GREAT MEN'S BODIES
person a fulness that it did not possess, together with an abdominal enlargement greater than in the life; while his matchless limbs have, in but two instances, been faithfully portrayed: in the equestrian portrait by Trumbull, of 1790, a copy of which is in the City Hall, New York; and in an engraving by Loisier from a painting by Cogniet, a French artist of distinguished merit. The latter is not an original painting, the head being from Stuart; but the delineation of the limbs is the most perfect extant. General Washington in the prime of life stood six feet two inches, and measured precisely six feet when attired for the grave. From the period of the Revolution there was an evident bend in that frame, so passing straight before. But the stoop is attributable rather to the care and toils of that arduous contest than to age; for his step was firm, and his carriage noble and commanding, long after the time when the physical properties of man are supposed to be on the wane.
"To a majestic height was added a correspondent breadth and firmness; and his whole person was so cast in nature's finest mould as to resemble the classic remains of ancient statuary, where all the parts contribute to the purity and perfection of the whole.
"Washington's powers were chiefly in his limbs; they were long, large, and sinewy. His frame was of equal breadth from the shoulders to the hips. His chest though broad and expansive, was not prominent; but rather hollowed in the centre. He had suffered from a pulmonary affection in early life, from which he never entirely recovered.
"His frame showed an extraordinary development of bone and muscle. His joints were large, as were his feet; and could a cast have been preserved of his hand to be exhibited in these degenerate days, it would be said to have belonged to the being of a fabulous age.
"During Lafayette's visit to Mount Vernon, in 1825, he said to one writer: 'I never saw so large a hand on any human being as the General's.'
"And that writer adds: 'I saw this remarkable man four times. It was in the month of November, 1798.… I was so fortunate as to walk by his side, and had a full view of him. He was six feet one inch high; broad and athletic, with very large limbs; entirely erect, and without the slightest tendency to stooping. His hair was white, and tied with a silk447
