run, and candor requires I should declare it as my opinion, that, he will not derive much benefit in any course which can be marked out for him at this place, without anable preceptor always with him.

What is best to be done with him I know not. My opinion always has been, that the university in Massachusetts would have been the most eligible seminary to have sent him to; first, because it is on a larger scale than any other; and, secondly, because I believe that the habits of the youth there, whether from the discipline of the school, or the greater attention of the people generally to morals, and a more regular course of life, are less prone to dissipation and excess than they are at the colleges south of it. It may be asked, if this was my opinion, why did I not send him there? The answer is as short as to me it was weighty: being the only male of his line, and knowing (although it would have been submitted to) that it would have proved a heart-rending stroke to have him at that distance, I was disposed to try a nearer seminary, of good repute, which, from some cause, or combination of causes, has not, after the experiment of a year, been found to answer the end that was contemplated. Whether to send him there now, or, indeed, to any other public school, is, indeed, problematical, and to mispend his time at this place would be disgraceful to himself and me.

If I were to propose to him to go to the university at Cambridge, in Massachusetts, he might, as has been usual for him on like occasions, say, he would go wherever I chose to send him, but if he should go, contrary to his inclination, and without a disposition to apply himself properly, an expense without any benefit would result

from the measure. Knowing how much I have been disappointed, and my mind disturbed by his conduct, he would not, I am sure, make a candid disclosure of his sentiments to me on this or any other plan I might propose for the completion of his education, for which rea

son, I would pray that you (or perhaps Mrs. Stuart could

succeed better than any one) would draw from him a frank and explicit disclosure of what his own wishes and views are; for, if they are absolutely fixed, an attempt to counteract them by absolute control would be as idle as the endeavor to stop a rivulet that is constantly running. Its progress, while mound upon mound is erected, may be arrested, but this must have an end, and everything will be swept away by the torrent. The more I think of his entering William and Mary, unless he could be placed in the bishop's family, the more I am convinced of its inutility on many accounts, which had better be the subject of oral communication than by letter. I shall wish to hear from you on the subject of this letter. I believe Washington means well, but has not resolution to act well. Our kind regards to Mrs. Stuart and family, and I am, my dear sir,

Your obedient and affectionate servant,
G. WASHINGTON.

DAVID STUART, Esq.

This is the last letter in the packet from which the foregoing series have been copied. The correspondence exhibits the old story of a youth of genius and fortune disappointing the hopes of his friends while at college; and it presents Washington in a new light, as exercising the tender solicitude of a parent.

RECOLLECTIONS AND PRIVATE MEMOIRS

OF THE

LIFE AND CHARACTER

OF

WASHINGTON.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

It was the privilege of the writer to enjoy the friendship of Mr. Custis, the author of the following Recollections of Washington, for several years, and to experience, on frequent occasions, the hospitalities of Arlington House, his beautiful seat on the Potomac, opposite the federal city. The subject of his Recollections was a frequent topic of conversation, and the writer always expressed an earnest desire that Mr. Custis should complete and prepare for publication, in book form, the interesting work begun, many years before, of recording what he knew and remembered concerning the private life of Washington, and some of his compatriots. But his spirit was summoned from earth before that work was completed, and the revision of what was already done was left to other hands.

When invited by the only-surviving child of Mr. Custis to assist her in preparing his imperfect and unfinished Recollections for the press, by arranging them properly and adding illustrative and explanatory notes, the writer complied with pleasure, for filial gratitude to the Father of his Country seemed to demand the dedication of whatever labor might be usefully employed in the preservation of precious memorials of that father which had hitherto been left in the perishable form of newspaper articles.

Many of the facts recorded in this volume have already found their way, one by one, into our histories; but the great mass of them will be fresh to every reader, and intrinsically valuable.

The illustrative and explanatory notes have been prepared with the single purpose of instructing, not amusing; and if, to the well-informed, many of them shall appear unnecessary, let it be remembered that it is only the few who are well informed, and that the many need instruction.

Care has been taken not to alter the text as it flowed from the pen of the author, except in the way of verbal corrections, occasionally, and arrangements of the matter to avoid repetitions as