General Harry Lee, the careless soldier, partook of the family tendency to hospitality; he kept open house, entertained all comers, and hence, doubtless, sprung the pecuniary embarrassments embittering an old age which his eminent public services should have rendered serene and happy.
Our notice of Stratford may appear unduly long to some readers, but it is not without a distinct reference to the subject of this volume.

In this quiet old mansion--and in the very apartment where Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee first saw the light--Robert E.Lee was born.
The eyes of the child fell first upon the old apartments, the great grounds, the homely scenes around the old country-house--upon the tall Lombardy poplars and the oaks, through which passed the wind bearing to his ears the murmur of the Potomac.
He left the old home of his family before it could have had any very great effect upon him, it would seem; but it is impossible to estimate these first influences, to decide the depth of the impression which the child's heart is capable of receiving.

The bright eyes of young Robert Lee must have seen much around him to interest him and shape his first views.

Critics charged him with family pride sometimes; if he possessed that virtue or failing, the fact was not strange.
Stratford opened before his childish eyes a memorial of the old splendor of the Lees.

He saw around him old portraits, old plate, and old furniture, telling plainly of the ancient origin and high position of his family.