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him. A few words are all that we can devote to the military powers of this great captain; and they are, indeed, superfluous, for their best monument is the battle-fields of the American War. It may be said, however, that Lee has a place in the foremost rank of modern strategists; he possessed in the very highest degree ability for the great operations of war; few generals have ever, in Colonel Hamley's phrase, 'interpreted the theatre' with equal insight and known as well how to turn it to account; and no one certainly since the time of Napoleon has conquered against such immense odds, and has so long and fiercely disputed the prize of victory with failing resources. His combinations, indeed, bear a striking resemblance in many particulars to those of the emperor; like him, he gained astonishing success by the well-planned use of interior lines and bold movements against divided foes; like him, he avoided the timid system of passive defense as a general rule, and seemed the assailant, though on the defensive; like him, he possessed a fund of resources in his own genius which effected wonders; like him, too, he was swift and terible in availing himself of the mistakes of an enemy. Thus it has happened that his campaigns have much in common with those of Napoleon, and fascinate the reader for the same reasons. They exhibit the triumph of profound intelligence, of calculation, and of well-employed force over numbers, slowness, and disunited counsels, like those of 1796 and 1814; and his victory on the Chickahominy in 1862, and the outmanœuvring of Grant in 1864, may fitly compare with Arcola or Rivoli and with the immortal struggle on the Marne and Seine. Lee, too, has never been surpassed in the art of winning the passionate love of his troops, and, as with all generals of a high order, his lieutenants looked up to him with perfect confidence, and saw in his commands a presage of victory."

The following inscription and poem accompanied the presentation of a perfect copy of the "Translation of the Iliad of Homer, into Spenserian Stanza," by Philip Stanhope

Worsley, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford—a scholar and poet whose untimely death, noticed with deepest regret throughout the literary world in England, has cut short a career of the brightest promise:

"To General R. E. Lee-the most stainless of living commanders, and, except in fortune, the greatest-this volume is presented with the writer's earnest sympathy, and respectful admiration:

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"The grand old bard that never dies,

Receive him in our English tongue!
I send thee, but with weeping eyes,
The story that he sung.

"Thy Troy is fallen, thy dear land
Is marred beneath the spoiler's heel.
I cannot trust my trembling hand
To write the things I feel.

"Ah, realm of tombs!-but let her bear
This blazon to the last of times:
No nation rose so white and fair,
Or fell so pure of crimes.

"The widow's moan, the orphan's wail,

Come round thee; yet in truth be strong!

Eternal right, though all else fail,

Can never be made wrong.

"An angel's heart, an angel's mouth,
Not Homer's, could alone for me

Hymn well the great Confederate South,
Virginia first, and LEE.

"P. S. W."

Professor George Long, of England-the great scholar and high-toned gentleman-has, in a note to the second edition of his translation of the "Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus," the following graceful tribute: "... I have never dedicated a book to any man, and if I dedicated

this I should choose the man whose name seemed to me most worthy to be joined to that of the Roman soldier and philosopher. I might dedicate the book to the successful general who is now President of the United States, with the hope that his integrity and justice will restore peace and happiness, so far as he can, to those unhappy States who have suffered so much from war, and the unrelenting hostility of wicked men. But as the Roman poet said, 'Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni;' and if I dedicated this little book to any man, I would dedicate it to him who led the Confederate armies against the powerful invader, and retired from an unequal contest defeated, but not dishonored; to the noble Virginian soldier, whose talents and virtues place him by the side of the best and wisest man who sat on the throne of the imperial Cæsars."

If such is the opinion of disinterested foreign critics (who have been compelled to receive their information in large measure through Northern sources, and who have not been able, therefore, to do full justice to his transcendent abilities), we cannot doubt that the future historian, when he scans carefully all of the facts, will rank our noble chief the peer, if not the superior, of any soldier of either ancient or modern times -that the world will one day indorse the estimate of the London Standard, "A country which has given birth to men like him, and those who followed him, may look the chivalry of Europe in the face without shame; for the fatherlands of Sidney and of Bayard never produced a nobler soldier, gentleman, and Christian, than General ROBERT E. LEE.”

CHAPTER II.

THE COLLEGE PRESIDENT.

AMONG my most cherished "personal reminiscences" of this great man are those last years of his life at Lexington, when he toiled for the young men of the country as the quiet but able and laborious President of Washington College.

But, instead of my own recollections of how grandly he accomplished his work, I deem myself fortunate in being permitted to present papers prepared by two members of the able and accomplished Faculty which General Lee called around him. The following sketch was (at the request of the Faculty) written by the Rev. Dr. J. L. Kirkpatrick for the projected "Memorial Volume," and the MS. has been kindly placed at my disposal. It is given (without essential abridgment) as á deeply interesting, accurate, and authorized account of hist career as a college president :

"In the sketch which follows, nothing further will be attempted than a brief and simple exhibition of that portion of General Lee's life which was passed at Washington College, and of this only as it relates to his official work as president of that institution.

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SOME INCIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE.

"Washington College is the outgrowth of an academy founded in the year 1749. This was the first classical school opened in the Valley of Virginia. Under a succession of principals, and with several changes of site, the academy at

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