resulting in favor of the Union.

"On the general's announcement of his opinion that the Union would
triumph, Mr. Seward, rubbing his hands, inquired, 'Well, general, then
the troubles of the Federal Government will be at an end.' To which
General Scott replied, 'No, gentlemen, for a long time thereafter it
will require the exercise of the full powers of the Federal Government
to restrain the fury of the noncombatants.'"

To a young army officer he gave the following advice: "You are now
beginning life; you are ignorant of society and of yourself. You
appear to be industrious and studious enough to fit yourself for high
exploits in your profession, and your next object should be to make
yourself a perfect man of the world. To do that you must carefully
observe well-bred men. You must also learn to converse and to express
your thoughts in proper language. You must make acquaintances among
the best people, and take care always to be respectful to old persons
and to ladies." General Scott was always extremely gallant and
courteous to ladies and greatly enjoyed the society of intelligent and
refined women. As stated in the early part of this work, General Scott
had been an industrious student of the law, and the knowledge thus
acquired was of great service to him throughout his eventful career.
He was well read in the standard English authors--Shakespeare, Milton,
Addison, Pope, Johnson, Goldsmith, Dryden, Hume, Gibbon, and the early
English novelists. He was a constant reader of the best foreign and
American periodicals and the leading newspapers of the day. He was of
the opinion that wars would never cease, and therefore took little
interest in peace societies.

He held the opinion that the study of the higher mathematics had a
tendency to lessen the ability to move armies in the field, yet
expressed regret that he had not in his youth given more study to the
subject. He was very fond of whist, but was quite irritated when he
was beaten and generally had a ready excuse for his defeat. On one
occasion he was playing a very close game, in the midst of which he
left the table to expectorate in the fireplace. He lost the game and
said to one of the party, "Young gentleman, do you know why I lost
that game?" "No, sir," was the response. "It was because I got up to
spit." Scott was also a good chess player.

He used tobacco somewhat excessively until the close of the Mexican
War, after which time he renounced its use entire