and others of great dignity and purity of character. The lives of
such men have become part of the public life of England, and their
deeds and thoughts are regarded as among the most cherished
bequeathments from the past.

So Washington left behind him, as one of the greatest treasures of
his country, the example of a stainless life--of a great, honest,
pure, and noble character--a model for his nation to form
themselves by in all time to come. And in the case of Washington,
as in so many other great leaders of men, his greatness did not so
much consist in his intellect, his skill, and his genius, as in
his honour, his integrity, his truthfulness, his high and
controlling sense of duty--in a word, in his genuine nobility
of character.

Men such as these are the true lifeblood of the country to which
they belong. They elevate and uphold it, fortify and ennoble it,
and shed a glory over it by the example of life and character
which they have bequeathed. "The names and memories of great
men," says an able writer, "are the dowry of a nation. Widowhood,
overthrow, desertion, even slavery, cannot take away from her this
sacred inheritance.... Whenever national life begins to
quicken.... the dead heroes rise in the memories of men, and
appear to the living to stand by in solemn spectatorship and
approval. No country can be lost which feels herself overlooked
by such glorious witnesses. They are the salt of the earth, in
death as well as in life. What they did once, their descendants
have still and always a right to do after them; and their example
lives in their country, a continual stimulant and encouragement
for him who has the soul to adopt it." (20)