He was always the most national of the Italian poets, the most loved, the most read.

From the time of his death all educated Italians had his best passages by heart; and the sentiments they enshrined inspired their lives, and eventually influenced the history of their nation.

"The Italians," wrote Byron in 1821, "talk Dante, write Dante, and think and dream Dante, at this moment, to an excess which would be ridiculous, but that he deserves their admiration." [1019] A succession of variously gifted men in different ages--extending from Alfred to Albert--has in like manner contributed, by their life and example, to shape the multiform character of England.

Of these, probably the most influential were the men of the Elizabethan and Cromwellian, and the intermediate periods--amongst which we find the great names of Shakspeare, Raleigh, Burleigh, Sidney, Bacon, Milton, Herbert, Hampden, Pym, Eliot, Vane, Cromwell, and many more--some of them men of great force, and others of great dignity and purity of character.

The lives of such men have become part of the public life of England, and their deeds and thoughts are regarded as among the most cherished bequeathments from the past.
So Washington left behind him, as one of the greatest treasures of his country, the example of a stainless life--of a great, honest, pure, and noble character--a model for his nation to form themselves by in all time to come.