Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1855-06-16
MISCELLANEOUS.
49, M From Irving's Life of Washington.
wASRINGTON'S LOVE AFFAIRS.

In one oil these manuscript memorials OIL
his practical studies and exercises, we have
come upon some documents sIngularly in
contrast with all that we have iust cited
and with his apparently unromantic char
acter. In a word there are evidences in
his Ntyn handwriting that, before he was
fifteen wears Of age, lie had conceived a
passion for some unknown beauty, SO ser:-
Gus as TO disturb his otherwise well regula-
TED mind and to make him really unliap-
I Ply Why this juvenile attachment was a
source of uhhappiness. we have no posi-
tive means of ascertaining. Perhaps the
object Of it may have considered him a
mere school-boy and treated him as such;
Oh his own shyness may have been in his
way, and his "rules for behaviour and
conversation" may as vet have sat awk-
waldly on him and rendered him formal
and ungainy when he most sought to
please. Evenain latter years he was apt
to be silent and embarrassed in female So
ciety. lie was a very bashful young
man, said an Old lady whom he used to
10 visit when they were both in their non
age. 81 used Often to wish that he would
talk more" 55tre a5gd Sd @aeEf ssa
Whatever may have been the reason,
this early attachme ut seems TO have been a
source of poignant discomfort to him.
Ii clung to him after he took final leave
of school in the autumn OF l747, and went
to reside with his brother Lawrence at
Mount Vernon. Here he continued his
mathematical studies and his practice in
surveying, disturbed at times by recurren-
ces of his uulucky passion. Though by no
means of a poeticale temperament. the
waste pages Of his journal betray several
attempts to pour forth his amorous sorrows
in verse. They are mere common place
rhymes, such as lovers at his age are apt
to write, in which he bewais his poor
restless heart wounded by Cupid's dart. I"
and bleeding for one who remains pitiless
of his grieis and woes" 80 SO. 81
The tenor of some of his verses induces
US TO believe that he never told his love,
but as we have already surmised, was pre-
vented by his bashfulness. ..
"ah, wo is me, that should love and conceal
Long have lwished, and never dare reveal Z
II is difficult 10 reconcile ones self to the
idea Of the cool and sedatei Washington
the great champion Of American liberty, q
woe worn lover inl his youthful days
"sighiug like furnace and inditing plan
tive verses about the groves OF Mount
Vernon. We are glad OF an opportunity
however, of penetrating to his native feel
| ings. aud finding that under his steady de-
corum and reserve he had heart of flesh
throbbing with the warm impulses OF hu-
man nature. - - -
The merits Of Washington were known
and appreciated by the Fairfax family
Though not quite sixteen years Of age he
no longer seemed boy, nor was he tfea-
ted as such. Tall, athletic and manly for
his years. his early self training and the
code Of conduct he had devised, gave q
gravity and decision to his conduct his
frankness and m0desty inspired cordial re-
gard; aud the melancholy Of which be
speaks may have produced softness in
his manner calculated TO win favor in Ia
dies eyes. According to his own account
the female society by which he was sur
rounded had soothing effect on that mel
ancholy. The charms Of Miss Cary, the
sister Of the bride, seem eSen to have eau
sed a slight fluttering in his bosom; which
however, was constantly rehuked by the
remembrance of his former passion--so al
least we judge from letters to his youth
| full confdants. rough drafts of which are
still 70 be seen in his tell-tale journal.
To one whom he addresses as his
dear friend Robin. he writes; my resi-
dence is at present at his lordship's, where
might. was my heart disengaged, pass
my time very pleasantly, as there's very
agreeable young lady living in the same
house (Col. George Fairfax's w,te's sister,
but as that's only adding fuel to fire. it
max &C lne the more uneasy. for by often
and uuavoidably being in company with
her. fevives my former passion for your
Lowland Beauty; whereas, was ! TO live
more retired from Dung women, might
IN some measure alleviate my sorrows by