rated with a veneration
amounting to the deepest awe. Nor was this the feeling of a schoolboy
only; it pervaded, I believe, every human being that approached
Washington; and I have been told that, even in his social and convivial
hours, this feeling, in those who were honored to share them, never
suffered intermission. I saw him a hundred times afterward, but never
with any other than that same feeling. The Almighty, who raised up for
our hour of need a man so peculiarly prepared for its whole dread
responsibility, seems to have put an impress of sacredness upon His own
instrument. The first sight of the man struck the heart with involuntary
homage, and prepared everything around him to obey. When he 'addressed
himself to speak,' there was an unconscious suspension of the breath,
while every eye was raised in expectation.

"The president, having seated himself, remained in silence, serenely
contemplating the legislature before him, whose members now resumed
their seats, waiting for the speech. No house of worship, in the most
solemn pauses of devotion, was ever more profoundly still than that
large and crowded chamber.

"Washington was dressed precisely as Stuart has painted him in Lord
Lansdowne's full-length portrait--in a full suit of the richest black
velvet, with diamond knee-buckles, and square silver buckles set upon
shoes japanned with the most scrupulous neatness, black silk stockings,
his shirt ruffled at the breast and wrists, a light dress-sword; his
hair profusely powdered, fully dressed, so as to project at the sides,
and gathered behind in a silk bag, ornamented with a large rose of black
riband. He held his cocked hat, which had a large black cockade on one
side of it, in his hand, as he advanced toward the chair, and when
seated, laid it on the table.

"At length, thrusting his hand within the side of his coat, he drew
forth a roll of manuscript, which he opened, and rising held it in his
hand, while, in a rich, deep, full, sonorous voice, he read his opening
address to Congress. His enunciation was deliberate, justly emphasized,
very distinct, and accompanied with an air of deep solemnity, as being
the utterance of a mind profoundly impressed with the dignity of the act
in which it was occupied, conscious of the whole responsibility of its
position and action, but not oppressed by it."

[43] This was George A. Washington, to whom had been intrusted the
management of affairs at Mount Vernon during t