difficult to persuade Ned that he has a 'fine countenance'! He is the
soul of modesty as he is the soul of truth and honor." He stopped and
looked affectionately at young Calvert, who was still beside Madame
Carr, unconscious of the close scrutiny he was undergoing. "I hardly
know how to describe him to you," continued Mr. Jefferson, meditatively.
"His is a noble and lovable character. I never look at him but these
lines from Horace come to my mind--'_Quam desederio sit pudor aut modus
tam cari capitis'_! I can only say that had I been blessed with a son,"
and he sighed as he spoke, "I would have wished him to be like Edward
Calvert, and, believe me, 'tis not partiality that makes me speak of him
in such fashion. General Washington and Colonel Hamilton and Monsieur de
Lafayette, under whom he served at Yorktown, hold him as I do. Gentle
and tractable as he is, the lad has plenty of spirit, and ran away from
the College of New Jersey in 1780, where he had been matriculated but
two months, and, presenting himself to his guardian and friend, General
Washington, begged to be permitted to fight for his country. He was
scarce fifteen, and Dr. Witherspoon, whom, as you doubtless know, our
good friend Henry Laurens persuaded to leave Edinburgh to take charge of
the College at Princeton, violently opposed his abandoning his studies,
but the young man was determined, and was finally commissioned as an
aide to General Lafayette. He was of particular service to both
Lafayette and Rochambeau, as he understands and speaks the French
language excellently, having studied it since childhood and speaking
much with a French tutor whom he had for some years. He is to return to
the College of Princeton in the fall of this year, and finish his
studies. For though he will be nineteen years of age when he enters, yet
such is his determination to get the college education which his service
to his country interrupted, that he is resolved to recommence now at the
age when most youths have finished their studies. And if at the end of
his college course my duties still detain me abroad, 'tis my intention