Part 1

FOOTPRINTS OF FAMOUS MEN.

DESIGNED AS INCITEMENTS TO INTELLECTUAL INDUSTRY.

By JOHN G. EDGAR, AUTHOR OF “THE BOYHOOD OF GREAT MEN.”

The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.

LONGFELLOW.

With Illustrations.

NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1854.

“Magna etiam illa laus, et admirabilis videri solet, tulisse casus sapienter adversos, non fractum esse fortuna, retinuisse in rebus asperis dignitatem.”

CICERO _de Orat_.

PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD, SANSOM STREET.

CONTENTS.

PAGE I.――MEN OF ACTION.

WASHINGTON 9 BURKE 44 NECKER 68 PITT 82 LORD ERSKINE 103 LORD COLLINGWOOD 123 LORD TEIGNMOUTH 143

II.――MEN OF LETTERS.

DEAN MILNER 159 DAVID HUME 180 ROBERT SOUTHEY 200 THOMAS MOORE 226

III.――ARTISTS.

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 243 SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY 272 SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN 289

IV.――MEN OF SCIENCE.

DR. WILLIAM HUNTER 305 BLACK 324 BRINDLEY 332 WATT 340 ADAM SMITH 348

LIST OF PLATES.

MOORE AND SCOTT IN THE RHYMER’S GLEN _Frontis._

YOUNG WASHINGTON’S MILITARY ASPIRATIONS _Page_ 11

BURKE READING TO HIS MOTHER 46

ERSKINE’S FIRST SUCCESSES 116

COLLINGWOOD’S JUVENILE GENEROSITY 130

MILNER RESCUED FROM THE LOOM 166

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS AT BLENHEIM 267

CHANTREY’S EARLY STUDIES 277

FOOTPRINTS OF FAMOUS MEN.

WASHINGTON.

The name, which this truly great and good man rendered for ever illustrious and venerable, is of thoroughly English origin, and was assumed, from a manor in the county of Durham, by one of the proprietors, during the dynasty of the Plantagenets. The family continued, for successive centuries, to produce men distinguished in their day and generation as knights, divines, lawyers, and agriculturists; and during the Protectorate two of its cadets, more adventurous than their predecessors, fared forth from a hereditary grange in Northamptonshire, took shipping for Virginia, sailed into the bay of Chesapeake, and settled, in the midst of silk grass and wild fruit, under the shade of the tall, bulky trees on the banks of the Potomac.

The grandson of one of these emigrants, a colonist of industry, enterprise, and repute, flourished in the earlier part of the eighteenth century. He seems to have been fully alive to the inconvenience, and steeled against the temptations of celibacy; for he was twice married, and blessed with several children, of whom George Washington――the eldest son by the second wife――was born on the 22d of February, 1732. Shortly after this joyous event, the worthy and prosperous planter removed to an estate he possessed in Stafford county; and there, on the east side of the Rappahannoc river, the childhood of the future general and statesman was passed. He soon gave indications of a natural disposition to lead and govern; and showed an innate inclination for military pursuits and athletic exercises. When at play, he took infinite delight in forming his youthful comrades into companies, which he drilled, marched, and paraded with due order and formality. Sometimes they were divided into two armies, and fought mimic battles――he acting as captain-general of one party. Then, as in maturer years, he was much given to such feats as running, leaping, wrestling, throwing bars, and others of a similar character. Moreover, he was held in great respect by his more volatile companions, who looked up to him as an extraordinary lad; and thus he was often privileged to arbitrate on and settle their casual disputes, always, it is stated, to the satisfaction of the parties concerned.

It has been remarked that, in general, persons attain with credit, and fill with dignity, the positions which might have been anticipated from their juvenile indications. Some, indeed, afterward display talents of which, in their first stages, they gave no sign, and others put forth a blossom not destined to bring forth the promised fruits: but most frequently the man is such as might have been predicted from the characteristics exhibited in early years. Washington can hardly be regarded as an exception to the general rule; though it is unnecessary to add, that he more than realized any hopes that could reasonably have been entertained from his puerile performances. The seminary at which he received his very scanty education was by no means of the highest class. The pupils were not even initiated into the rudiments of classical learning. Enough was taught the urchins to fit them for conducting the practical business of a planter――at that time the pursuit of nearly all gentlemen whose progenitors had left the comfort and security of merry England to encounter the toils and hardship of a colonial life. The teachers seem to have acted rigidly on the precept of a Spartan king, that the boy should be instructed in the arts likely to be useful to the man. If, on leaving school, the hopeful youths could read with decent correctness, write a tolerable hand, and keep accounts intelligibly, what more was wanting to capacitate them for growing tobacco and shipping it, to be disposed of by the commercial magnates who, arrayed in scarlet cloaks and flowing periwigs, paced, with haughty step and unvailed pride, the arched Exchange of Glasgow? Young men destined for learned professions were, it is true, generally sent to be educated in England; for others a private tutor was sometimes engaged; but in most cases the juvenile Virginians shouldered their satchels, and, picking up the wild grapes in their path, marched to the nearest hamlet to make the best of such tuition as it boasted of. Such, at all events, was the fortune of Washington. Under these disadvantageous circumstances, he pursued his simple studies with unusual vigor and exemplary diligence. At the age of thirteen, he strangely occupied much of his attention with the dry forms used in mercantile transactions. He practiced his skill in the writing of bonds, indentures, bills of exchange, and other deeds, compiled for his own use and guidance a code of rules for behavior in company and conversation, and transcribed such pieces of poetry as touched and charmed his fancy. From a boy, he was peculiarly careful to polish his manners, to cherish the heart’s best affections, to do to others as he would be done to, and to exercise such a habitual control over himself, that he might restrain his constitutional ardor and hold his natural susceptibility in check. His early compositions were not, from the imperfect nature of his education, distinguished by grammatical correctness; but, by reading and perseverance, he gradually overcame these defects, and learned to express himself with force, clearness, and propriety. He had a decided turn for mathematical studies; and the last years of his school career were devoted to the mysteries of geometry, trigonometry, and surveying. For the last he felt a singular partiality; and he gratified the taste by measuring the neighboring fields and plantations, entering all the details and particulars in his note-books. This was done with systematic precision; he used his pen with the most scrupulous care, and acquired habits which were of inestimable value when he ascended to posts of peril and responsibility.

Meantime, his father had been cut off in the prime of life; but this early deprivation was, in Washington’s case, almost counteracted by the character of his surviving parent, who, being a woman of sense, tenderness, vigilance, a strong mind, and prudent management, reared her family with the utmost discretion and success. She had the satisfaction of living to witness the splendid position to which the abilities, conduct, and energy of her son ultimately elevated him.

Washington went no longer to school after his sixteenth year. His relations had previously entertained the intention of entering him as a midshipman in the navy; and with this view had successfully exerted their influence to procure him a warrant. It appears that the future hero of a continent joyfully acquiesced in this scheme for his advancement in life; and had it been persisted in, he would no doubt have borne himself with credit and distinction. This was unquestionably a critical juncture in his career, and in the history of America; but it was terminated, imprudently in the opinion of his friends, by the interference of his widowed mother, who little relished the thought of her darling being sent “to rough it out at sea.” She therefore authoritatively forbade his departure. Perhaps the incipient hero was not altogether disconsolate at the maternal veto being thus exercised; for about this date he proved himself not insensible to the magic power of female grace, and became vehemently enamored of some rural beauty. He celebrated her perfections in love-ditties, and confessed his pangs in letters to a confident; but, with a modesty surely rare under such circumstances, he ventured not to reveal the state of his agitated heart to the fair being whose image was stamped on its tablets.

At this period, Washington was fortunate enough to go on a visit to his eldest brother, Lawrence. That gentleman was intelligent and accomplished. He had served with honor in the expedition made, in 1740, against Carthagena; and secured the esteem and intimacy of the high-spirited Admiral Vernon. On returning home he had, in compliment to that gallant officer, named his property Mount Vernon; and they still continued in friendly communication. He had, moreover, become a member of the Colonial legislature, and connected himself by marriage with Lord Fairfax, who, having in earlier days proved his capacity by writing papers in the “Spectator,” had just crossed the Atlantic to explore and examine the immense tract of land that belonged to him in the New World. Thus the company in which the elder Washington moved was by no means deficient in literary culture or patrician refinement; and his sagacious brother, in mixing with it, had opened up to his view aspects of society with which he might otherwise have remained unacquainted. He was too wise not to avail himself of the advantage in this way presented to his opening mind. Slow to speak, ready to hear, and anxious to understand, he used it to counterpoise the partial training his mental faculties had undergone, and thus laid the foundation of the mild dignity and scrupulous politeness which, in other days, made Sir Robert Liston declare, that he had never conversed with a better-bred sovereign in any court of Europe.

Lord Fairfax, on reaching his wild and uncultivated possessions, found that settlers were quietly making their way up the rivers, selecting the most valuable spots, and occupying them without leave or license. It was, therefore, deemed necessary that his seignorial rights should be asserted; and with that object he determined on having the lands properly lotted and measured, preparatory to claiming rents and giving titles. The destined victor in the War of Independence had already been presented to this clever, but eccentric, representative of the renowned Parliamentary general; a favorable opinion had, in consequence, been formed of the youth’s merits and ability; and Washington being intrusted with the responsible duty, and attended by a kinsman of his lordship, sallied forth on his first surveying excursion in the beginning of 1748. The task was arduous and fatiguing; he was frequently obliged to pass whole nights under the cold sky, or in tents which afforded little shelter against the wintery wind and rain: but the expedition was not without beneficial results. He became conversant with localities then little known, but afterward the field of his military operations; he saw something of Indian life, witnessed an Indian war-dance, and acquired some acquaintance with the habits of the race upon which the spirit of civilization was bearing so hard. Besides, he executed his task with so much success, as not only to give complete satisfaction to his noble employer, but to establish his character as an excellent surveyor; a matter of considerable consequence, as there were then few in the district, and the emoluments were temptingly high. He therefore procured a commission, which gave authority to his operations, and entitled him to have their results entered in the provincial registers. By activity and diligence his occupation was rendered very lucrative; and on attaining the age of nineteen he had achieved so enviable a place in public esteem, that a most honorable military appointment was bestowed upon him by the Government on the approach of danger.

His taste for martial affairs had, indeed, been adhered to with resolution, and cultivated with assiduity. Since acting as a surveyor, he had resided chiefly with his brother, whose house was more conveniently situated for his exertions than was the home of his infancy; and he had, from this cause, been brought more into contact, than he would otherwise have been, with men versed in military matters. Under their instruction he had industriously practiced himself in sword exercise, and become not inexpert. Besides, he had eagerly studied books treating of the art of war. The early aspirations of great men are generally met with ridicule. “_Obsta principiis_” is too often the motto of jealous dunces. When the author of “Marmion” proposed in youth to compose his “War-Song of the Edinburgh Light Dragoons,” the idea of his attempting such a thing raised coarse laughter, and was regarded as a piece of absurdity; and, in like manner, it is not difficult to imagine the brisk tittering excited by the efforts of the young colonial surveyor to initiate himself into handling the weapons and understanding the theory of war.

But however that may have been, it came to pass that, in 1751, when there appeared a prospect of encroachment on the part of the French, and it was deemed prudent to embody the militia to defend and protect the frontiers, Washington received a commission as Adjutant-General of one of the districts into which Virginia was divided. This entitled him to rank as major; and his duty was to assemble and exercise the local troops, inspect their arms, and maintain fitting discipline; no unworthy training for that military genius which subsequently accomplished so much for the land of his nativity. Then, as afterward, candor, sincerity, and straightforwardness were the characteristics of his noble mind. He had been eminently endowed by Nature with the qualities which form a ruler of men; and perhaps the training which he now underwent was, in reality, more favorable than any of a more regular and systematic kind would have been to the working out of his peculiar destiny.

About this period, Washington was withdrawn for a brief season from the sphere of his new duties. The health of his brother became so precarious, that medical advisers recommended an excursion to a different climate; and the company of some kind friend being required to cheer and sustain the invalid on his voyage, the fraternal affection of the boy-major prompted him to undertake the office. The atmosphere of a West India island being considered most likely to act as a restorative, Barbadoes was fixed upon. During the voyage thither, Washington busily occupied himself with making observations and increasing his knowledge; and on an October day they arrived at their destination.

Hardly could any prospect be more pleasing than that which arrested the eyes of the travelers, as, after being confined for five tedious weeks to the narrow limits of a trader, they anchored in the bay, the stillness of whose waters was only broken by the sailing of the dreaded shark, or by the tropical breeze which played lightly around, and gratefully modified the warmth of the sun, as it descended with merciless glow upon their strawy head-pieces. Before them lay the chief town, circling around the silver strand, and shrouded in palm trees that fringed the blue waters of the ocean. In the background, fields of the sugar-cane, planters’ airy mansions, the tall windmills, and the negro-huts bosomed in the evergreen and luxuriant foliage of the tropics――having the appearance of scattered villages――presented a scene, picturesque, attractive, and promising delightful journeys to the curious stranger. Nor was Washington disappointed in that respect. Every thing came under his notice, and enlisted his sagacious reflection. The soil, methods of culture, and the agricultural productions, engaged his attention no less than the manners of the inhabitants, their military force, their form of government, and their municipal institutions. While thus profitably employed he was laid prostrate by a sharp attack of small-pox, which confined him to the house for weeks; but with skillful medical treatment he was released from this doubly-dull durance, and enabled to resume his habits of gaining experience and collecting information.

Meantime the health of his brother had, at first, improved rapidly. Change of air and novelty of scene had produced a salutary impression; they invigorated his frame and revived his spirits: but the symptoms of decay speedily re-appearing he proceeded to Bermuda. Washington then embarked for Virginia, to execute the kindly duty of conducting his sister-in-law to her expiring husband; but ere arrangements could be made for that purpose, the latter was on the sea, and he soon after breathed his last under his own roof. The melancholy task of attending to the affairs of a departed relative, so near and dear, now devolved upon Washington, and for months he applied to the estate the sound sense and accurate investigation which ever characterized the great self-taught soldier and statesman in dealing with weightier affairs.

In the interval the sphere of his public duties had been enlarged and extended. The colony had, for purposes of defense, been divided into four grand districts; Washington’s commission was then renewed, and the northern portion was confided to his steady care and untiring vigilance. This included several counties, each of which he had to visit periodically. The duties were quite in harmony with his taste and temper, and he discharged them with an energy and an enthusiasm which were not lost on those over whom he was appointed to exercise control, and among whom he had to insure discipline. Still he had not arrived even at that time of life when the generality of mortals are charitably supposed to have reached “years of discretion.”

Events were now speeding to a crisis. Intelligence arrived that the French had crossed the lakes from Canada, and were preparing to establish posts and fortifications on the Ohio river. On receiving these alarming reports, the Virginian governor, having resolved to send an officer commissioned to inquire by what right they thus intruded on the English dominions, selected Washington, as peculiarly fitted to execute the duty with faith, discretion, and delicacy. Accordingly, about the close of 1753, he departed with suitable credentials and the requisite powers from Williamsburg, the seat of government; and with a retinue of eight persons, two of whom were to act as interpreters, he, after much toil and trouble, arrived at the French head-quarters. There he was courteously received and entertained by the commandant, a Knight of the Order of St. Louis. Immediate attention was promised to the subject of his mission, and in due time an answer, indicative of firmness and hostility, was granted to the remonstrance of his excellency the governor. Washington then retraced his steps, through trackless forests, over rugged mountains, and by swollen floods; making several hair-breadth escapes by land and water. During the expedition he had found frequent opportunities of extending his knowledge of Indian manners and customs; and he had been escorted to the French camp by an influential personage, bearing the title of “Half King.” While returning, his journey was agreeably diversified by a visit to Queen Alliquippa, an Indian princess; no doubt, like the charming but hapless Yarico, appareled in beautiful shells, and possessed of wild graces. She maintained her state at the junction of two rivers, and had expressed her displeasure at the representative of the British king having failed to show her any proper mark of respect on his way out; but a polite apology and a substantial present soothed her wounded pride and ruffled dignity, and secured the young envoy a gracious dismissal. Twelve months later the dusky sovereign lady was under the necessity of placing herself and her son under his protection, when driven from her royal residence by the French troops.

After an absence of three months, Washington presented himself to the governor, and reported the result of his mission. In order to fire the patriotic enthusiasm of the colonists, the journal of his adventures was forthwith published. It appeared in all the provincial papers, and was reprinted in England by order of the government.

War was now imminent, and preparations were imperative upon the authorities. The governor was a wary Caledonian, and surrounded by a knot of his countrymen, who took care that in his appointments he did full justice to their claims; but, at the same time, he exhibited much zeal for the honor of the vice-regal office, and becoming ardor for the dignity of the British Crown. His schemes were, however, subject to be provokingly thwarted by the members of the local legislature, who manifested a republican spirit by no means agreeable to his loyal and patriotic sentiments. Hence he found considerable difficulty in making such arrangements for defense as he deemed necessary for the safety of English interests. Nevertheless, he succeeded in embodying a force to repel the invaders; and Washington having already, by his high courage and admirable conduct, proved his rare capacity for military business, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and nominated second in command. He immediately marched, with his new authority, to the Alleghany Mountains, and being joined by parties of those Indians who were favorable to the English, he commenced skirmishing with the enemy. In one sharp fray the leader of the hostile party was killed, and his men forced to yield. But in another encounter, at a place known as the Great Meadows, where he had thrown up an intrenchment, and called it Fort Necessity, Washington was, after a conflict of nine hours, obliged to capitulate. Then marching out, with flying colors and drums beating, he retreated to Williamsburg. His praiseworthy conduct during the campaign elicited high applause from the governor, and was rewarded with public thanks, conveyed through the House of Assembly. Next year he found himself in a somewhat awkward predicament. The forces being organized on a new system, he had to choose between being reduced to the rank of captain, and placed under officers whom he had previously commanded, or leaving the army. Without hesitation he resigned his commission, and spent the winter in retirement.