company of ladies, still more so, than when solely with men. 

 Few persons ever found themselves for the first time in the company of General 

 WASHINGTON, without being impressed with a certain degree of veneration and awe; 

 nor did those emotions subside on a closer acquaintance; on the contrary, his 

 person and deportment, were such, as rather tended to augment them. The whole 

 range of history does not present to our view, a character, upon which we can 

 dwell with such entire and unmixed admiration. The long life of General Wash 

 ington^ is not stained by a single blot. 



He was indeed a man of such rare endowments, and such fortunate temperament, 

 that every action he performed, was alike exempted from the character of vice or 

 weakness. Whatever he said, or did, or wrote, was stamped with a striking and 

 peculiar propriety. All his qualities were so happily blended, and so nicely 

 harmonized, that the result was a great and perfect whole; the powers of his mind, 

 and the dispositions of his heart, were admirably suited to each other. It was the 

 union of the most consummate prudence, with the most perfect moderation. His 

 views, though large and liberal, were not extravagant; his virtues, though compre 

 hensive and beneficent, were discriminating, judicious, and practical; yet his 

 character, though regular and uniform, possessed none of the littleness which may 

 sometimes belong to those descriptions of men. It was formed a majestic pile, the 

 effect of which was not impaired, but improved by order and symmetry; there was 

 nothing in it to dazzle by wildness, or surprise by eccentricity. It was a higher 



