Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia): Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate,; Fifty-Second Congress, First SessionVarious
History
Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia): Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate,; Fifty-Second Congress, First Session
Various
Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh, 1837-1891
And thus he bore without abuse,
The grand old name of gentleman.
Both in his public and private life he furnished an example worthy of
the emulation of all who love the true nobility of humanity. We will
draw aside the curtain only for a passing glance at the domestic circle,
of which his beautiful and lovely wife was at once the pride and the
ornament. Surrounded by this devoted helpmeet and two manly sons, there
was not a happier home in old Virginia. Warmed by the love of his big
and generous heart, it was the abode of contentment and peace. The dread
messenger was never more unwelcome than when he entered the portals of
Ravensworth and made vacant forever the chair of the husband and the
father.
We can say nothing to assuage the poignant grief of the widow and
children, but our hearts are filled with the fervent prayer that
Heaven's choicest blessings may be showered upon them.
ADDRESS OF MR. HERBERT, OF ALABAMA.
Mr. SPEAKER: In this brief tribute to the memory of Gen. WILLIAM H.F.
LEE I should be unworthy of the friendship which it was my privilege to
claim did I indulge in anything else than the language of soberness and
truth. In him there was no manner of affectation; he pretended to be
nothing but such as he was, and it is certain that if he had been giving
directions to his biographer he would have laid down the rule announced
by Thomas Carlyle, in his review of the life of Lockhart, that the
biographer in the treatment of his subject "should have the fear of God
before his eyes and no other fear whatever."
Froude, as biographer, claims subsequently to have applied to the life
of Carlyle his own rule; and all the world knows that in the portrayal
of Carlyle's faults of character the biographer left many a sting in the
hearts of those who had loved the great man while he lived and who felt
that the failings on which the historian had dwelt ought to have been
interred with his bones. The biographer who shall perform faithfully the
task of writing the life of "ROONEY" LEE will not paint him as a genius
like Carlyle; but, sir, if there was any single feature in the character
of our friend that, laid bare to the world even by the bold hand of an
Anthony Froude, would cause the faintest blush to tinge the cheek of
family or friends, I, who knew him well, do not know what it was.
It is true, sir, that it was not my fortune to be thrown in contact with
him in the earlier years of his life. I did not know him when his
character was being shaped and molded by the generous and refining
influences which surrounded him from his cradle to his manhood.
My personal acquaintance with him may be said to have begun only when he
had taken his seat by my side in this Hall. But his fame had come before
him. A representative of the most distinguished family in America, he
had been, by this circumstance alone, conspicuous from his birth; and
yet he came among us with not a spot upon his name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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