Book Description

Excerpt from The Will of the Late Stephen Girard, Procured From the Office for the Probate of Wills: With a Short Biography of His Life Stephen Girard was born at Bordeaux, in France, in, or about the year 1746. Little is known of the early period of his life; and his education is supposed to have been scanty and deficient; whether owing to the neglect of his parents, or the natural waywardness of youth, cannot now be known. A spirit of enterprise, a love of adventure, and a thirst of new scenes and untried situations, very early distinguished him; and no doubt, as early impelled him to leave his native land, for foreign climes and novel modes of existence. It has been said, but with what truth we are not now enabled to state, that parental oppression embittered the shelter of his domestic roof, and inspired him with the first thought of emigration; but it is so easy for the high temperament of youth, to fancy that severe which is only just, and to plead the tyranny of parents, in justification of their own want of filial piety, that we are bound on all occasions, to listen to such narratives as the usual figments of the young, who are naturally disposed to embellish every thing with the tints of romance; and let fancy riot, where facts are obscured from their knowledge. It is most likely, taking into consideration the peculiar structure of the mind of Stephen Girard, that he was impelled by the natural enterprise of his vigorous spirit, to quit the parental roof, and to launch himself at once into the boundless ocean of life, to taste its bitterest waters, or reach in safety its most secure harbour. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.