ity. Mr. Sparks has written extensively on American history and
biography, including the lives of Washington and Franklin. He collected
the materials for his biographies with great care, and wrought them up
with much skill.
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The person of Washington was commanding, graceful, and fitly proportioned;
his stature six feet, his chest broad and full, his limbs long and
somewhat slender, but well-shaped and muscular. His features were regular
and symmetrical, his eyes of a light blue color, and his whole
countenance, in its quiet state, was grave, placid, and benignant. When
alone, or not engaged in conversation, he appeared sedate and thoughtful;
but when his attention was excited, his eye kindled quickly, and his face
beamed with animation and intelligence.

He was not fluent in speech, but what he said was apposite, and listened
to with the more interest as being known to come from the heart. He seldom
attempted sallies of wit or humor, but no man received more pleasure from
an exhibition of them by others; and, although contented in seclusion, he
sought his chief happiness in society, and participated with delight in
all its rational and innocent amusements. Without austerity on the one
hand, or an appearance of condescending familiarity on the other, he was
affable, courteous, and cheerful; but it has often been remarked that
there was a dignity in his person and manner not easy to be defined, which
impressed everyone that saw him for the first time with an instinctive
deference and awe. This may have arisen, in part, from a conviction of his
superiority, as well as from the effect produced by his external form and
deportment.

The character of his mind was unfolded in the public and private acts of
his life; and the proofs of his greatness are seen almost as much in the
one as the other. The same qualities which raised him to the ascendency he
possessed over the will of a nation, as the commander of armies and chief
magistrate, caused him to be loved and respected as an individual. Wisdom,
judgment, prudence, and firmness were his predominant traits. No man ever
saw more clearly the relative importance of things and actions, or
divested himself more entirely of the bias of personal interest,
partiality, and prejudice, in discriminating between the true and the
false, the right and the wrong, in all questions and subjects that were
presented to him. He deliberated slowly, but decided surely; and when his
decisio