Soon after going to live for a season at Wakefield with Augustine, I
began to take myself more seriously than is common in boys of my age.
I believe I have all my life been regarded as grave and reserved,
although, in fact, a part of this was due to a certain shyness, which
I never entirely overcame, and of which I have already written. My
new schoolmaster, Mr. Williams, gave me a book which I still have,
and which here, and later at Mount Vernon, was of use to me. It was
called the “Youth’s Companion.” It contained receipts, directions for
conduct and manners, how to write letters, and, what most pleased me,
methods of surveying land by Gunter’s rule, and all manner of problems
in arithmetic and mathematics, as well as methods of writing deeds and
conveyances. Young as I was, it suited well the practical side of my
nature; for how to do things, and the doing of them so as to reach
practical results, have never ceased to please me.
My mother’s natural desire for my presence wore out the patience of
Augustine, and I was at last, after some months (but I do not remember
exactly how long), sent back to her and to a school kept by the Rev.
James Marye, a gentleman of Huguenot descent, at Fredericksburg, and
from whom I might have learned French. My father had been desirous,
I know not why, that I should learn that language; but this I never
did, to my regret. I should have been saved some calumny, as I shall
mention, and later also inconvenience, when I had to deal with French
officers during the great war. I had then to make use of Mr. Duponceau
and of Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Wynne of my staff, but had been better
served by G. W. had I known the French tongue.
I was at this time about fourteen, and was, as I said, a rather grave
lad. I was industrious as to what I liked, but fond of horses and the
chase, and was big of my years, masterful, and of more than common
bodily strength.
I was not more unfortunate than most other young Virginians in regard
to education. Governor Spottiswood, as I have heard, found no members
of the majority in the House who could spell correctly or write so as
to state clearly their grievances. There were persons, like the late
Colonel Byrd, who were exceptions, but these were usually such as had
been abroad. Patrick Henry, long after this time, observed to my sister
that, even if we Virginians had little education, Mother Wit was better
than Mother Country, for the gentlemen who came back brought home more
vices than virtues. In fact, this may have been my father’s opinion;
for, although he sent Lawrence and Augustine to the Appleby School in
England, he would not allow of any long residence in London, where, he
said, “men’s manners are finished, but so, too, are their virtues.”
For a few months in the next year I spent about half of the time with
my mother. While there I studied, as before, at the school kept by
the Rev. Mr. Marye. The rest of the time was spent in the company of
Lawrence and his lady at Mount Vernon.
Lawrence was a tall man, narrow-chested, and less vigorous than
Augustine. He was, however, fond of the chase and fox-hunting, and had
books in larger number than was usual among planters. I remember him
as very pleasing in his ways, and possessed of a certain reserve and
gravity of demeanour, which, as my sister Betty Lewis remarked, made
his rare expressions of affection more valuable.
He seemed to me the finest gentleman I ever knew, and I took to
imitating him as my model, as I had done Augustine, which was at times
matter for mirth to Anne, his wife. No doubt it seemed ridiculous, but
it was, I do believe, of use to me.
As I write, I recall with unceasing gratitude the great debt I owe to
my brother’s care of me at this period of my life. I was encouraged
when I was at Mount Vernon――as I was then for a time away from
school――to keep up my studies, and I remember that I fell again with
satisfaction upon the manual I just now spoke of. It is still in my
possession, and my wife’s children once made themselves uncommon merry
over the ill-made pictures I drew on the blank pages; but it was of use
to me as no other book ever was.
I was early made to understand that I must do something to support
myself. The few acres on the river Rappahannock were not to be mine
until I became of age, and until then were my mother’s; indeed, I never
took them from her. My brother disapproved of the easy, loose life
of the younger sons of planters, and, of course, trade was not to be
considered, nor to work as a clerk; and yet, without care, accuracy,
and such business capacity as is needed by merchants, no man can hope
to be successful, either as a planter or even in warfare.
Ever since I had been at Mr. Williams’s school, I had a liking for the
surveying of land, and had later been allowed to further inform myself
by attending upon Mr. Genn, the official surveyor of Westmoreland, a
man very honest and most accurate. Indeed, I had so well learned this
business that I became, to my great joy, of use to Lawrence and some of
his neighbours, especially to William Fairfax, who had at first much
doubt as to how far my skill might be trusted.
Meanwhile various occupations for me were considered and discussed by
my elders. The sea was less favoured in Virginia than at the North; but
many captains of merchant ships were in those days, like my father,
of the better class, and my brothers, who saw in me no great promise,
believed that if I went to sea as a sailor I might be helped in time to
a ship, and have my share in the prosperous London trade.
Like many boys, I inclined to this life. I remind myself of it here
because it has been said that I was intended at this time to serve the
king as a midshipman, which was never the case. Meanwhile,――for this
was an affair long talked about,――my mother’s brother, Joseph Ball,
wrote to her from London, May 19, 1746, that the sea was a dog’s life,
and, unless a lad had great influence, was a poor affair, and the
navy no better. Upon this my mother wrote, offering various trifling
objections, and at last hurried to Mount Vernon, and so prevailed by
her tears that my small chest was brought back to land from a ship in
the river.
My brother Lawrence comforted me in my disappointment, saying there
were many roads in life, and that only one had been barred. I remember
that I burst into tears, when once I was alone, and rushed off to
the stables and got a horse, and rode away at a great pace. This
has always done me good, and, somehow, settled my mind; for I have
never felt, as I believe a Latin writer said, that care sits behind a
horseman. I jolted mine off, but for days would not have any one talk
to me of the matter. Even as a lad, I had unwillingness to recur to a
thing when once it was concluded, and that is so to this day.