of this biography, was born on the 22d
of February (11th, O. S.), 1732, in the homestead on Bridges Creek.
This house commanded a view over many miles of the Potomac, and the
opposite shore of Maryland. Not a vestige of it remains. Two or three
decayed fig trees, with shrubs and vines, linger about the place, and
here and there a flower grown wild serves "to mark where a garden has
been." Such at least, was the case a few years since; but these may
have likewise passed away. A stone marks the site of the house, and an
inscription denotes its being the birthplace of Washington.

Not long after the birth of George, his father removed to an estate in
Stafford County, opposite Fredericksburg. The house stood on a rising
ground overlooking a meadow which bordered the Rappahannock. This was
the home of George's boyhood; but this, like that in which he was
born, has disappeared.

In those days the means of instruction in Virginia were limited, and
it was the custom among the wealthy planters to send their sons to
England to complete their education. This was done by Augustine
Washington with his eldest son Lawrence. George, as his intellect
dawned, received the rudiments of education in the best establishment
for the purpose that the neighborhood afforded. It was what was
called, in popular parlance, an "old field school-house;" humble
enough in its pretensions, and kept by one of his father's tenants
named Hobby. The instruction doled out by him must have been the
simplest kind, reading, writing, and ciphering, perhaps; but George
had the benefit of mental and moral culture at home, from an excellent
father. When he was about seven or eight years old his brother
Lawrence returned from England, a well-educated and accomplished
youth. There was a difference of fourteen years in their ages, which
may have been one cause of the strong attachment which took place
between them. Lawrence looked down with a protecting eye upon the boy
whose dawning intelligence and perfect rectitude won his regard; while
George looked up to his manly and cultivated brother as a model in
mind and manners.

Lawrence Washington had something of the old military spirit of the
family, and circumstances soon called it into action. Spanish
depredations on British commerce had recently provoked reprisals.
Admiral Vernon, commander-in-chief in the West Indies, had accordingly
captured Porto Bello, on the Isthmus of Darien. The Spaniards were
preparing to