Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/207

piece" representing Mr. and Mrs. Izard in a Roman palace, with a window in the background looking out on one of the most interesting parts of the Eternal City. Mr. Izard returned to Charleston in 1780, and his wife and children three years afterward. On the formation of the new government he was chosen one of the senators of South Carolina.

Of the men in the city, not immediately connected with the government, the greatest beyond all comparison was Alexander Hamilton. His extraordinary genius, knowledge, and activity, would have made him illustrious in any society, but his character was in some respects beyond the grasp of common minds, and it is doubtful whether he was justly appreciated at this time by a very large number, though Washington knew him well, and regarded him with the sincerest respect, affection, and admiration. It is true that Hamilton was something of a roué, but his gallantries were subject to a certain law of honorableness which even in such affairs is not altogether impossible; and in his public conduct he was as inflexibly just as he was unapproachably able. Doubtless in the formation of om' Constitution the profound sense of Washington was the deciding authority, but the suggesting intelligence was Hamilton's, and he is to be regarded above all other men as the creator of the institutions of modern liberty. His residence was on the corner of Wall and Broad streets, nearly opposite Federal Hall, and with a party of his friends he had witnessed from his balcony the inauguration of Washington. He had built, however, a beautiful house which he called "The Grange," a few miles up the island, which was his last home in the world.

Aaron Burr, during this period, was at Albany much of the time, busy with official duties, and in writing love-letters to his wife, and instructions for the education of Theodosia, that marvellous girl whose beauty, wit, and melancholy history constitute one of