But he has ever been warmly welcomed at Mount Vernon on long
visits there, and both General and Madame Washington have become greatly
attached to him. It was through them I first knew and liked him, and he
has passed many, I hope not unhappy, weeks at Monticello with me since.
'Tis that curious and melancholy resemblance in their fate--both
orphaned and solitary--which, I fancy, had much to do with the firm
friendship that has sprung up between Colonel Hamilton and Calvert. But
though in appearance and circumstance they resemble each other, in
mental characteristics they are opposites. Calvert has none of
Hamilton's brilliancy of intellect and vividness of imagination" (for
whatever their bitter disagreements were later, Mr. Jefferson, then and
for many years afterward, was always ready to acknowledge and admire
Hamilton's superb genius), "but he is of a profound logical order of
intelligence; he has good judgment and discretion, indomitable will
power, and a nobility of aim and faithfulness of purpose that are as
rare as they are admirable. I can conceive of no circumstances in which
he might be placed where his reliability and firmness would prove
inadequate to the occasion.
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