or is so
universally esteemed. Throughout the South, all agree in
pronouncing him as near perfection as man can be. He has none of
the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, chewing, or swearing;
and his bitterest enemy never accused him of any of the greater
ones. He generally wears a well-worn, long gray jacket, a high
black-felt hat, and blue trousers, tucked into his Wellington
boots. I never saw him carry arms, and the only marks of his
military rank are the three stars on his collar. He rides a
handsome horse, which is extremely well governed. He himself is
very neat in his dress and person, and in the most arduous marches
he always looks smart and clean.... It is understood that General
Lee is a religious man, though not so demonstrative in that
respect as Jackson, and, unlike his late brother-in-arms, he is a
member of the Church of England. His only faults, so far as I can
learn, arise from his excessive amiability."

This personal description is entirely correct, except that the word
"jacket" conveys a somewhat erroneous idea of Lee's undress uniform
coat, and his hat was generally gray. Otherwise, the sketch is exactly
accurate, and is here presented as the unprejudiced description and
estimate of a foreign gentleman, who had no inducement, such as might
be attributed to a Southern writer, to overcolor his portrait. Such,
in personal appearance, was the leader of the Southern army--a plain
soldier, in a plain dress, without arms, with slight indications of
rank, courteous, full of dignity, a "perfect gentleman," and with no
fault save an "excessive amiability." The figure is attractive to the
eye--it excited the admiration of a foreign officer, and remains in
many memories now, when the sound of battle is hushed, and the great
leader, in turn, has finished his life-battle and lain down in peace.

The movements of the two armies were soon resumed, and we shall
briefly follow those movements, which led the adversaries back to the
Rappahannock.

Lee appears to have conceived the design, after crossing the Potomac
at Williamsport, to pass the Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge, and
thus place himself in the path of General Meade if he crossed east
of the mountain, or threaten Washington. This appears from his own
statement. "Owing," he says, "to the swollen condition of _the
Shenandoah River, the plan of operations which had been contemplated
when