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Wed 14 Mar, 2012 11:38 pm
Context:
On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which
No, it's the usual meaning of "collect", i.e. to gather a bunch of things together with some idea in mind of why you're gathering them. I'd never have guessed this was Washington, he's usually a good deal more direct, in the little I've read of his stuff. I'd say, since he was the first Pres., in a job still pretty much undefined as to what and how it would be done, what he's saying is that he considered all the kinds of situations in which he might be called upon to act, and then thought of what he should do in those cases, and those collectively he considered his duty. He was basically making it up as he went along.
@MontereyJack,
MontereyJack wrote:
No, it's the usual meaning of "collect", i.e. to gather a bunch of things together with some idea in mind of why you're gathering them. I'd never have guessed this was Washington, he's usually a good deal more direct, in the little I've read of his stuff. I'd say, since he was the first Pres., in a job still pretty much undefined as to what and how it would be done, what he's saying is that he considered all the kinds of situations in which he might be called upon to act, and then thought of what he should do in those cases, and those collectively he considered his duty. He was basically making it up as he went along.
Excellent!
Thank you.
What does "study" mean in "my faithful study"?
@oristarA,
I'm sure glad you asked MontereyJack, instead of me.
@roger,
roger wrote:
I'm sure glad you asked MontereyJack, instead of me.
Your opinions are always valued and repected.
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