Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/11



to know intimately those illustrious personages who have performed a conspicuous part on the great theatre of the world, is, perhaps, implanted in every human bosom. We delight to follow them through the various critical and perilous situations in which they have been placed, to view them in the extremes of adverse and prosperous fortune, to trace their progress through all the difficulties they have surmounted, and to contemplate their whole conduct at a time when, the power and the pomp of office having disappeared, it may be presented to us in the simple garb of truth.

If among the exalted characters which are produced in every age, none can have a fairer claim to the attention and recollection of mankind than those under whose auspices great empires have been founded, or political institutions deserving to be permanent, established; a faithful representation of the various important events connected with the life of the favourite Son of America, cannot be unworthy of the general regard. Among