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HE unceasing desire of the public to learn more and more of the life and character of General Washington induces me to publish entire, and for the first time with literal exactness, his "Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation."

They were written by him at about the age of 13, and, with the exception of some school exercises, are the earliest of his productions, in the order of time, which have been preserved. It is proper, too, that their publication should precede that of his Diaries and Journals, taken by me from the original manuscript and arranged in chronological order with notes, which are now nearly ready for the press.