Finally: the charm of these letters is in their being so familiar, so out of the sphere of his correspondence generally, and therefore holding him up in lights that seem new. Mankind, long familiar with the external attributes and grandeur of his character, looking up to his vast fame as hero and statesman uncertain which predominates, have known less of him at home with his family, his relations and his friends. The inner parts of his character, the kindlier impulses of his nature, his sympathies with those dear to him, dependent on him, or looking to him for the solace of his kindness, seem to have remained less publicly known. Mr. Sparks, in his preface to his "Life and Writings," remarks that "it must be kept in mind that much the larger portion of his life passed on a conspicuous public theatre, and that no account of it can be written which will not assume essentially the air of history." He adds, that while in his work "anecdotes are interwoven and such incidents of a private and personal nature as are known, they are more rare than could be desired." The synopsis of the letters which I have given may perhaps tend in some small degree to supply this desideratum in his illustrious life alongside of the more copious anecdotes and reminiscences supplied by the patriotic and filial devotion of Mr. Custis. This is my humble hope. Since the foregoing Letters were received from Mrs. Lear, she has favored me with the perusal of other manuscripts introducing us to the domestic hours of General Washington. Among them is a Diary kept by Mr. Lear at Mount Vernon in 1786, anterior therefore to the time when Washington became President. From this document I am permitted to copy a passage entire. It is dated the 23d of October, '86. Mr. Drayton and Mr. Izard, gentlemen of South Carolina, had been spending the day at Mount Vernon. After dinner, the company still round the table, Washington was led to speak of Arnold's treason, and Mr. Lear wrote down his account of it in his Diary of that day. Although history has made us familiar with that whole transaction in its essential facts, to hear it under such circumstances from the lips of Washington, seems to impart to it new interest. We listen with revived curiosity and attention when such a narrator speaks. The copy from Mr. Lear's Diary, in which is recorded this interesting dinner-table narrative, is in the words following:-- "MOUNT VERNON, Monday, October 23d, 1786.