all his bias towards good; and when he had grown to mature years,
while acting as ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburg, he
referred to her noble example and precepts as the ruling
influence in his life.

One of the most charming features in the character of Samuel
Johnson, notwithstanding his rough and shaggy exterior, was the
tenderness with which he invariably spoke of his mother (5)--a
woman of strong understanding, who firmly implanted in his mind,
as he himself acknowledges, his first impressions of religion. He
was accustomed, even in the time of his greatest difficulties, to
contribute largely, out of his slender means, to her comfort; and
one of his last acts of filial duty was to write 'Rasselas'
for the purpose of paying her little debts and defraying
her funeral charges.

George Washington was only eleven years of age--the eldest of
five children--when his father died, leaving his mother a widow.
She was a woman of rare excellence--full of resources, a good
woman of business, an excellent manager, and possessed of much
strength of character. She had her children to educate and bring
up, a large household to govern, and extensive estates to manage,
all of which she accomplished with complete success. Her good
sense, assiduity, tenderness, industry, and vigilance, enabled her
to overcome every obstacle; and as the richest reward of her
solicitude and toil, she had the happiness to see all her children
come forward with a fair promise into life, filling the spheres
allotted to them in a manner equally honourable to themselves, and
to the parent who had been the only guide of their, principles,
conduct, and habits. (6)