A poetical epistle to His Excellency George Washington, Esq; commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America. From an inhabitant of the state of Maryland. ; To which is annexed, a short sketch of General Washington's life and character. ; [Eight lines of quotations]

A poetical epistle to His Excellency George Washington, Esq; commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America. From an inhabitant of the state of Maryland. ; To which is annexed, a short sketch of General Washington's life and character. ; [Eight lines of quotations]

Table of contents

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Title page

ADVERTISEMENT to the London EDITION.

A POETICAL EPISTLE TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esquire, &c. &c. &c.

A SKETCH OF General WASHINGTON'S LIFE and CHARACTER.

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DONT TREAD ON ME

GEORGE WASHINGTON Comander in Chief of ye Armies of ye UNITED STATES of AMERICA.

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A POETICAL EPISTLE TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

FROM An INHABITANT of the STATE of MARYLAND.

TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A SHORT SKETCH OF General WASHINGTON'S LIFE and CHARACTER.

—On his aspect shines

Sublimest virtue, and desire of fame,

Where justice gives the laurel; in his eye

Th' unextinguishable spark, which fires

The souls of Patriots; while his brow supports

Undaunted valour, and contempt of death.

LEONIDAS.

Ille Deûm vitam accipiet, divisque videbit

Per mistos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis.

VIRG.

LONDON, PRINTED: PROVIDENCE (Rhode Island) Re-printed and Sold by BENNETT WHEELER, at his Office on the West Side of the Great Bridge. M,DCC,LXXXI.

ADVERTISEMENT to the London EDITION.

[Page]

THE Reader may depend upon the following Poem being the genuine production of a native of America: The Author is not vain enough to flatter himself, that it will throw any fresh lustre on the character of General WASHINGTON, or entitle his unskilful muse to the smallest degree of poetical same. His sole view in penning this epistle was to express, in the best manner he was able, the warm feelings of a grateful individual towards that distinguished and best of men; to whom he, and every American, will in all likelihood be indebted for the independence and commercial prosperity of his country. *

[Page]N. B. If there are any of the Generous and Humane who have not yet subscribed to the relief of the American Prisoners, this publication gives them a fair opportunity to exercise their benevolence, by sending their donations for this book to the publishers; which they may be assured will be faithfully applied, as it will be paid into the Committee for American Prisoners by the Editor.

*⁎* Fifteen Thousand Copies of this POEM were Sold in the City of London, in about Three Weeks, at Two Shillings and Sixpence Sterling, each, and the Money appropriated to the Benefit of the American Prisoners.

J— T—.

Notes

*

The sole motive for publishing this Poem, and adding thereto a sketch of the Life and Character of General Washington (which the Editor now gives to the Reader in the plain unaltered narrative of the Author, who is connected and intimate in the family of that great man) is for the charitable purpose of raising a few guineas to relieve, in a small measure, the distresses of some hundreds of American prisoners, now suffering confinement in the gaols of England. The profits arising from the sale of this book will be faithfully appropriated to that purpose; and this the Editor rests assured will be a much stronger incitement for the benevolent and humane to become purchasers of it, than any intrinsic value the performance may demand.

Very large and liberal sums were given for this charitable purpose in January 1778. The Committee appointed for its distribution, to prevent an overflow of public generosity, closed the subscription, thinking it was very ample; and hoped that after some short period no prisoners, in this ever to be lamented war, would on either side remain. That hope having vanished, the progress of calamity not being stopt, and no prospect of its conclusion, the Committee again opened the subscription; and with a degree of success that places the character of the nation and of individuals in the most honorable light, by proving that their humanity is not the capricious or fashionable exertion of the moment, but a constant impulse, and the deliberate result of their reason. This additional subscription, though disbursed with oeconomy, is now expended, and the wants of these unhappy sufferers nearly as extensive as ever. The pains of captivity cannot be much lightened by this small mite of an obscure individual; but such munificent donations as have been made by Englishmen towards their relief, must stamp a lession on the minds of those unfortunate captives, and our American brethren in general, that they should not withdraw all national affection from a country, the bulk of whose inhabitants have not withdrawn all national affection from them.

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A POETICAL EPISTLE TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esquire, &c. &c. &c.

[Page]

—Honest praise

Oft nobly sways

Ingenuous youth:

But from the coward and the lying mouth

Praise is reproach. Eternal God alone

For mortals fixes that sublime award.

He, from the faithful records of his throne

Bids the historian and the bard

Dispose of honour and of scorn:

Discern the patriot from the slave;

And write the good, the wise, the brave,

For lessons to the multitude unborn.

AKENSIDE'S Ode.

WHILE many a servile Muse her succour lends

To flatter tyrants, or a tyrant's friends;

While thousands slaughtered at Ambition's shrine

Are made a plea to court the tuneful Nine:

Whilst laureats lift their heroes to the sky,

Foretel their conquests twice a year, and lie,

Damn half starv'd rebels to eternal shame,

Or paint them trembling at Britannia's name:

Permit an humble bard, Great Chief, to raise

[Page]One truth-erected trophy to thy praise:

No flatt'ring colours shall these numbers seek,

To tinge with blushes Virtue's modest cheek:

Call forth to view no great or generous deed,

But foes must own and Washington may read.

Say, where along yon venerable wood,

My native stream * swells thy Potomack's flood,

Shall my untutor'd Muse begin the song,

Which future bards in rapture shall prolong;

Or there my little bark presume to fail,

Fann'd by fair Liberty's inspiring gale?

Fair Liberty, of man the noblest claim,

Great source of bliss, kind nurse of arts and fame;

She, wrong'd and exil'd from yon eastern climes,

Perhaps may deign to listen to these rhymes:

And in these regions pleas'd to find relief,

May bear them smiling to her fav'rite chief:

Illustrious Chief! whom with one common voice

An injur'd people chose, and Heav'n approv'd the choice.

Forth from the bosom of thy calm retreat,

At once the hero's and the sage's seat,

Where bounteous Nature spreads her choicest gifts

Of woods and lawns along thy native cliffs†,

[Page]Where, with the Graces, Wisdom chose to roam,

Where sweet Simplicity had fix'd her home;

Where wedded Love display'd his mildest ray,

To gild each rising and each setting day,

And with a smile could smooth the brow of Care,

Save when thy country's cries alarm'd thy ear.

Great Freedom call'd Thee to the glorious strife,

The tranquil scenes of sweet domestic life

Delight no more: to arms! to arms! she cries;

To arms! to arms! each sister-state replies.

Be Thou great guardian of thy country's cause,

She said, and hosts of heroes shout applause.

Thus, when of old, from his paternal farm

Rome bade her rigid Cincinnatus arm;

Th' illustrious peasant rushes to the field,

Soon are the haughty Volsii taught to yield:

His country sav'd, the solemn triumph o'er,

He tills his native acres as before.

Or, when Timoleon's god-like bosom glow'd

To court true fame, and Virtue mark'd the road;

Joyful she led him to Trinacria's * shore,

And kings and kinglings quickly were no more:

Soon was the tyrant § taught that power to own,

That hurl'd him headlong from his guilty throne:

[Page]Yet, tyrant-like, ambitious still to rule,

He frown'd the petty monarch of a school;

Whilst Thee, illustrious Chief, no titles grace,

Save friend and guardian to the human race.

Hail, happy man! crown'd with immortal bays,

Before whose glory shrinks the dwindled rays

Of royal pageantry! thy gen'rous heart

To Freedom's sons shall still its warmth impart,

Teach them their native dignity to scan,

And scorn the wretch who spurns his fellow-man:

And when in eastern climes, 'midst lawless sway,

Thy same shall sink, and Freedom's wreaths decay,

These infants states shall catch the god-like flame,

And tyrants still shall shudder at thy name;

Then nobly dare Columbia * to be free,

And what Timoleon was, thy Washington shall be.

What tho' proud Britain yet undrench'd with blood,

Pour her destructive thousands o'er the flood,

With hellish rage th' extremes of war pursue,

Not conquest now, but mean revenge her view;

What tho' to glut her unrelenting ire,

Of German tyrants German slaves she hire,

Teach them to riot in the lawless spoil.

Which erst had made her own proud sons recoil,

Rouse the grim savage to relentless war,

[Page]And faintly tell his scalping arm to spare:

What tho' fresh wreaths great vict'ry still must twine,

To grace thy temples, Gates, or Lincoln thine:

What tho' Herculean labours still remain,

And all our battles must be fought again;

Yet, if th' embattled field thy Genius guide,

Or in the senate Wisdom still preside;

Sooner shall you blue-mist-clad mountain * dread

The rattling storms that war around his head,

Sooner shall night usurp the beam of day,

Than Freedom crouch beneath Oppression's sway:

Calm and serene she views the gath'ring storm,

Sees her brave youth around thy standard swarm,

Each bosom panting for the glorious wreath,

Or, should they fall, each grasping it in death.

Come then, ye minions of tyrannic sway,

Strive who shall best its dire commands obey:

Let other Falmouth's tell each future age,

Of British fleets th' unprecedented rage,

And from their ashes this great truth proclaim,

"Destruction only is the tyrant's aim:"

Once more, fierce Vaughan, lead forth thy savage band,

And scatter desolation thro' the land;

Once more let Hudson † mourn his rifled plains,

[Page]His ravish'd daughters and his murder'd swains:

Or, if in Britons still such souls should dwell

As to thy lot, inhuman Dunmore, fell:

Ev'n thy Virginia, Washington, may view

Her infants bleed, her Norfolks blaze anew;

Besmear'd with gore fresh Butlers may arise,

And with their scalp-clad brows insult the skies.

All this may be; the blood already spilt

Fills not, alas! Britannia's cup of guilt;

Fell disappointment still her arm may brace

To wreak her vengeance by some fresh disgrace:

Or, may not heav'n, yet eager to disclose

Th' unconquer'd soul that in thy bosom glows,

Dangers on dangers heap, new labours raise,

Till in full lustre all thy virtues blaze;

Till led by thee, the brave untutor'd band

Chace hardy vet'rans from this injur'd land;

Till haughty Clinton to thy standard bow,

Or sink unnotic'd as a Gage or Howe,

Till Britain, hapless Britain! curse the hour,

When urg'd by pride and insolence of pow'r

She, sternly deaf to ev'ry just petition,

Thought with a frown to "look us to submission?"

Alas, poor Britain! thus thy Sandwich spoke,

And eager senates caught the fatal joke;

Each pension'd scribbler draws his servile pen,

[Page]And proves Americans are hardly men;

Of knaves and dastards the contemptuous names

Amuse the fawning circles at St. James,

And with this pray'r each courtly pulpit rings,

"Heav'n spare not rebels to the best of Kings!"

Such was thy folly, Britain! such thy fate!

Thus sunk the proud and insolently great,

Of heav'nly vengeance doom'd to feel the rod,

Who dare deride great Nature and her God.

Far other thoughts, Columbia, be thy pride,

Far other springs thy public councils guide:

Thine be the god-like task, the glory thine,

To kindle first, and spread the flames divine

Of true benevolence; her gentle star

Shall light the rescu'd millions from afar,

Invite them sweetly on these plains to find

The great asylum of oppress'd mankind;

Then to their wond'ring eyes disclose the plan

Where the poor slave shall read that he is man;

Taste Freedom's charms more pure than Rome could boast,

Or Albion, once her fav'rite isle, has lost.

Great without pomp, without ambition brave,

Proud, not to conquer fellow-men, but save:

Friend to the weak, a foe to none, but those

Who plan their greatness on their brethren's woes;

[Page]Aw'd by no titles, undefil'd by lust;

Free without faction, obstinately just;

Too wise to learn from Machiavel's false school,

That truth and perfidy by turns should rule;

Too rough for flatt'ry, dreading ev'n as death

The baneful influence of Corruption's breath;

Warm'd by Religion's sacred genuine ray,

That points to future bliss th' unerring way;

Yet ne'er controul'd by Superstition's laws,

That worst of tyrants in the noblest cause;

The world's great mart, yet not by gold defil'd,

To mercy prone, in justice ever mild;

Save to the man who strikes at Freedom's roots,

And never curs'd with Mansf—ds, N—ths, or B—tes.

Such be my country; what her sons should be,

O! may they learn, great Washington, from thee!

Thy private virtues be their public rule,

Thy public conduct be the Patriot's school!

That living law, from whence her rising youth

May gather wisdom, constancy, and truth,

Of Independence catch the gen'rous flame,

And learn to shudder at Oppression's name!

And when retiring late from earthly cares,

Thy better part shall mount her native spheres,

'Midst Patriot chiefs to taste the pure delight

[Page]Of ever having thought and acted right;

Still, Phoenix-like, renew'd from age to age,

Thy spotless same shall grace th' historic page,

Or flow expanded down the stream of time,

The darling subject of immortal rhyme;

Such as rehears'd Pelides' fatal ire,

Such as, great Milton, tun'd thy sacred lyre,

Or that sweet bard's, who sung the man that bore

"His course to Latium from the Trojan shore!"

Then Commerce here shall fix his chief abode,

And thy Potomack heave beneath the load

Of crowding fleets; each crew in grateful lays

Thro' their rough throats shall pour their deathless praise;

And, pointing to Mount Vernon, shall relate,

"There once liv'd Washington the good, the great,

"Whose arm preserv'd, whose wisdom guides the state.

"Yon temple rising 'midst th' encirclihg grove

"To Fame and Him, a grateful people's love

"Rais'd in full jubilee: yon structure fair

"Where Nature's God receives Religion's pray'r,

"He rear'd a lasting monument to be

"Of Heaven's best favours to the Good and Free.

"There, on Columbia's future bliss and pow'r,

"Oft wou'd he muse away the noon-tide hour;

"Alone, in public, this his constant aim,

"That her great cause and Nature's be the same:

"That Wisdom triumph thro' her wide domain,

"And Freedom fix her everlasting fane."

Notes

*

The river Wiecomico, which empties itself into the great river Potomack.

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†

Cliffs of Virginia formed by the banks of the Potomack.

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*

Sicily.

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§

Dionysius the Tyrant.

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*

America.

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*

A lofty mountain on the confines of Maryland and Virginia, called The Blue Ridge.

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†

The Hudson's, or North River, which runs through the province of New York, and falls into the Atlantic Ocean at that city.

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A SKETCH OF General WASHINGTON'S LIFE and CHARACTER.

[Page]

Maryland, May 3, 1779.

IN compliance with the request you made me in your last obliging letter, I set down to inform you of every interesting particular that has come to my knowledge concerning the life and character of General Washington; and I do this with the greater cheerfulness, as I flatter myself I shall be able to communicate a more accurate and circumstantial account of this illustrious personage than has ever hitherto been laid before the public. If, from what I shall say, the knowledge you already have of this excellent man can be any-way improved, or any lustre can be added to that brilliancy of character, which you give me to understand he possesses in the eyes of Europe, I shall deem the pains I have been at, in procuring the following intelligence, as highly compensated.

General Washington is the third son of Mr. Augustine Washington, a man of large property and distinguished reputation in the state of Virginia: an ancestor of this gentleman, [Page] about the period of the Revolution, sold his property, near Cave, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and came over to Virginia, where he purchased lands in King George's County; and it was here that our hero was born on the 22d of February in the year 1733. In this county he has at this time three brothers, Samuel, John, and Charles, all gentlemen of considerable landed property, and a sister who is married to colonel Fielding Lewis. His elder brother Lawrence, who went out a captain of the American troops, raised for the Carthagena expedition, married the daughter of the honourable William Fairfax, of Belvoir, in Virginia, by whom he left one daughter, who dying young, and his second brother also dying without issue, the general succeeded to the family-seat, which, in compliment to the gallant admiral of that name, is called Mount Vernon, and is delightfully situated on the Potomack River, a few miles below Alexandria. General Washington is the eldest son by a second marriage; and, having never been out of America, was educated (as youths of fortune in this country generally are) under the eye of his father by private tutorage: a slight tincture of the Latin language, a grammatical knowledge of his mother-tongue, and the elements of mathematics, were the chief objects he was taught to pursue. For a few years after he quitted his tutor, he applied himself to the practical part of surveying (a knowledge of which is essentially requisite to men of landed property in this country) and was appointed surveyor to a certain district in Virginia; an employment rather creditable [Page] than lucrative; though it afforded him an opportunity of chusing some valuable tracts of land, and made him thoroughly acquainted with the frontier country.

On the governor and council of Virginia receiving orders from England, in October 1753, to repel by force the encroachments of the French on the western frontiers, along the rivers Ohio and de Boeuf, Mr. Washington, then a major in the provincial service, and an adjutant-general of their forces, was dispatched by general Dinwiddie, with a letter to the commander in chief of the French on the Ohio, complaining of the inroads they were making in direct violation of the treaties then subsisting between the two crowns; he had also instructions to treat with the six nations and other western tribes of Indians, and to engage them to continue firm in their attachment to England. He set out on this perilous embassy, with about fifteen attendants, late in October 1753; and so far succeeded, that on his return with monsieur de St. Pierre's answer, and his good success in the Indian negociations, he was complimented with the thanks and approbation of his country. His journal of the whole transaction was published in Virginia, and does great credit to his industry, attention, and judgment; and it has since proved of infinite service to those who have been doomed to traverse the same inhospitable tracts.

Soon after this, the designs of the French becoming more manifest, and their movements and conduct more daring, orders were issued out by administration for the colonies to [Page] arm and unite in one confederacy. The assembly of Virginia took the lead by voting a sum of money for the public service, and raising a regiment of four hundred men for the protection of the frontiers of the colony. Major Washington, then about twenty-three years of age, was appointed to the command of this regiment, and before the end of May, in the ensuing year, came up with a strong party of the French and Indians, at a place called Red-stone, which he effectually routed, after having taken and killed fifty men. Among the prisoners were the celebrated woods-man monsieur De La Force and two other officers, from whom colonel Washington had undoubted intelligence, that the French force on the Ohio consisted of upwards of one thousand regulars, and some hundreds of Indians. Upon this intelligence, although his little army was somewhat reduced, and intirely insufficient to act offensively against the French and Indians, yet he pushed on towards his enemy to a good post; where, in order to wait the arrival of some expected succour from New York and Pennsylvania, he entrenched himself, and built a small fort, called Fort Necessity. At this post he remained unmolested, and without any succour until the July following; when his small force, reduced now to less than three hundred men, was attacked by an army of French and Indians of eleven hundred and upwards, under the command of the Sieur de Villiers. The Virginians sustained the attack of the enemy's whole force for several hours, and laid near two hundred of them dead in the field, when the French commander, discouraged by such determined resolution, proposed [Page] the less dangerous method of dislodging his enemy by a parley, which ended in an honourable capitulation. It was stipulated that colonel Washington should march away with all the honours of war, and be allowed to carry off all his military stores, effects, and baggage. This capitulation was violated from the ungovernable disposition of the savages, whom the French commander could not restrain from plundering the provincials on the onset of their march, and from making a considerable slaughter of men, cattle, and horses. This breach of the capitulation was strongly remonstrated against by the British ambassador at the Court of Versailles, and may be looked upon as the aera when the French court began to unmask, and to avow (though in a clandestine manner) the conduct of their governors and officers in America: they redoubled their activity and diligence on the Ohio, and in other places during the winter 1754 and the following spring. Virginia had determined to send out a larger force; the forts Cumberland and Louden were built, and a camp was formed at Wills Creek, from thence to annoy the enemy on the Ohio. In these several services (particularly in the construction of the forts) colonel Washington was principally employed, when he was summoned to attend general Braddock, who with his army arrived at Alexandria, in Virginia, in May, 1755. The design of sending out that army, was to penetrate through the country to Fort du Quesne (now Fort Pitt) by the route of Wills Creek; and as no person was better acquainted with the frontier country than colonel Washington, and no one in the colony enjoyed so well [Page] established a military character, he was judged highly serviceable to general Braddock, and cheerfully quitted his command to act as a volunteer and aid de camp under that unfortunate general. The particulars of the defeat, and almost total ruin of Braddock's army, consisting of two thousand regular British forces, and near eight hundred provincials, are too well known to need a repetition: it is allowed on all sides, that the haughty positive behaviour of the general, his high contempt of the provincial officers and soldiers, and his disdainful obstinacy in rejecting their advice, were the genuine causes of this fatal disaster. With what resolution and steadiness the provincials and their gallant commander behaved on this trying occasion, and in covering the confused retreat of the army *, let every British officer and soldier confess, who were rescued from slaughter on that calamitous day by their valour and conduct.

After general Braddock's disaster, the colony of Virginia found it necessary to establish her militia, raise more men, strengthen her forts, undertake expeditions to check the inroads of the enemy, &c. &c. &c. In all which important services colonel Washington bore a principal share, and acquitted himself to the utmost satisfaction of his country, by displaying on every occasion, the most persevering industry, personal courage, and military abilities. He was again appointed to the command of the Virginia troops, and held it [Page] with singular credit till his resignation in 1759, when he married the young widow of Mr. Custis, his present lady; with whom he had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds sterling in her own right, besides her dower in one of the principal estates in Virginia. From this period he became as assiduous to serve the state as a senator, as he had hitherto been active to defend it as a soldier. For several years he represented Frederick County, and had a seat for Fairfax County, at the time he was appointed by the assembly, in conformity with the universal wish of the people, to be one of their four delegates at the first general congress. It was with no small reluctance that he engaged again in the active scenes of life; and I sincerely believe that no motives but such as spring from a most disinterested patriotism could have ever prevailed upon him to relinquish the most refined domestic pleasures, which it was ever in his power to command, and the great delight he took in farming and the improvement of his estate. You well know that general Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America (the proprietors of Pennsylvania, Maryland▪ and the Northern Neck excepted;) for besides his lady's fortune, and ten thousand pounds falling to him by the death of her only daughter, he has large tracts of land taken up by himself early in life, some considerable purchases made from officers who had lands allotted them for their services; and has, moreover, made great additions to his estate at Mount Vernon. It is impossible in this country, as in England, to rate the value of estates by their annual rent or income, because they are universally tilled by negroes, and in the hands of landholders. [Page] There are many estates in the middle colonies, which never produced a clear income to their owners of five hundred a year, that may be easily sold for forty thousand pounds. General Washington's, however, will not be over-rated, if set down at a good four thousand pounds English per annum, and his whole property could not be bought for forty years purchase.

When it was determined at length in Congress, after every step towards an accommodation had failed, and every petition from America had been scornfully rejected, to repel by force the invasion from Great Britain, the eyes of the whole continent were immediately turned upon Mr. Washington. With one common voice he was called forth to the defence of his country; and it is, perhaps, his peculiar glory, that there was not a single inhabitant of these states, except himself, who did not approve the choice, and place the firmest confidence in his integrity and abilities *. He arrived at Cambridge in New England, in July 1775, and there took the supreme command of the armies of America. He was receiveed at the camp with that heart-felt exultation which superior merit can alone inspire, after having in his progress through the several states received every mark of affection and esteem, which they conceived were due to the man, whom the whole continent looked up to for safety and freedom.

[Page]As he always refused to accept of any pecuniary appointment for his public services, no salary has been annexed by Congress to his important command, and he only draws weekly for the expences of his public table and other necessary demands. General Washington having never been in Europe, could not possibly have seen much military service when the armies of Britain were sent to subdue us; yet still, for a variety of reasons, he was by much the most proper man on this continent, and probably any where else, to be placed at the head of an American army. The very high estimation he stood in for integrity and honour, his engaging in the cause of his country from sentiment and a conviction of her wrongs, his moderation in politics, his extensive property, and his approved abilities as a commander, were motives which necessarily obliged the choice of America to fall upon him. That nature has given him extraordinary military talents will hardly be controverted by his most bitter enemies; and having been early actuated with a warm passion to serve his country in the military line, he has greatly improved them by unwearied industry, and a close application to the best writers upon tactics, and by a more than common method and exactness: and, in reality, when it comes to be considered that at first he only headed a body of men intirely unacquainted with military discipline or operations, somewhat ungovernable in temper, and who at best could only be stiled an alert and good militia, acting under very short enlistments, uncloathed, unaccoutred, and at all times very ill supplied with ammunition and artillery; and that with such an army he withstood the ravages and progress of near forty [Page] thousand veteran troops, plentifully provided with every necessary article, commanded by the bravest officers in Europe, and supported by a very powerful navy, which effectually prevented all movements by water; when, I say, all this comes to be impartially considered, I think I may venture to pronounce, that general Washington will be regarded by mankind as one of the greatest military ornaments of the present age, and that his name will command the veneration of the latest posterity.

I would not mention to you the person of this excellent man, were I not convinced that it bears great analogy to the qualifications of his mind. General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a tall well-made man, rather large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address: his features are manly and bold, his eyes of a blueish cast and very lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the small pox, his complexion sun-burnt and without much colour, and his countenance sensible, composed, and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air of dignity about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness: he has an excellent understanding without much quickness; is strictly just, vigilant, and generous; an affectionate husband, a faithful friend, a father to the deserving soldier; gentle in his manners, in temper rather reserved; a total stranger to religious prejudices, which have so often excited Christians of one denomination to cut the throats of those of another; in his morals irreproachable; he was never known to exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance: In a word, all his [Page] friends and acquaintance universally allow, that no man ever united in his own person a more perfect alliance of the virtues of a philosopher with the talents of a general. Candour, sincerity, affability and simplicity, seem to be the striking features of his character, till an occasion offers of displaying the most determined bravery and independence of spirit.

Such, my good friend, is the man, to whom America has intrusted her important cause. Hitherto she has had every reason to be satisfied with her choice; and most ungrateful would she be to the great Disposer of human events, were she not to render him unremitting thanks for having provided her with such a citizen at such a crisis. Most nations have been favoured with some patriotic deliverer: the Israelites had their Moses; Rome had her Camillus; Greece her Leonidas; Sweden her Gustavus; and England her Hambdens, her Russels, and her Sydneys; but these illustrious heroes, though successful in preserving and defending, did not, like Washington, form or establish empires, which will be the refuge or asylum of Liberty banished from Europe by luxury and corruption. Must not therefore, your heart beat with conscious pride at the prospect of your friend's being ranked among (if not above) those illustrious patriots? at the enchanting thought, that He, whom you know and love, shall be acknowledged by present and future generations as their great deliverer, and the chief instrument in the hands of the Almighty for laying the foundation of that freedom and happiness, which, I trust, await the future myriads of this vast continent?

FINIS.

Notes

*

See captain Orme's letter to Governor Dinwiddie, and also the other accounts of that day.

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*

It is somewhat singular, that even in England not one reflexion was ever cast, or the least disrespectful word uttered against him.

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Information about this book

Title statement

A poetical epistle to His Excellency George Washington, Esq; commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America. From an inhabitant of the state of Maryland. ; To which is annexed, a short sketch of General Washington's life and character. ; [Eight lines of quotations]

Wharton, Charles Henry, 1748-1833.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2011-05.

ID [DLPS]

N13795

ID [TCP]

N13795

ID [STC]

Evans 17436

ID [NOTIS]

APW2815

ID [IMAGE-SET]

17436

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99008697

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 17436.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N13795)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 17436)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 17436)

Source

— A poetical epistle to His Excellency George Washington, Esq; commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America. From an inhabitant of the state of Maryland. ; To which is annexed, a short sketch of General Washington's life and character. ; [Eight lines of quotations], Wharton, Charles Henry, 1748-1833., Bell, John., Brunton, Richard, d. 1832, engraver..

Extent

iv, [1], 6-24 p., [1] leaf of plates : 1 port. ; 24 cm. (4to)

London, printed: Providence (Rhode Island) re-printed and sold by Bennett Wheeler, at his office on the west side of the Great Bridge.,. [Providence] :: M,DCC,LXXXI. [1781]. (Attributed to Wharton in the Dictionary of American biography. The "short sketch," attributed to John Bell of Maryland in the DAB article on Wharton, is the first attempt at a life of Washington.) (First edition (Evans 16677) published at Annapolis in 1779. The London edition was published the following year to raise money for the support of American prisoners of war in England. Cf. the "Advertisement to the London edition," p. [iii]-iv.) (Frontispiece portrait of Washington engraved by Richard Brunton.)

Creation

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