The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

568 MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION. [APPEND[X.
No. IV.
CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON;
DESIGNED FOR A MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION.*
WASHINGTON,
The Defender of his Country, the Founder of Liberty,
The Friend of Man.
History and Tradition are explored in vain
For a Parallel to his Character.
In the Annals of modern Greatness,
He stands alone,
And the noblest Names of Antiquity
Lose their Lustre in his Presence.
Born the Benefactor of Mankind,
He united all the Qualities necessary
To an Illustrious Career.
Nature made him Great,
He made himself Virtuous.
Called by his Country to the Defence of her Liberties,
He triumphantly vindicated the Rights of Humanity,
And on the Pillars of National Independence
Laid the Foundations of a Great Republic.
Twice invested with Supreme Magistracy
By the Unanimous Voice of a Free People,
He surpassed in the Cabinet
The Glories of the Field,
And, voluntarily resigning the Sceptre and the Sword
Retired to the Shades of Private Life.
A Spectacle so new and so sublime
Was contemplated with the profoundest Admiration;
And the Name of WASHINGTON,
Adding new Lustre to Humanity,
Resounded to the remotest Regions of the Earth.
Magnanimous in Youth,
Glorious through Life,
Great in Death,
His highest Ambition the Happiness of Mankind,
His noblest Victory the Conquest of himself,
Bequeathing to Posterity the Inheritance of his Fame,
And building his Monument in the Hearts of his Countrymen,
He lived the Ornament of the Eighteenth Century,
He died regretted by a mourning World.
* The author of this composition is not known. It has been transcribed
from a manuscript copy, written on the back of a picture-frame, in which
is set a miniature likeness of Washington, and which hangs in one of the
rooms of the mansion at Mount Vernon, having been left there some time
after' Washington's death.