which both versions open is:  “Que toutes actions qui se font publiquement fassent voir son sentiment respectueux a toute la compagnie.”  Hawkins:  “Every action done in view of the world ought to be accompanied with some signe of reverence which one beareth to all who are present.”  Washington:  “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.”  Here the restoration of “respectueux,” and the limitation of “publiquement” by “compagnie,” make the latter rendering much neater.  In Maxim viii. 47, which admonishes one not to be angry at table, it is said, “bien si vous vous fachez,” you are not to show it.  Hawkins translates “if so bee thou bee vexed;” but Washington more finely, “if you have reason to be so, Shew it not.”  Or compare the following versions of “Si vous vous reposez chez vous, ayat quelque siege, faites en sorte de traiter chacun selo son merite.”  Hawkins:  “if there be anything for one to sit on, be it a chair, be it a stool, give to each one his due.”  Washington:  “when you present seats let it be to every one according to his degree.”  Rule 45, for “moderation et douceur” has “Sweetness and Mildness,” Hawkins only “sweetness.”  Again:  “si vous rencontrez ioliment, si vous donnez quelque bon-mot, en faisant rire les autres, empeschez-vous-en, le plus qu’il vous sera possible.”  Hawkins:  “When so it falleth out that thou deliver some happy lively an jolly conceit abstaine thou, and let others laugh.”  Washington:  “if you Deliver anything witty and Pleasent abtain from laughing thereat yourself.”

Yet how curt is the version last quoted, and how blundering the sentence!  Washington’s spelling was always faulty, but it is not characteristic of him to write “abtain” for “abstain.”  This is one of many signs of haste, suggesting that his pen was following oral instruction.  The absence of punctuation is normal; in some cases words have dropped out:  such clerical mistakes occur as “eys,” “but” for “put,” “top” for “of,” “whth” for “without,” and “affection” for “affectation”—­the needed letters being in the last case interlined.  Except as regards punctuation, no similar errors occur in any manuscript from Washington’s hand, either in youth or age.  Another reason for supposing that he may have been following an instructor is the excessive abbreviation.  It was by no means characteristic of Washington to suppress details, but here his condensation sometimes deprives maxims of something of their force, if not of their sense. E.g., Rule 59:  “Never express anything unbecoming, nor Act against the Rules Moral before your inferiours.” Cf. Hawkins:  “Never expresse anything unbeseeming, nor act against the Rules morall, before thy inferiours, for in these things, thy own guilt will multiply Crimes by example, and as it were, confirme Ill by authority.”  And “Shift not yourself in the sight of others” hardly does duty for the precept, “It is insufferable impoliteness to stretch the body, extend the arms, and assume different postures.”  There are, however, but few instances in which the sense of the original has been lost; indeed, the rendering of the Washington Ms. is generally an improvement on the original, which is too diffuse, and even more an improvement on the Hawkins version.