irj'j ""1 '^ V x^^^' % v.* -<• .0^" .^ A^^^ ■"oo^ ■/', c*-. ^^ ^d-^ :^'^^^<\^ -oo^ xO^. ■^^- ,# c5 X .V' '.;%*-'^"\" ax'^' V%ir:.^v y ■<■ ^_%„,.- -> ^. ^.-^^^ .^^' Z - - - '^- .^^ ■'^.. ,v\-^' -^z^. Co :^3 ^ ■%.. r^. UE^ATYOKK.-W.A.TO'VTTsrSTl'ND '^S^Jle^ M^^^ THE HOME OF WASHINGTON ITS ASSOCIATIONS, HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND PICTORIAL NEW EDITION, REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS- BY BENSON J. LOSSING. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS EXGRAVIXGS, OIIIEKLV rr.OM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR, ENGRAVED UY LOSSISG 4 BAF -.^..N .<-^ NEW YORK: W. A. XOW]SrSENI3, PTJBJ. ISHKK, 5 5 WALKER STREET. 1866. ^f .v»* l.iiterc'd, aociiriling to Act of Congress, in the year 1S59, by n LIN SON J. LOSSING In the Clerk's Otfice of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S04, by BENSON J. LOSSING. In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of Now York. ALVORD, PRINTER. P^VXRIOTIC COUISrTRYTV^O^MXGX BY WHOSE EFTORTS o' 1) f pome H n b cL m b of i^I a s I^ i n ci 1 o ii HAVE BEEN RESCUED FROM DECAY, I'his Volxune is Dedicated THE A U T 11 R PREFACE This work was first introduced to the public in the year 1859, at about the time when the estate of Mount Vernon — the Home of Washington — passed from the possession of the fam- ily of that great and good man, forever. During that and the previous year, I had carefully sought at Mount Yernon, Arling- ton House, and other places, for existing mementoes of that Home and its venerated occupant. The result may be found in the following pages. This volume makes no claim to the character of a Biography, yet it will be found that by the consecutive arrangement of facts and illustrations, in proper chronological order, quite a complete picture of the Private and Domestic life of Washing- ton is presented; for that life from his early childhood, was as- sociated with Mount Vernon. It is a fact eminently satisfactory to every American, that during the terrible Civil War that was kindled in the bosom of the Eepublic in the Spring of 1861, and which raged at times with intense and destructive energy in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, the most profound and reverential respect for the Home of Washington was shown by the soldiery of both parties engaged in the contest. The sentiment of Love for the great patriot was too deeply rooted in the American heart to be eradicated by the intense hatred which such a w\ar engenders. The mansion and its surroundings had no other guardian than an accomplished woman who had been placed in charge of it S PREFACE. bj the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association before the war broke out; and yet no notable injury was inflicted upon building, shrub, or tree, during all the time of the internecine strife. The reader will bear in mind that when persons or things are spoken of in the present tense, the time is the year 1859. The Civil War made important changes in the positions of some of these persons and things. The (then) proprietor of Mount Vernon perished while in arms against the Republic ; and the master of Arlington, abandoning the flag of his country, was a chief leader in the armies of Rebellion. A portion of his beautiful estate is now covered by a village inhabited by emancipated negro slaves ; and around Arlington House is a Grovernment Cemetery which contains the mortal remains of thousands of the soldiers of the National and Rebel armies. The library, furniture, and other mementoes of \Vashington at Mount Vernon, excepting the key of the Bastile, Houdon's bust, and some camp equipage, were carried away by the late proprietor when he left the estate in June, 1861. Almost every Washington relic at Arlington House, mentioned in this work, was conveyed to the interior of Virginia at the beginning of the war, and it is believed that many of them have perished. The harpsichord presented to Nelly Custis (delineated on page 268,) was sent back to Mount Vernon in the autumn of 1860, by her daughter-in-law, where it remains, the sole representa- tive of the furniture of that mansion sixty years ago. B. J. L. » POUGHKEEPSIE, X. y., 18G5. ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Portrait of Washington (steel). 2. Rear View of Mount Yernon in 1786 (steel). 3. Frontispiece — View of Mount Yernon. 4. Washington's Book-plate 13 5. Cave Castle 15 6. Washington Mortar 16 7. Washington's Seal 17 8. Washington's Seal-ring. 17 9. Washington's Watch-seals 17 10. Fac-simile of signatures of Jane and Murj^ Washington 18 1 1. Dutch Tile — half the size of the original 20 1 2. Residence of the Washington Famih^ 21 1 3. Washington's Birth-place 22 14. Lawrence Washington 25 1 5. Admiral Yernon 26 16. The Yernon Medal.'. . ' 28 17. Washington's Telescope 36 IS. Pack-saddle 39 19. Leathern C^inp-chest 39 20. Washington's first Head-quarters 41 21. The Carey House in 1859 42 22. Mary Pliillipse 4.') 23^ Morris's House 46 24. Daniel Parke Custis , 50 ' 25. Mrs. Custis's Iron Chest 50 26. Mrs. Washington's Children 52 27. Mrs. Washington at the time of her Marriage 53 28. Chairs once at Mount Yernon 55 LO ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 29. Custis Arras 60 30. ■Washington's Gold Pen with Silver Case C6 31. Fac-simile of Page-headings ii. Washington's Diary GG 32. Fac-simile of Entry in "Washington's Diary G7 33. Mount Vernon Landing G9 34. Ground-plan and Elevation of Pohick Church U 35. Mason L. Weems 'J G 3G. Christ Church, Alexandria T " 37. Pohick Cliurch in 1859 T 8 38. Pulpit in Pohick Church 19 39. Charles Willson Peale 81 40. 'Washington's Military Button 81 41. "Washington as a Virginia Colonel, at the age of forty 82 42. Fac-simile of Peale's Receipt 83 -43. John Parke Custis 84 44. Patrick Henry 89 45. General Charles Lee 94 46. General Horatio Gates 96 47. Gold Medal awarded to Washington for the Deliverance of Boston 102 48. Hessian Flag taken at Trenton 103 49. British Flag taken at Yorktown 104 50. Count de Rocliambeau 107 51. Marquis de Chastellux 109 52. Eleanor Parke Custis 114 58. Washington's Military Clothes 119 54. The Sword and Staff 121 55. W'ashington's Camp-chest 12"^ 56. Silver Camp-goblet 124 57. W^ashington's travelling Writing-case 125 58. Washington's Tents in their Portmanteaux 126 59. Order of the Cincinnati 129 60. Order presented by French OfBcers 130 61. Cincinnati Society — Member's Certificate ^?>\ 62. W'estern Front of Mount Vernon in 1 858 1 ;!7 G3. Section of shaded Carriage-way 140 64. General plan of the Mansion and Grounds at Mount Vernon 141 ' 65. Garden-house 1 43 66. Century-plant and Lemon-tree ... 1 44 67. View in the Flower-garden at Mount Vernon — tiie Sago Palm 145 68. Ruins of the Conservatory at Mount Vcruon 146 69. Ice-house at Mount Vernon 147 ILLUSTRATIONS. 11 PAGB 70. Summer-house at Mount Yernon 148 71. Lafayette.— Painted by C. W. Peale, in 1778 132 72. Masonic Apron wrought by tlie Marchioness Lafayette 153 73. Iloudou's Bust of Washington 163 74. Iloudou's Statue of Washington lG-1 75. EHzabeth Parl^e Custis 1G8 76. G. W. P. Custis when a child 169 77. Itahan Ciiimney -piece 172 78. Tablet on the left of Chimney-piece 173 79. Centre Tablet 173 80. Tablet on the right of Chimney-piece 173 81. Porcelain Vases .... 174 82. Colonel David Humphreys 181 83. Engraving of Louis XTI 183 84. Washington and Lafayette 185 85. Washington's Destinj' 186 86. Charles Thomson 193 87. Travelling Boot-jack 195 88. Ancient entrance to Mount Vernon in 1858 196 89. Bible used at the Inauguration of Washington 202 90. Washington's Lepine Watch, Seal and Key 207 91. Washington's last Watch-seal 207 92. Washington's Dress Sword 211 93. Secretary and Circular Chair 215 94. Destruction of the Bastile 221 95. Key of the Bastile 223 96. Washington's Spy-glass 224 97. Washington's Pistol. 226 98. Bust of M. Necker 229 99. Bust of Lafeyette 230 1 00. Washington's English Coach 232 101. Emblazoning on Washington's Coach 233 1 02. Picture of a Panel on Washington's Coach 231 103. Cincinnati China 240 104. Mrs. Washington's China 241 105. China Butter-bowl and Dish 242 106. Wine-coolers and Coaster 251 107. Specimens of Washington's Plate 252 108. The Presidential Mansion 253 109. Martini Washington 261 1 10. Nelly Custis's Harpsichord 268 12 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAOI HI. George "Washington Lafayette 286 112. G. W. P. Custis at the age of seventeen j-ears ■. 294 113. Crayon Profile of Washington 296 114. Crayon Profile of Mrs. Washington 297 115. Washington's Inkstand 300 116. Mural Candelabra 301 117. Ancient Lantern 301 118. Sideboard, Tea-table and Punch-bowl 303 119. Washington's Silver Candlestick 303 120. Morning — a Landscape by Winstanley 305 121. Evening— a Landscape by Winstanley 305 122. Dr. James Craik 318 123. Bed and Bedstead on which Washington died 323 124. Room in which Washington died 324 125. Silver Shield on Washington's Coffin 327 126. Washington's Bier 329 127. The Old Vault in 1858 330 128. General Henry Lee 332 129. McPherson's Blue 334 130. Bushrod Washington 337 131. Westford 338 132. Washington's Marble Coffin 342 133. Lid of Washington's Coffin 342 134. Washington's Tomb 343 135. Washington's Liquor-chest 347 136. Washington's Mirror 347 137. Water-mark 348 138. Washington's Address Card 348 139. Pitcher Portrait 350 140. Houdon's Mould from AVashington's Face 359 MOU^T YERNOX AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. K many an ancient l^ volume in the lib- ( rarj at Mount Yer- > t "^ y^-*^ non, Avhile the man- sion remained in the ])ossession of the AYashington family, \vas the engraved book-plate of the il- lustrious proprietor, which displayed, as usual, the name and armorial bearings of the owner. The lan- guage of heraldry learnedly describes the family arms of "Washington as '' argent^ two bars gules in chief, three mullets of the second. Crest, a raven, with wings, indorsed pro^per, issuing out of a ducal coronet, or." All this may be in- intei-preted, a white or silver shield, with two red bars across WASHINGTON S BOOK-PLATE. 14 MOUNT VERNON it, and above tlieiii tliree spur rowels, the combination ap- pearing very mucli like the stripes and stars on our national ensign. The crest, a raven of natural color issuing out of a golden ducal coronet. Tlie three mullets or star-figures indi- cated the filial distinction of the third son. Back into the shadowy i)ast six hundred years and more we may look, and find tlie name of "Washington presented with "honorable mention" in several counties in England, on the records of the field, the church, and the state. They were generally first-class agriculturists, and eminently loyal men when their sovereigns were in trouble. In that trying time for England's monarch, a little more than two hundred years ago, when a republican army, under the authority of a revo- lutionary parliament, was hunting King Charles the First, Sir Henry Washington, a nephew of the Duke of Buckingham, is observed as governor of Worcester, and its able defender during a siege of three months by the parliamentary troops under General Fairfax. And earlier than this, when Charles, as Prince Royal, was a suitor for the hand of the Infanta of Sj)ain, we find a Washington attached to his person. The loyal James Howell, who suffered long imprisonment in Fleet-street Jail because of his attachment to Charles, was in the train of the Prince while at Madi-id ; and from that city he wrote to his " noble friend. Sir John jSTorth," in the sum- mer of 1623, saying : " Mr. Washington, the Prince his page is lately dead of a Calenture, and I was at his buriall under a Figtree behind my Lord of BrisfoVs honse. A little before his death one JBal- lai'd, an English Pi-iest, went to tamper with him, and Sir AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 15 Edmund Yarney meeting liim coming down the stairs ont of Washington'' s cliamber, tliey fell from words to blows : but they were parted. Tlie business was like to gather very ill blond, and com to a great hight, had not Count Gondamar quaslit it, which I beleeve he could not have done, unless the times had bin favorable ; for such is the reverence they bear to the C'liurcli lierc, and so holy a conceit they have of all Ecclesiastics, that the greatest Don in Spain will tremble to oifer the meanest of them any outrage or affront." From this loyal family came emigrants to America nine years after King Charles lost his head. These were two 16 MOUNT VKRXON brothers, true Cavaliers, wlio could not brook tlic rule of Cromwell, the self-styled Lord Protector of England. Thej left their beautiful residence of Cave Castle, north of the Iluniber, in Yorkshire, and sought more freedom of life in the virgin soil of the New World. And in later years the repre- sentatives of the Washingtons and Fairfaxes, who were neigh- bors and Iriends in Virginia, found themselves, in political positions, opposed to those of tlieir ancestors ; that of the former being the great leader of a republican army, and of the latter a most loyal adherent of the crown. The Washingtons who first came to America seem not to have been possessed of much wealth. They brought with them no family plate as evidences of it ; for the heiress of the family had given her hand and fortune to an English baronet, the master of the fine estate of Studley Tloyal, where now the eldest son of the late Earl of Eipon resides. It is believed that there is only one relic of the old Vv^'ashington family in this country, and that is a small bronze mortar, having the leflers " C. AY." (the initials of Cmox AYashixgton) and the date, "1664," cast upon it. That mortar is in In- dependence Hall, in Philadelphia. The Northamptonshire familj-, from whom George "Wash-' ington was descended, wore the motto seen upon his book- plate — -ExiTus ACTAPRonAT: "The end justifies the means;" and it was borne and heeded by the line from generation to generation, until the most illustrious of them all had achieved the greatest ends by the most justifiable means. WASHINGTON MORTAIt. AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 17 The annexed engraving is from an impression of General "Washington's seal, bearing liis family arms, attached to the death-warrant of a soldier executed at MorristoNvn, in 1780. Below it is an engraving of the face of his seal-ring, which also hears his arms and motto ; and also of two watch-seals which he ■w'ore together in early life. Upon each of the last tM'O is engraved his mono- gram, one ot tliem bemg a lac-simile ot his written initials. One of these was lost by "Washington himself on the bloody field of Monongahela, where Bi-addock was defeated in 1755; and the other by his nephew, in Virginia, more than twenty-five years ago. Both were found in the year 1854, and restored to the "Washington family.* Of all the volumes in the Mount Yernon library which contain "Washington's book- plate none appears more interesting than Sir Matthew Hale's Conicmplatlons^ Moral and Divhic^ printed at the beginning of the last century. It is well worn by frequent use; for it was from that volume that "Washington's mother drew many of those great maxims which she instilled into the mind of her son, and which had a powerful influence in A S H I N (i T O N WATCU-SEALS. * Tins statement is made on tlie authoritj- of Charles J. Eushnell. Esq., of Xcw York, whose investigations in numismatic science and kindred subjects iiave been careful and extensive. The engravings of the seals are copied, by his permission, from a work of Lis now in preparation for the press. 2 18 Jr U N T VERNON moulding liis moral character. Upon a fly-leaf of the volume are 'written, in bold characters, the names of the two wives of Augustine Washington, the father of our be- loved Friend. These were Jane Butler and Mary Ball. Tlieir names were written by themselves, the first with ink that retains its original blackness, and the second with a color that has faded to the tint of warm sepia. a^/yaj. ^^ l02(^/ry J^}^/uficf&^ FACSIMILE OF SIGXATUI These signatures send the thoughts on busv retrospective errands to the pleasant mansions and broad and fertile plant- ations of Virginia, when the Old Dominion was as loyal to the second King George of England as to the second King Charles in the days of Berkeley, almost a hundred years before ; or when royal governors held vice-regal courts at Williamsburg, the capital of the Commonwealth t^venty years after repub- lican Bacon's torch had laid old Jamestown in ashes. Espe- cially do they send the thoughts to the beautiful spot near the Potomac, half way between Pope's and Bridge's Creek, in Westmoreland, where stood a modest mansion, surrounded by the holly and more stately trees of the forest, in which lived Mary, the mother of the great Washington. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 19 In the possession of an old Virginian family may be seen a picture, in which is represented a rampant lion holding a globe in his paw, a helmet and shield, a vizor strong, and coat of mail and other emblems of strength and courage; and for a motto the words, from Ovid, Coelujnque tueri. On the back of the picture is written : " The coat of arms of Colonel William Ball, who came from England with his family about the year 1650, and settled at the mouth of Corotoman liiver, in Lancaster county, Vir- ginia, and died in 1669, leaving two sons, William and Joseph, and one daughter, Hannah, who married Daniel Fox. William left eight sons (and one daughter), five of whom have now (Anno Domini 1779) male issue. Joseph's male issue is extinct. General George Washington is his grandson, by his youngest daughter, Mary." Here we have the Amer- ican pedigree of the mother of Washington. In that modest mansion near the Potomac, of which we have just spoken, a great patriot was born of a mother eight- and-twenty years of age, when the popular William Gooch was royal governor of Virginia ; and in an old family Bible, in Hanover county, of quarto form, dilapidated by use and age, and covered with striped Virginia cloth, might have been seen, a few years ago, the following record, in the handwriting of the father of that Patriot : " George Washington, son to Augustine and Mary his wife. was born y" 11th day of February, 1731-2, about ten in the morning, and was baptized the 3d of April following; Mr Beverly Whiting and Captain Christopher Brooks, godfathers, and Mrs. Mildred Gregory godmother." Almost three hundred years ago Pope Gregory the Tliir- 20 MOUNT V E R N (J N teenth ordained that ten days should be added to the tally of all past time since the birth of Jesus, to make up some frac- tional deficiencies in the calendar ; and twenty years after tlie above record was made, the British government ordered the Gregorian calendar, or new style, as it was called, to be adopted. Tlie deficiency was then eleven days, and these M^ere added. So we date the birth of Washington, and cele- brate its anniversary, on the twenty-second instead of the eleventh of Februaiy. Washington's birth-place was a " four-roomed house, with a cliinmey at each end," perfectly plain outside and in. The Dl'TCIl TILE. — HALB' TUB SlZli OF Tl only approach to ornament was a Dutch-tded chimney-piece in the best room, covered with rude pictures of Scriptural scenes ; biit around the mansion there were thrift and abun- dance. George was the eldest of his motlier's six cliildren, AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. '2X and only In's infant years ^vere passed under tlic roof where he first saw the light ; for fire destroyed the house, and his father removed to an estate in Stafford county, near Fredericksburg, and dwelt in an equally plain nu^nsion, pleasantly seated near the north hank of the Rappahannock Hiver. RESIDENCE OF Trili WASIIINOTOX FAMILY. Of the hirth-place of Washington nothing now remains hut a chimney and a few scattered bricks and stones ; and around it, where the smiles of highest culture were once seen, there is an aspect of desolation that makes the heart feel sad. Some decayed fig-trees and tangled shrubs and vines, with here and there a pine and cedar sapling, tell, with silent elorpience, of neglect and ruin, and that decay has laid its blighting fingers 22 MOUNT YERNON upon every work of man there. TJie vault of the TVasliington family, wherein many ■wei'c buried, is so neglected that some of the remains exposed to view have been carried away by plunderers. All around it arc stunted trees, shrubs, and briers ; and near it may be seen fragments of slabs once set up in commemoration of some of that honored family. •^£0^ ■WASHINGTON'S BIRTH-PLACE. On the spot where Washington was born, the late George Washington Parke Custis, a grandson of ]\Irs. Washington, placed a piece of freestone in 1S15, with the simple inscrip- tion : Here, ON THE llxn OF F::nr.uAUY, 17^3, Geokge Washington was bokn "We gathered together," says Mr. Custis, in a published account, " the bricks of the ancient chimney that once formed the hearth around which Washington, in his infancy, had played, and constructed a rude kind of pedestal, on which we AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 23 reverently placed the fikst stojste, coiiDiiending it to the re- spect and protection of the American people in general, and the citizens of Westmoreland in particular." But such re- spect and protection have been withheld, and that stone is now in fragments and overgrown with brambles. In this vicinity lived some of the Lees, always a distin- guished family in Virginia ; and one of the most intimate of Washington's friends, in his earliest childhood, was Richard Henry Lee, afterward the eminent statesman and patriot. They were very nearly of the same age, Lee being one month the oldest. I have before me a copy of a letter written by each when they w^ere nine years old, and which are supposed to be among the earliest, perhaps the very first, epistles penned by these illustrious men. They were sent to me a few years ago, by a son of Kichard Henry Lee (who then possessed the originals), and are as follows : KICHAED HENEY LEE TO GEOEGE WASHINGTON. "Pa brought me two pretty books full of pictures he got them in Alexandria they have pictures of dogs and cats and tigers and elefants and ever so many pretty things cousin bids me send you one of them it has a picture of an elefant and a little Indian boy on his back like uncle jo's sam pa says if I learn my tasks good he will let uncle jo bring me to see you will you ask your ma to let you come to see me. " Richard henry Lee." GEORGE Washington's eeply. " Dear Dickey I thank you very much for the pretty pic- ture book vou give me. Sam asked me to show him the 24 il U N T V E R X N pictures and 1 showed him all the pictures in it ; and 1 read to him how the tame Elephant took care of the master's little boy, and put him on his back and would not let any body touch his master's little son. I can read three or four pages sometimes without missing a word. Ma says I may go to see you and stay all day witli you next week if it be not rainy. She says I may ride my pony Hero if Uncle Ben will go with me and lead Hero. I have a little piece of poetry about tlu picture book you gave me, but I mustnt tell you who wrote the poetry.* "G. W.'s compliments lo E. II. L.. And likes his book full well, Henceforth will count him his friend, And hopes many happy days he may spend. "Your good friend, " Geoige Washington. " I am going to get a whip top soon, and you nuiy see it and whip it." Augustine Washington died in the spring of 17-13, when his son George was eleven years of age, and by his last will and testament bequeathed his estate of Hunting Creek, upon a bay and stream of that name, near Alexandria, to Lawrence Washington, a son by his first wife, Jane Butler. It was a * In a letter to me, accompanying the two juvenile epistles, Mr. Lee writes- "The letter of Richard Henry Lee was written by himself, and, uncorrected, was sent by him to his boy-friend, George Washington. The poetical eiru>sion was, I have heard, written by a Mr. Howard, a gentleman who used to visit at the house of Mr. Washington." AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. noble domain of many liundred acres, stretching for miles along the Potomac, and bordering the estates of the Fairfaxes, Masons, and other distinguished families. LAWKENCE WASHINGTON'. Lawrence, who seems to have inherited the military spirit of his family, had lately been to the wars. Admiral Vernon, commander-in-chief of England's navy in the West Indies, had lately chastised the Spaniards for their depredations upon British commerce, by capturing Porto Bello, on the isthmus of Darien. Tlie Spaniards prepared to strike an avenging blow, and the French determined to help them. Eugland and her colonies were aroused. Four regiments, for service in the AVcst Indies, were to be raised in the American col- 26 U N T VERNON onies ; and from Massachusetts to tlie Carolinas, the fife and drum of the recruiting sergeant were heard. Lawrence, then a spirited young man of twenty-two, was among the thou- sands M'ho caught tlie infection, and obtaining a captain's ^r-f^; ADMIRAL VEKXOX. commission, lie embarked for the West Indies in 1741. with between tliree and four thousand men under General Went> worth. That officer and Admiral Yernon commanded a joint expedition against Carthagena, in Soutli America, whicli re- / AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 27 suited in disaster. According to the best authorities not less than twenty thousand British soldiers and seamen perished, chiefly from a fatal sickness that pi-e\'ailed, especially among the troops who were commanded by General Wentwortli. To that scourge Thompson, in his " Summer," thus touchingly alludes : " You, gallaat Ternon, saw The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw To infant weakness sunk the vrarrior's arm ; Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form, The lip pale-quivering, and the beamlcss eye No more with ardor bright ; you heard the groans Of agonizing ships, from shore to shore ; Heard, nightly plung'd amid tlie sullen waves, The frequent corse — while on each other fixed. In sad presage, the blank assistants seemed, Silent, to ask, whom fate would next demand." In the midst of that terrible pestilence the system of Law rence Washington received those seeds of fatal disease against w^hose growth it struggled manfully fur ten years, and then yielded, Lawrence returned home in the autumn of 1742, the provincial army in which he had served having been dis- banded, and Admiral Yernon and General Wentwortli re- called to England. He had acquired the friendship and confidence of both those officers. For several years he kept up a correspondence with the former, and received from him a copy of a medal struck in commemoration of the capture of Porto Bello by Admiral Yernon. This was preserved at Mount Yernon until Washington's death, and is probably in possession of some member of the family. The only speci- 28 MOUNT VERNON men of the medal I have ever seen is in my own possession, from which the enc-ravino; was made. TUK VERNON MEDAL. Lawrence intended to go to Enghand, join the reguhir arm}-, and seek ]n-eferment therein ; bnt love changed his resolntion and the cnrrent of his life, for "Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And man below, and sahits above.'' Beantiful Anne, the eldest danghter of the Honorable "Wil- liam Fairfax, of Fairfax comity, became the object of his warm attachment, and they were betrothed. Their miptials were abont to be celebrated in the spring of 1743, when a sndden attack of gont in the stomach dejjrived Lawrence of his father. But the marriage took phice in July. All thonghts of military life as a profession passed from the mind of Lawrence, and, taking possession of his limiting Creek estate, he erected a plain, substantial mansion upon the highest eminence along the Potomac front of his domain, and named the spot Mount Vernon, in . honor of the gallant admiral. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 29 In that mansion Lawrence resided until his death, and but little change was made in its appearance from the time when it came into the possession of his brother George by inlieri- tance, until the close of the Old War for Independence. It has been described as a house of the first class then occupied by thrifty Virginia planters ; two stories in height, with a porch in front, and a chimney built inside, at each end, con- trary to the prevailing style. It stood upon a most lovely spot, on the brow of a gentle slope wliich ended at a thickly- wooded precipitous river bank, its summit nearly one hundred feet above the water. Before it swept the Potomac with a magnificent curve, its broad bosom swarming with the grace- ful swan, the gull, the wild duck, and smaller water-fowl ; and beyond lay the green fields and shadowy forests of Mary- land. "When Lawrence was fairly settled, with his bride, in this new and pleasant home, little George was a frequent and much-petted visitor at Mount Yernon. His half-brother loved him tenderly, and after their father's death he took a paternal interest in all his concerns. The social influences to which he was subjected were of the highest order. The Fair- faxes held the first rank in wealth and social position, both in England and in Yirginia ; and the father-in-law of Law- rence, who occupied a beautiful country seat not far from Mount Vernon, called Belvoir, was a man of distinction, having served as an ofiicer of the British army in the East and West Indies, and officiated as governor of jS^ew Provi- dence, one of the Bermudas. He now managed an immense landed estate belonging to his cousin. Lord Fairfax, a tall, gaunt, rawboned, near-sighted man, upon whom had falleu 30 M U N T Y E R N N tlio snows of sixty winters, and who, made shy and eccentric by disappointed love in early life, was now in Virginia, and living at Belvoir, but secretly resolving to go over the Blue Mountains of the West, and make his home in the deep wilderness, away from the haunts of men. Tliither he went a few years later, and in the great valley of Virginia took up his abode in a lodge at a spot where he resolved to build a manor-house, in the midst of ten thousand acres of arable and grazing land, call it Greenway Court, and live, a solitary lord over a vast domain. But the mansion was never built, and in that lodge (which remained until a few years ago) the lord of the manor lived during all the stormy days of the French and Indian war, and as a stanch loyalist throughout the struggles of the Americans for independence, until the news came one day that his young friend Washington had captured Corn- wallis and all his army. Then, says tradition, he called to his servant and said, " Come, Joe, carry me to my bed, for I'm sure it's high time for me to die ! " " Then up rose Joe, all at the word, And took hi-; master's arm, And to his bed he softly led The lord of Greenway farm. Then thrice he called on Britain's name, And thrice he wept full sore. Then sighed — '0 Lord, thy will be done!' And word spake never more." It was early in 1782, at the age of ninety-two years, that Lord Fairfax died at Greenway Court, loved by many for his generosity and benevolence. Lawrence Washino;ton was also distinguished for his wealth AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 31 and intelligence. He was adjutant-general of his district, with the rank and pay of major, and at this time was a popu- lar member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. At Mount Vernon and at Belvoir the sprightly boy George, who was a favorite everywhere, became accustomed to the refinements and amenities of English social life, in its best phases, and this liad a marked influence upon his future character. There were other influences there which made a deep im- pression upon the mind of the thoughtful boy. Sometimes the companions-in-arms of his brother, or officers from some naval vessel that came into the Potomac, would be guests at Monnt Vernon, and perils by field and flood would be related. In these narratives Sir William Fairfax often joined, and related his CKperience in the far-off Indies, in marches, battles, sieges, and retreats. Tliesc fired the soul of young Wash- ington with longings for adventure, and accordingly, Ave find him, at the age of fourteen years, preparing to enter the English navy as a midshipman, a warrant having been pro- ^3ured. His brother and Mr. Fairfax encouraged his inclina- tion, and his mothers reluctant consent was obtained. A vessel-of-war was lying in the Potomac, and the lad's luggage was on board, when his mother received the following letter from her brother, in England, dated Stratford-by-Bow, 19th r, 1747: " I understand that you are advised and have some thoughts of putting your son George to sea. I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker, for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the common liberty of the subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings a 32 MOUNT VERNON mouth and make liim take twenty-three, and cut, and sla^-li, and use him like a negro, or rather like a dog. And, as to any considerable preferment in the navy, it is not to be ex- pected, as there are always so many gaping for it here who have interest, and he has none. And if he should get to b(i master of a Virginia ship (which it is very difficult to do), a planter that has three or four hundred acres of land and three; or four slaves, if he be industrious, may live more comfort- ably, and leave his family in better bread, than such a master of a ship can. * ^ '"^ * He must not be too hasty to be rich, but go on gently and with patience, as things will naturally go. This method, without aiming at being a fine gentleman before his time, will carry a man more com- fortably and surely through the world than going to sea, unless it be a great chance indeed. I pray God keep you and yours. " Your loving brother, " Joseph Ball.^' This letter, without doubt, made the motlier decide to act according to the desire of her heart, for already a friend had written to Lawrence, " I am afi-aid Mrs. AVashington will not keep up to her first resolution. * "- ^ -h- j u^^^j that one word against his going has more weight than ten for it." She could not expose her son to the hardships and perils of the British navy, so vividly portrayed by his uncle. Her consent was withdrawn, and George Washington, with dis- appointed ambition, returned to school, fell desperately in love with a " lowland beauty" (who reciprocated not his pas- sion, but became the mother of General Henry Lee), indited AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 33 sentimental verses, as voung lovers are apt to do, siglied for a time in iieat iiuliappiness, and then went to live with his brother at Mount Vernon, in partial f(jrgetfalness that he had once dreamed that "Slie was his life, The ocean to the river of his thoughts, Which terminated all." JSTow it was that young Washington's real intimacv with the Fairfax family commenced, and an attachment was formed between himself and George William Fairfax, his senior by six or seven years, who had just brought liis bride and her sister to Belvoir. Young Washington's heart was tender and susceptible, and that bride's beautiful sister tried its constancy to his first love very sorely. To his young friend " Kobin," he wrote : " My residence is at present at his lordship's, where I might, was my beart disengaged, pass my time very pleasantly, as there is a very agreeable young lady lives in the same house (Colonel George Fairfax's wife's sister) ; but as that is only adding fuel to fire, it makes me .the more uneasy, for by often and un- avoidably being in compan}^ with her, revives my former passion for your Lowland Beauty ; whereas, was I to live more retired from young women, I might in some measure alleviate my sorrows, by burying that chaste and troublesome passion in the grave of oblivion." Ilius wrote George Wasli- ington before he was sixteen years of age. He was soon taken from these temptations. He was a tall, finely-formed, athletic youth, and Lord Fairfax, who was a passionate fox-hunter, though old in years, invited liim one dav 3 34 MOUXT TERXON to join liim in the chase. His lordship was so charmed with his young friend's boldness in tlie saddle and enthusiastic pursuit of the hounds and game, that he took him to his bosom as a companion; and many a hard day's ride this v^oung and old man had together after that, in the forests of Virginia. But a more noble, because a more useful pursuit than the mere pleasures of the chase, now offered its attractions to the lad. Master Williams had taught him the mysteries of sur- veying, and the old Lord Fairfax, having observed his prac- tice of the art at Mount Vernon, and his extreme care and accuracy, proposed to him to go to his broad possessions beyond the Blue Ridge, where lawless intruders were seated, and prepare his domain for settlement, by running boundary lines between large sections. Tlie lad gladly acceded to the proposition, and just a month from the time he was sixteen years of age, he set off upon the arduous and responsible enterprise. And to this day a little log-house, near Battle Town, in Clarke county, is pointed out to the traveller, wherein the young surveyor lodged ; and in the same county, not far from Winchester, stood, a few years ago, the lodge of Greei' way Court. In the wildei-ness, around the south branch of the Potomac, the future Leader received those lessons in wood-craft — that personal knowledge of the country and its dusky inhabitants, and, above all, that spirit of self-reliance which was ever a most marked and important trait in his character — which fitted him for the great duties of a commander. So satisfactory were young Washington's services on that occasion, that he received, soon after his return, the appoint- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 35 meat of public surveyor, and upon the records of Culpepper county may be read, under date of July 20th, 1749 (O. S.), that " George Washington, Gent., produced a commission from the President and Master of William and Mary College, ap- pointing him to be surveyor of this county, which was read, and thereupon he took the usual oaths to his Majesty's person and government, and took and subscribed the abjuration oath and test, and then took the oath of a surveyor, according to law." Part of each year he was beyond the Alleghanies, with no other instruments than compass and chain, acquiring strength of limb and purpose for future great achievements, and put- ting money in his purse ,at the rate of a doubloon and some- times six pistoles a day. These expeditions he always remem- bered as the greatest pleasures of his youth. After Washington's death, more than fifty years later, the simple compass and chain and other mathematical instru- ments of his earlier and later years, were distributed among his family connections, but only one of them, a small library instrument, was mentioned in his will, as follows: " To David Stuart I give my large shaving and dressing table, and my telescoped Dr. Stuart married the widow of John Parke Custis, the son of Mrs. Washington. The telescope is now in possession of his granddaughter, wife of the Keverend A, B. Atkins, of Gerraantown, Pennsylvania. And now another and more extended field of action opened before the young resident at Mount Yernon. Beneath the roof of that pleasant mansion, toward the spring of 1751, he received from acting Governor Burwell the commission of adjutant of his military district, with the rank and pay of 36 M U X T V K R X X major. It was an acceptable honor. Ilis military spirit was kindlini^; for it had been fanned by old Major Muse, a fellow-soldier with Lawrence at Carthagena, who was a fre- Washington's tklhscui' quent and welcome guest at Mount Yernon, and by the stont Dutchman, Van Braam (who afterward figured ingloriously in liistory), m'Iio had taught hhn tlie art of fencing. Young Washington had scarcely taken his initial steps in the performance of his new duties wlien he was drawn from public life. Dark and ominous shadows were alternating Avith tlie sweet domestic sunlight that smiled so pleasantly around Mount Yernon. They were cast by the raven wing of the anwl of disease. A hectic irlow was u])on tlie cheeks AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 37 of Lawrence Wasliiiigton, anc" liis pliysicians advised liini to g-o to the more geiiiai climate of Barbadoes in search of Jiealth. George went with him. It was in bright September, 1751, when they sailed, and in dark and stormy January he returned to tell the anxious wife of his brother that her loved one must go to Bermuda in the spring ; for the hectic glow was growing brighter and his manly strength less. She was preparing to join him there, when word came that hope's promises had faded forever, and that her husband was coming home to die. He came when the bloom of May was upon the land, and before the close of July he was laid in the grave, at the early age of thirty-four years, leaving a wife and infant child. And now George AVashington, a noble youth of twenty, his fine manly face a little scarred by the smallpox, that seized him while he was in Barbadoes, wa^ at Mount Yernon as tlie faithful executor of the last will and testament of his brother. He was also prospective heir of that whole beau- tiful domain, Lawrence having left it to his daughter, with the proviso that in the event of her death that and other lands should become the proj)erty of George. That contingency soon occurred. Little Jenny died, and George Washington became the owner of Mount Vernon. Already, by the will of his father, he was the proprietor of the paternal estate on the Rappahannock. Kow he ranked among the wealthier of the planters of the Old Dominion. Tlie development of great and stirring events soon called ^Yashington to the forests, not with compass and chain, and ri eld-book, but with sword and pistol, and diplomatic com- mission. Tlien his hero-life Ijcijan. 38 MOUNT VERNON For a tliousand years a national feud had existed between Gauls and Britons — French and English; and their colonists, seated a little way apart in the New AVorld, cherished this sentiment of utter dislike. It was intensified by jealousy ; for they were competitors for a prize no less than that of supreme dominion in America, The English were planters — the French were traders; and while the stations of the latter were several hundred miles in the interior, away from the settlements of the former, on the seaboard, the equanimity of both parties was quite undis- turbed. But when, after the capture of Louisburg by the English, in 1745, the French adopted vigorous measures for opposing the extension of British power in America; when they built strong vessels at the foot of Lake Ontario ; made treaties of friendship and alliance with the Delaware and Shawnee tribes of Indians ; strengthened their fortress at the mouth of the Niagara River, and commenced the erection of a cordon of fortifications, more than sixty in number, between Montreal and New Orleans, the English were aroused to immediate and effective action, in defence of the territorial rights conceded to them in their ancient charters. By virtue of these, they claimed absolute dominion westward to the Pacific Ocean, south of the latitude of the north shore of Lake Erie ; while the French claimed a title to all the territory watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, because they had made the first explorations and settlements in that region. The claims of the real owner — the Indian — were not consid- ered. It was a significant question, asked by a messengei- sent by sachems to Mr. Gist, agent of the English Oliio Com pany — "Where is the Indian's land? The English claim it AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 39 all on one .^ide of the n\'er, the French on the other. Where does the Indian's land lie ? " At length English traders who went to tlic Ohio re^-ion were driven away or imprisoned hy the French, and the latter commenced bnilding forts south of Lake Eric. Governor Dmwiddie, of Virginia, thought these proceedings ratlier in- solent, and lie sent Major Washington, then less tlum twenty- two years of age, to carry a letter of remonstrance to the French commander in tliat region. Seven persons besides Major "Washington composed the expedition, and among them was Van Braam, Washington's Dutch fencing-master, who could speak French fluently, and went as interpreter. They assembled at Williamsburg, and made every preparation for a journey of several hundred miles on horseback, through an unbroken wilderness. Tliey were furnished by the governor with horses, pack-saddles, tent, arms, amnmnitior., a leathern canip-chcst, provisions. P\CK SADDLE. and every other necessary, and on the 31st of October, 1753, dei)arted for the head-waters of the Ohio. Tliey made a mosl 40 MOUNT TKRNON perilous journey, and, after an absence of seven weeks, Majui Washington again stood in the presence of Governor Diii- widdie, his mission fulfilled to the satisfaction of all. Two days afterward he returned, first to liis niotlier's home, near Fredericlvsbnrg, then to Belvoir, and finally to Mount Vernon, where he spent a greater portion of the winter and spring of 1754. J3ut Major Washington was not allowed to remain long in seclusion. In the late expedition he had exhibited qualities too great and useful to be suffered to repose. War with the French appeared inevitable. The latter continued their hosr tile preparations in the Ohio region, and a colonial military force, to be sent thither, was organized in the spring of 1754. Colonel Joshua Fry was appointed its commander, and Major Washington his lieutenant. For a while Mount Yernon appeared like a recruiting station. At length all preparations were completed, and on the 2d of April, Major Washington, with the advanced corps, marched from Alexandria toward the Ohio. After a toilsome jonrney of eighteen days, over the Blue Ridge, they reached the mouth of Wills' Creek (now Cumberland), where Wash- ington, for the first time, occupied a house for his head- quarters as a military commander. It was the dwelling of a pioneer. It has long since passed away, but the pencil has preserved its features, and now, at the distance of time of ' more than a hundred years, we may look upon the portrait of Washington's first Head-Quaetees. It is not our purpose to trace the events of Washington's life in their consecutive order. We propose to give delinea- tions of only such as held intimate relations with his beautiful AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 41 i£^ WASniNGlOX's FIRST IIEAD-QIAKTERS. liomo on the Potomac, which, for more than forty years, was to liini the dearest spot on the earth. During tlie war between the French and English, that com- menced in earnest in 1755, when Braddock came to America as commander-in-chief of the British forces, until the close of tlie campaign of 1758, when the French and their dusky allies were driven from the forks of the Ohio, Washington was almost continually in the public service, and spent but little time at Mount Yernon. lie had been promoted to Colonel in 1754, but, on account of new military arrange- ments by the blundering, wrong-headed, narrow-minded Gov- ernor Dinwiddie, he had left the service with disgust, and retired to the quiet of private life at Mount A^'ernon, with a determination to spend his life there in the pursuits of agricul- ture — pursuits which he always passionately loved, and longed for inost earnestly when away from them. General Braddock, an Irish oflicer of forty years' expcrien(!e 42 MOUNT VERNON in the army, came to America with two regiments early in 1755, and called a council of royal governors at Alexandria, to arrange a regular campaign against the French. Brad- dock soon heard, from every lij), encomiums of the character of Colonel Washington, and he invited him to Alexandria. Mount Yernon was only a little more than an hour's ride distant, and Washington, whose military ardor was again aroused by jireparations for conflict, was swift to obey the summons. From Mount Yernon he had looked upon the shijjs-of-war and transports upon the bosom of the Potomac that bore Braddock and his ^^ ^^^ troops, and the thought that only / ^^^^ a few miles from his dwelling, ^fl ^^^^^ preparations were in progress for a brilliant campaign, under the command of one of the m'ost ex- perienced generals of the British army, stirred the very depths of his soul, and made him yearn to go again to the field. At the residence of Jonathan Carey, where Braddock made his lead-cpiarters, the young provin- cial colonel and the veteran gen- eral first met, at the close of March. Carey's was then the finest house in Alexandria, sur- rounded by a noble lawn that was shaded by lofty forest trees, and its gardens extending d\jvvii a gentle slope to the shore of the Potomac. ISTow it TUb CAKLi HOLbL IN IbdJ AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 43 stands Avithin the city, hemmed iu by buildings and paved streets, and forms a part of Newton's Hotel. The convention of governors met in it in April, and there the ensuing cam- paign was planned. Braddock invited Washington to join his military family, as aid, with the rank he had lately borne. The mother of the young colonel hastened to Mount Vernon to persuade him not to accept it. She urged the claims of his and her own affairs upon his attention, as strong reasons for him uot to enter the army again, and for two days she held his decision in abey- ance, for filial obedience was one of the strongest sentiments of "Washington's nature. But it was not strong enough to restrain him on this occasion — or, rather, God's will must be obeyed — and he left Mount Yernon for Alexandria, after her departure for the Rappahannock, and was welcomed into Braddock's family with joy by Captains Orme and Morris. On the 9th of July following we behold him upon the bloody field of the Monongahela, shielded by God's provi- dence, untouched by ball or bayonet, arrow or javelin, while carnage was laying its scores of victims around him, and his commander M-as borae mortally wounded from the field — we behold him riding from point to point, bringing order out of confusion, and leading away from that aceldaina the shattered battalions of the proud army of the morning to a place of safety and repose. Then he returned to Mount Vernon, weak from recent sickness and exposure in the field. Li his little library there he wrote to his brother, then a member of the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg, and thus summed up his military career : "I was employed to go a journey in tlie winter, when 1 4-J: MOUNr YERNON believe few or none would have imdertaken it, and what did I get by it? My expenses borne! I w^as then appointed, with trifling pay, to conduct a handful of men to tlie Ohio. What did 1 get by tliat? Why, after putting myself to a considerable expense in equipping and providing necessaries for the campaign, I went out, was soundly beaten, and lost all ! Came in, and had my commission taken from me ; or, in other words, my command reduced, under pretence of an order from home. I then went out a volunteer with General Braddock, and lost all my horses, and many other things. But this being a voluntary act, I ought not to have mentioned it; nor should I have done it, were it not to show that I have been on the losing order ever since I entered the service, which is now nearly two years." But what wonderful and necessary lessons for the future had Washington learned during that time! Mount Vernon saw but little of its master during the next four years ; for the flame of war lighted up the land from Acadia, and along the St. Lawrence, away down to the beau- tiful Cherokee country, in Western Georgia and Carolina, and Washington was most of the time in camp, except from December, 1757, until March, 1758, when he was an invalid at home. In February, 1756, we find him, accompanied by two aides, journeying to Bcston, to confer with General Shirley con- cerning military rank in Virginia. Little did he then think that twenty years later he would again be there directing a biege against the Kew England capital, in command of rebels against the crown he was then serving ! We find him lino-erino- in New York, on his return. The AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 45 young soldier, apparently invincible to the mortal weapons of war, was sorely smitten there by the " sly archer" concealed in the bright eyes, blooming cheeks, and winning ways of Mary Phillipse, the heiress of a broad domain, stretching many a mile along the Hudson. The young soldier lingered MARY PHILI.] in her presence as long as duty would permit, and lie woidd fain have carried her with him to Virginia as a bride, but his natural diffidence kept the momentous question unspoken in his heart, and his fellow aide-de-camp in Braddock's family, Roger Morris, bore away the prize. Mary Phillipse did not become the mistress of Mount Vernon, but reigned, as beau- teous (pieen, in a moi'e stately mansion on the bank of the /77y^ 46 MOUNT VERNON Harlem River, where, twenty years later, Washington, as leader of a host of Americans, in arms against the king, held his head-quarters, the master and mistress of the mansion being proscribed as " enemies to their country ! " MORRIS S HOITSE. But, three years later, there was a presiding angel over the mansion on Mount Yernon, Meanwhile the tramp of steeds, the clangor of arms, and every sound betokening warlike prep- arations, were heard there, and the decisive campaign ot 1758 was opened. Washington went to the camp as soon as his health would permit ; and toward Fort du Quesne, at the confluence of the forks of the Ohio, quite a large army made its way. Wasting delays and weary marches consumed tlie summer time ; and late in autumn, having traversed deep forests and rugged' mountains, the invading army found rest, beyond the Alle- ghanies. Colonel Washington, with an advanced guard, took possession of all that was left of Fort du Quesne, where Pitts- burg now stands. It had been the prize for which JBraddocIc contended — the nest from wliich came the vultures that AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 47 ))ivyed u[)on the frontier settlements. Over its smoking ruins the red cross of St. George was nnfurled, where for four years had Maved the lilies of France. Then French dominion ceased southward of Lake Erie ; and the young hero, whose wisdom, skill, and valor had contributed so largely toward the accomplishment of that result, returned to Mount Vemon sick and wearied, fully resolved to leave the army forever, and seek repose and hapj)iness, usefulness and fair fame, in do- mestic and civil life. For these Washington was now prepared. During the previous spring, while on his way to Williamsburg, from his camp at Winchester, he had been taught to love one of the best of Virginia's daughters ; and in the autumn, while he was making his toilsome march toward Fort du Quesne, he had been elected a delegate to the Virginia House of Burgesses. The story of AYashington's love and courtship is simple, yet full of the elements of romance. jSTo words can better tell that story than those used for the purpose, in after years, by a grandson of the lady.* "It was in 1758," he says, "that Washington, attired in military undress, and attended by a body servant, tall and militaire as his chief, was crossing William's Ferry over the Pamunkey River, a branch of the York Kiver. On the boat touching the southern or Kew Kent side, the soldier's progress was arrested by one of those personages who give the beau ideal of the Virginia gentleman of the old regime — the very soul of kindliness and hospitality. * The late George ■Washington Parke Custis, tiie adopted son of Washington. See Custis's Recollections of Washington. New York, 1 850. 48 MOUNT VERNON It was in vain the soldier urged his business at Williamsburg, important communications to the governor, etc. Mr. Cham berlayne, on whose domain the riiilitaire had jnst landed, would hear of no excuse. Colonel Washington's was a name and character so dear to all the Virginians that his passing by one of the old castles of the Dominion without calling and partaking of the hospitalities of the host was entirely out of the question. "The colonel, however, did not surrender at discretion, but stoutly maintained his ground, till Chamberlayne bringing up his reserve, in the intimation that he would introduce his friend to a young and charming widow, then beneath his roof, the soldier capitulated, on condition that he should dine — only dine — and then, by pressing his charger and borrowing of the night, he would reach Williamsburg before his Excel- lency could shake oif his morning slumbers. ' Orders were accordingly issued to Bishop, the Colonel's body -servant and faithful follower, who, together with the line English charger, had been bequeathed by the dying Braddock to Major Wash- ington, on the famed and fatal field of the Monongahela. Bishop, bred in the school of European discipline, raised his hand to his cap, as much as to say, * Your honor's orders shall be obeyed.' " The colonel now proceeded to the mansion, and was intro- duced to various guests (for when was a Yirginian domicile? of the olden tiuie without guests?) and, above all, to the charming widow. Tradition relates that they were mutually pleased on this their first interview. Nor is it remarkable. They were of an age when impressions are strongest. The lady was fair to behold, of fascinating manners, and splen- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 49 didly endowed with worldly benefits. Tl\e liero, fresh from his early fields, redolent of fame, and with a form on which " ' Every god did seem to set his seal, To give the world assurance of a man.' " The morning passed pleasantly away ; evening came, witli Bishop, true to his orders and firm at his post, holding the favorite charger with one hand, while the other was waiting to ofier the ready stirrup. " The snn sank in the horizon, and yet the colonel appeared not. And then the old soldier marvelled at his chief's delay. "Twas strange, 'twas passing strange — surely he was not wont to be a single moment behind his appointments, for he was the most punctual of all punctual men.' Meantime, the host enjoyed the scene of the veteran on duty at the gate, while the colonel was so agreeably employed in the parlor, and proclaiming that no guest ever left his house after sunset, his military visitor was, without much difliciilty, persuaded to order Bishop to put up the horses for the night. " The sun rode high in the heavens the ensuing day, when the enamored soldier pressed with his spur his charger's side, and speeded on his way to the seat of government, where, having dispatched his public business, he retraced his steps, and, at the "White House, a marriage engagement took place." That " charming widow" was Martha Custis, daughter of John Dandridge, whose husband, Daniel Parke Custis, had been dead between two and three years. He had left her with two young children and a very large fortune in lands and money, the legal evidence of which, in the form of deeds, mortgages, bonds, and certificates of deposit in the Bank of 50 MOUNT VERNON OANIEL PARKE CUSTIS. England, were contained in a strong iron l)ox, wliicli is care- fullj preserved by lier de- scendants, at their beau- tiful seat at Arlington, on the Potomac, opposite Washington City. "And much," continues the writer we have quoted, " hath the biographer heard of that marriage of Washington, from the grayhaired domestics who waited at the board where love made the feast and the Virginia colonel was the guest. MRS. CUSTIS S IRON CREST. AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 51 " ' And so you remember,' I said to old Cully, my grand- mother's servant, when in his hundredth year — ' and so you remember when Colonel Washington came a-com-ting your young mistress ? ' " ' A}', master, that I do,' said Cully. ' Great times, sir, great times — shall never see the like again.' " ' And Washington looked something like a man — a proper man, hey. Cully ? ' " 'Never seed the like, sir — never the like of him, though I have seen many in my day — so tall, so straight, and then he sat on a horse and rode with such an air ! Ah, sii-, he was like no one else ! Many of the grandest gentlemen, in the gold lace, were at the wedding ; but none looked like the man himself.' " The marriage of Washington occurred on the 17th of January, (6th Old Style), 1759, at the " White House," the residence of his bride, in New Kent county, not far from Williamsburg. Tlie officiating clergyman was the Eeverend David Mossom, who, for forty years was rector of the neigh- boring parish of St, Peter's. Washington was then an attend- ant member of the House of Burgesses, and for three months, while official duties detained him at Williamsburg, he resided at the " White House." When the session had ended, he returned to Mount Vernon, taking with him the future mis- tress of the mansion, and her two children, John Parke and Martha Parke Custis. Then commenced that sweet domestic life at Mount Yernon, which always possessed a powerful charm for its illustrious owner. He early wrote to his friend, Richard Washington, in London : 52 MOUNT VERNON MRS. WASHINGTON S CHILDREN. " I am noM% 1 believe, fixed in tliis seat with an agreeable partner for life, and I hoj^e to find more happiness in retire- ment than I ever experienced in the wide and bustling world." He was then seven-and-twenty years of age, and over six feet two inches in height, and admirably proportioned. His hair was a rich dark-brown ; his eyes grayish-blue and expressive of deep thought ; his complexion florid, and his features regular and rather heavy. Washington's wife was three months younger than himself She was a small, plump, elegantly formed woman. Her eyes were dark and expressive of the most kindly good nature ; her complexion fair ; her features beautiful ; and her whole face AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 53 beamed with intelligence. Her temper, though quick, was sweet and placable, and her manners were extremely winning. She was full of life, loved the society of her friends, always MRS. WASHINGTON AT TOE TIME OF HER MARRIAGE. dressed with a scrupulous regard to the re(j^uirements of the best fashions of the day, and was, in every respect, a brilliant member of the social circles which, before the revolution, composed the vice-regal court at the old Virginia capital. Washington, at this time, possessed an ample fortune, in- dependent of that of his wife. His estate of Mount Yernon he described as most pleasantly situated in " a high, healthy country ; in a latitude between the extremes of heat and cold, on one of the finest rivers in the world — a river well stocked with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year, and in 54 MOUNT VERNON the spring with shad, herrings, bass, carp, sturgeon, etc., in abundance. The borders of the estate," he continued, " are washed by more than ten miles of tide-water ; several valuable fisheries appertain to it ; the whole shore, in fact, is one entire fishery." Such was the delightful home to which Washington took his bride in the spring of 1759. At that time, almost every manufactured article for domestic use, was imported from England. It is amusing and interest- ing to observe the difterence in the items of orders sent out to London from Mount Yernon within the space of two years. First, as a bachelor, Washington orders : " Five pieces of Irish Linnen. 1 piece finest Cambric. 2 pr. fine worked ruffles, at 20^. a pr. 2 setts compleat shoe brushes. |- doz. pr. thread hose, at 5^. 1 compleat Saddle and Bridle, and 1 sett Holster caps, and Housing of fine Blue Cloth with a small edging of Em- broidering round them. As much of the best superfine blue Cotton Yelvet as will make a Coat, Waistcoat, and Breeches for a Tall Man, with a fine silk button to suit it, and all other neces- sary trimmings and linings, together with garters for the Breeches. 6 prs. of the very neatest shoes, viz : 2 pr. double channelled pumps ; two pr. turned ditto, and two pair stitched shoes, to be made by one Didsbury over Colonel Beiler's last, but to be a little wider over the instep. 6 prs. gloves, 3 j)airs of which to be proper for riding, and AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 55 to have slit tops; the whole larger than the middle A little later, in apparent expectation of a wife at some future day, the careful bachelor prepares the mansion for her reception. In September, 1757, he wrote to Richard Wash- ington, saying: "Be pleased, over and above what I liave wrote for in a letter of the 13tli of April, to send me 1 doz. Strong Chairs, of CHAIRS ONCK AT MOUNT VERNON. about 15 sliillings a piece, the bottoms to be exactly made by the enclosed dimensions, and of three different colors to suit the paper of three of the bed-chambers, also wrote for in my last. I must acquaint you, sir, with the reason of this request. 1 have one dozen chairs that were made in the countrv ; neat. 56 MOUNT VERNON but too weak for common sitting. I therefore propose to take the bottoms out of those and put them into these now ordered, while tlie bottoms which you send will do for the former, and furnish the chambers. For this reason the workmen most be very exact, neither making the bottoms larger nor smaller than the dimensions, otherwise the change can't be made. Be kind enough to give directions that these chairs, equally with the others and the tables, be carefully packed and stowed. With- out this caution, they are liable to infinite damage." In 1759 (the j^ear of Washington's marriage), we have the order of a husband instead of that of a bachelor. The items are quite ditferent, and were evidently dictated by the sweet little wife, leaning lovinglj^, perhaps, upon the broad shoulder of her noble lord. He directs his friend in London to send him : " 1 Salmon-colored Tabby [velvet] of the enclosed pattern, with Sattin flowers ; to be made in a sack and coat. 1 Cap, Handkerchief, and Tucker [a piece of lace or linen pinned to the top of women's stays] and Euffles, to be made of Brussells lace or Point, proper to be worn with the above negligee ; to cost £20. 1 piece Bag Holland, at 6s. a yard. 2 fine flowered Lawn Aprons. 2 double handkerchiefs. 2 prs. women's white silk hose. 6 pr. fine cotton do. 4 pr Thread do. four threaded. 1 p. black and 1 pr. white Sattin Shoes of the smallest fives. 4 pr Callimanco do. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 57 1 fashionable Hat or Bonnet. p. Women's best Kid Gloves. C pr. ditto mitts. ^ doz. Knots and Breast Knots. 1 doz. round Silk stay laces. 1 black Mask. 1 doz most fashionable Canibrick Pocket Handkerchiefs. ,2 pr. neat Small Scissors. 1 lb Sewing Silk, shaded. Eeal Miniken pins and hair pins, and 4 pieces Binding Tape. Six lbs perfumed powder. 3 lbs best Scotch Snuff. 3 lbs best Yiolette Strasbourg Snuff. 1 pr narrow white Sattin ribbon, pearl edge. A puckered petticoat of a fashionable color. A silver Tabby velvet petticoat. 2 handsome breast flowers. Hair pins — sugar candy. 2 pr. small silver Ear-rings for servants. 8 lbs Starch. 2 lbs Powdered Blue. 2 oz. Coventry Thread, one of which to be very fine. 1 case of Pickles to consist of Anchovies, Capers, Olives, Salad Oil, and one bottle Ind'an Mangoes. 1 Large Cheshire Cheese. 4 lbs Green Tea. 10 gross best Corks. 25 lbs best jar Baisins. 25 lbs Almonds, in the Shell. 58 MOUNT VERNON 1 hhd best Porter, 10 loaves double and 10 single refined Sugar. 12 lbs best mustard. 2 doz. Jack's best playing cards. 3 gallons of Rbenisb in bottles. 100 lbs wbite Biscuit. 1^ doz. Bell glasses for Garden. 1 more Window Curtain and Cornice. 2 more Cbair bottoms, sucli as were written for in a former invoice." Sucli were Wasliington's orders for bis bouse at tliat time. Tbese items were followed by others pertaining to bis farming operations and tbe servants upon bis estate ; and also medi cines for family use. And now, tbe mansion at Mount Yernon baving an accom- plisbed mistress to preside over its bospitalities, and to receive and entertain some of the best society of Virginia, articles of taste were introduced to embellish it. In tbe handwriting of the master we find the duplicate of an order, as follows : " DiKECTioNS FOE THE BusTS. — Ouc of Alexander the Great ; another of Julius Ciesar ; another of Charles XII. of Sweden ; and a fourth of the King of Prussia. " N. B. These are not to exceed fifteen inches in height, nor ten in width. " 2 other Busts of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marl- borough, somewhat smaller. " 2 Wild Beasts, not to exceed twelve inches in height, nor eighteen in length. " Sundry ornaments for Chimney-piece." AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 59 These items indicate the iiiilitaiy taste of Washington at that time, and show his reverence for the great military leaders of whom history had made her enduring records. Many years later, when Washington had become as renowned as they, the Great Frederick sent liim a portrait of himself, accompanied by the remarkable words — " From the Oldest General in Eu rope to the Greatest General in the World !" Two years after his marriage, Washington sent the following order to Robert Carey, Esq., in London : " For Mastek Cdstis, S years old. ^^-^ " 1 handsome suit of Winter Cloathes. A suit of Summer ditto, very light. 2 pieces Nankeens with trimmings. 1 silver lace<:l hat. 6 pair fine Cotton Stockings. 1 pr fine worsted ditto. 4 pr. Strong Shoes. 1 pr. neat Pumps. 1 p. gloves. 2 hair bags. 1 piece ribbon for ditto. 1 p. silver Shoe and Knee buckles. 1 p. Sleev'e buttons. A Small Bible neatly bound in Turkey, and John Parke Custis wrote in gilt letters on the inside of the cover. A neat Small Prayer Book bound as above, with John Pai-ke Custis, as above. 1 piece Irish linen, at Is. 3 pr shoes for a boy 14 y'rs old. 60 MOUNT VERNON CDSTIS S ARMS 3 p. Coarse Stockings for do. 2 pr "Women's Strong Shoes, size 8. 2 p'r Stockings for do. 50 ells Osnabnrgs. A suit of liverj Cloatlies for the above hoy of 14. A hat for do. "NoTK. — Let the livery be suited to the arms of the Custis familj." " For Miss Custis, 6 yeaes old. /^ " A coat made of fashionable Silk. A fashionable Cap or Fillet with bib apron. Ruffles and Tucker — to be laced. 4 fashionable dresses to be made of Long lawn. 2 fine Cambric frocks. A Sattin Capuchin hat and neckatees. A Persian quilted coat. 1 pr. pack thread Stays. 4 p. Calamanco Shoes, 6 pr leather ditto and 2 p'r Sattin do. with flat ties. 6 pr fine Cotton Stockings, 4 pr White Wors'd Do. 12 p'r Mitts. 6 p'r Gloves, white Kids. 1 p'r Silver Shoe buckles. 1 pr. neat sleeve buttons. 6 handsome Egrets* difi'erent sorts. 6 yds Ribbon Do. * An Egrette or Aigrette was an ornament for the head then much used by people of fashion. They were sometimes made of tufts of feathers, diamonds, etc., but more frequently of ribbons. In the above invoice both kinds were ordered. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 61 1 pr. little Scissors. 3 M (tlioiisand) large pins. 3 M short wliites. 3 M Minikens. 1 Fashionable dressed Doll to cost a guinea. 1 Do. at 5^. A box Gingerbread, Toys & Sugar Images and Comfits. A neat Small Bible, bound in Turkey, and Martha Parke Custis wrote on the inside in gilt letters. A Small Prayer Book, neat and in the same manner. 12 yards coarse green Callimanco. The above things to be put into a Strong Trunk — separate from J. P. Custis's, whose will likewise be put into a Trunk, each having their names, 1 very good Spinet [a small harpsichord], to be made by Mr. Plinius, Harpsichord Maker, in South Audley Street, Grosvenor Square. " It is begged as a favor that Mr. Carey would bespeak this instrument as for himself or a friend, and not let it be known y' is intended for exportation. "Send a good assortment of spare strings to it. "Books according to the enclosed List — to be charged equally to both John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis — likewise one Ream of Writing paper." These specimens of orders which were sent out annually to England, are given as glimpses of the domestic arrangements at Mount Vernon, and the style in which the wealthier Vir- ginia families, of cultivated tastes, lived before the Eevolution It is evident that Washington and his family indulged in al- the fashionable luxuries (not extravagances) of the day, per- taining to the table and the wardrobe ; and in the absence of pogitive .proof, these invoices M'ould afford the strongest infer- 63 . MOUNT VERNON entiul evidences that tliey spent much of their earlier years in tlie enjoyment of social pleasures. Washington's Diaries bear still stronger, because positive testimony to the ftict. During some months, two or three times a week he records the result of a day's sport thus: " Went a hunting with Jacky Custis, and catched a fox, after three hours chase. Found it in the creek :" or, " Mr. Brvan Fairfax, Mr. Grayson and Phil. Alexander came home by sun- rise. Hunted and catched a fox with these, Lord Fairfax, his brother, and Colonel Fairfax-^all of whom with Mr. Fairfax ■ and Mr. Wilson of Fngland, dined here." Afterward, two days in succession : " Hunted again with the same com- pany." Still more frequently he noted the arrival and departure of guests. One day the Fairfaxes, or Masons, or Thurstous, or Lees would be there ; and the next day he and " Mrs. Wash- ington, Mr. and Miss Custis " would " dine at Bel voir." And so the round of visiting went on. Mount Yernon was seldom without a guest. The hunting day, which occurred so fre- quently, generally ended in a dinner there or at Belvoir, a little lower on the Potomac — more frequently at the former ; and the hospitalities of the house were kept up in a style which none but a wealthy planter could afford. " Would any one believe," Washington says in his diary of 1768, " that with a hundred and one cows, actually reported at a late enumera- ' tion of the cattle, I should still be obliged to buy butter for my family 2'" For Mrs. Washington and her lady visitors he kept a chariot and four horses, with black postillions in livery ; and these were frequently seen and admired upon the road» between AKI' ITS ASSOCIATIONS. G3 Mount Vernon and Alexandria, or the neigliLoring estates. He took great delight in horses. Those of his oav n stable were of the best blood, and their names, as well as those of his dogs, were registered in his household books. When abroad, he always apjjeared on horseback ; and as he was one of the most superb men and skilful horsemen in Virginia, he must have made an imposing appearance, especially when fully equipped for the road, with the following articles, which were ordered by him from London, in one of his annual invoices : " 1 Man's Riding-Saddle, hogskin seat, large plated stirrups, and everything complete. Double-reined bridle and Pel ham Bit, plated. ■ A very neat and fashionable IS^CAvmarket Saddle-Cloth. A large and best Portmanteau, Saddle, Bridle and Pillion. Cloak-Bag Snrcingle ; checked Saddle-cloth, holsters, &c. A Eiding Frock of handsome drab-colored Broadcloth, with plain double-gilt Buttons. A Eiding Waistcoat of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace, • with Buttons like those of the Coat. A blue Surtout Coat. A neat Switch Whip, silver cap. Black Velvet Cap for Servant." Tims attired, and accompanied by Bishop, his favorite body servant, in scarlet livery, Washington was frequently seen upon the road, except on Sunday morning, when he always rode in the chaise, with his family, to the church at Pohick or at Alexandria. Like other gentlemen living near the Potoma<.'. Washington was fond of aquatic sports. He kept a handsome barge, which, 64 MOUNT VERNON on special occasions, was manned by black oarsmen in livery. Pleasant sailing-boats were frequently seen sweeping along the surface of the river, freighted with ladies and gentlemen going from mansion to mansion on its banks — Mount Vernon, Gun- ston Hall, Belvoir, and other places — on social visits. Washington and his wife frequently visited Annapolis and Williamsburg, the respective capitals of Maryland and Yir- ginia. For fifteen consecutive years he was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and Mrs. Washington spent much of her time with him at Williamsburg during the sessions. Botli fond of amusements, they frequently attended the theat- rical representations there and at Annapolis, that entertainment being then a recent importation from England, the first com- pany of actors, under the direction of Lewis Hallam, having first performed in the Maryland capital in 1752, They also attended balls and parties given by the fashionable people of Williamsburg and Annapolis, and frequently joined in the dance. But after the Revolution Washington was never known to dance, his last performance being in a minuet, of which he- was very fond, on the occasion of a ball given at Fredericksburg in honor of the French and American officers then there, on their way north, after the capture of Corn wall is, toward the close of 1781. But it must not be supposed, that during these years of his earlier married life, Washington's time was wholly, or even' chiefly, occupied in the pleasures of the chase and of social intercourse. Far from it. He was a man of great industry and method, and managed his large estates with signal indus- try and ability. He did not leave his farms to the entire care of his overseers. He was very active, and continually, even AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 65 when absent on public business, exercised a general supervision of liis affairs, requiring a carefully prepared report of all oper ations to be transmitted to him weekly, for his inspection and suggestions. He was very abstemious, and while his table always fur- nished his guests with ample and varied supplies for their appetites, he never indulged in the least excess, either in eating or. drinking. He was an early riser, and might be found in his library from one to two hours before daylight in winter, and at dawn in summer. His toilet, plain and simple, was soon made. A single servant prepared his clothes, and laid them in a proper place at night for use in the morning. He also combed and tied his master's hair. Washington always dressed and shaved himself. The im- pfements he then used have been preserved, as interesting relics, in the family of Doctor Stuart, who, as we have ob- served, married the widow of John Parke Custis, the son of Mrs, Washington. Though neat in his dress and appearance, he never wasted precious moments upon his toilet, for he always regarded time, not as a gift but as a loan, for which he must account to the great Master. Washington kept his own accounts most carefully and me- thodically, in handwriting remarkalde for its extreme neatness and uniformity of stroke. This was produced by the constant use of a gold 2K7i. One of these, with a silver case, used by Washington during a part of the old war for independence, he presented to his warm personal friend, General Anthony Wal- ton White, of New Jersey, one of the most distinguished and patriotic of the cavalry officers of that war in the southern campaigns. It is now in the possession of Mrs. Eliza M. 66 M O IT N T V E R N N Evans, near Brunswick, Xew Jersey, the only surviving cliild of General White. In one end of the silver pen-case is a sliding tube for a common black-lead pencil, the convenient " ever-pointed " pencil being unknown in Washington's time. That was invented by Isaac Hawkins, and patented by him, in London, in 1802. WASHINGTON S GOLD PEN WITH SILVER CASE. From his youth Washington kept a diary. For many years these records of his daily experience were made on the blank leaves of the Virginia Almanac, " Printed and sold by Purdie FAC-SIMILE OF PAGE-HEADINGS IN WASHINGTON'S DIARY. and Dixon, Williamsburg." They are headed respectively, as seen in the engraving, which is a fac-simile from one of his early diaries after his marriage. Under similar headings in these al- manacs, and in small blank pocket-books, this man of mighty- labors kept such records, from day to day, for more than forty years ; and he frequently noted therein minute particulars con- cerning his agricultural operations, in the style of the sentence on the next page, whicb was copied from his diary for March, 1771. AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 67 Tims miiuitoly joiiriializing liis agricultural proceedings, keeping liis own accounts, making all his own surveys, and, even before the Revolution, having an extensive correspond- FAC-SIMILE f)F ENTRY IN WASHO ence, Washington found nnich daily employment for liis pen. The labors in his library, and a visit to his stables, usually occupied the hours before breakfast. After making a frugal meal of Indian cakes, honey, and tea or coffee, he would mount his horse and visit every part of his estate where the current operations seemed to require his presence, leaving liis guests to enjoy themselves with books and papers, or otherwise, according to their choice. He rode upon his farms entirely un- attended, opening the gates, pulling down and putting up the fences, and inspecting, with a careful eye, every agricultural operation, and personally directing the manner in Avhich many should be performed. Sometimes the tour of his tarms, in the course of the morning might average, in distance, twelve or fifteen miles ; and on these occasions his appearance was exceedingly plain, Tlie late Mr, Custis, his adopted son, has left on record a description of him on one of these occasions, in bo MOUNTVERNON the latter years of liis life, which he o^ave to a gentleman who was out in search of Washington : "You will meet, sir," said young Custis to the inquirer, " with an old gentleman riding alone, in plain drab clothes, a broad-brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, and carrying an umbrella with a long staff which is attached to his saddle-bow — that, person, sir, is General "Washington."* The umbrella was used to shelter him from the sun, for his skin was tender and easily affected by its rays. His breakfast hour was seven o'clock in summer and eight in winter, and he dined at three. He always ate heartily, but was no epicure. His usual beverage was small beer or cider, and Madeira wine. Of the latter he often drank several small glasses at a sitting. He took tea and toast, or a little well- baked bread, early in the evening, conversed with or read to his family, when there were no guests, and usually, wdiether there was company or not, retired for the night at about nine o'clock. So carefully did Washington manage his farms, that they became very productive. His chief crops were wheat and tobacco, and these were very large — so large that vessels that came up the Potomac, took the tobacco and flour directly from his own wharf, a little below his deer-park in front of his man- sion, and carried them to England or the West Indies. So noted were these products for their quality, and so faithfully ' were they put up, that any barrel of flour bearing the brand of " Geokge Washington, Mount Vernon," was exempted from the customary inspection in the British West India ports. * "Recollections and Private Memoirs of AYashinston, by bis Adopted Son," page 168. AND ITB ASSOCIATIONS. 69 X. ^ /^e regular stated services of the Church of Eng- land had ceased there, was the eccentric Mason L. Weems, the earliest biographer of Washington. The style of that biogra- phy was so attractive to the uncultivated readers of his day, that it passed through some forty editions, and even now it finds a sale. His character appears to have been a curious compound of seriousness and levity, truthfulness and exaggera- tion, reverence and profimity. He was an itinerant in eveiy sense of the word. He was a man of considerable attainments as a scholar, physician, and divine ; and his benevolence was unbounded. When a boy of fourteen years, he was found at night teaching halfrclad, half-fed children, who gathered eagerly around him ; and all through life he was ready to share a crust with the unfortunate. He used wit and humor freely on all occasions. " Whether in private or public, in ])rayers or preaching," says Bishop Meade, "it was impossible that either the young or old, the grave or the gay, could keep their risible faculties from violent agitation." He Avould pray with the negro servants at night, and fiddle for them by the road-side by day. For many years he was a travelling book- seller, preaching when invited, haranguing the people at 76 M U N T V E R N X courts, fairs, and other public gatlierings, and selling the Bible out of one hand and Paine's Age of Reason out of the other, alleging as an excuse for the latter performance, that he always carried the antidote with the poison. His fund of MASON L. WEEl: anecdote was inexhaustible; and after giving a promiscuous audience the highest entertainment of fun, he found them in good mood to purchase his books. At Mount Yernon he was always a welcome guest, f()r "Washington loved his goodness of heart and overlooked his foibles. Mr. Weems died - at Beaufort, South Carolina, in May, 1825, at an advanced age. After the Revolution, for reasons not clearly seen, Washing- ton attended Christ Church, at Alexandria (of which he was a vestryman), instead of Pohick. Others of the latter parish fol- lowed, and after a while regular services ceased in that part of AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. tlie country. Washington owned a pew in Clirist Church from the establishment of the parish, in 1764, and occupied it con- stantly after 1783, until his death. Some of his name have lield possession of it ever since. Judge Bushrod Washington CHRIST cncncFi, w.ix.wihua succeeded tlie General in its occupancy, then his nephew, John A. Washington, the father of the late proprietor of Mount Yernon, and lastly, that proprietor himself, Christ Church, at Alexandria, was finished in 1773, and Washington paid the highest price for a pew in it. I visited Pohick Church a few years ago, and found it falling rapidly into decay. It stands upon an eminence north of Pohick Creek, on the border of a forest that extends almost uninterruptedly to Mount Vernon. Around it are the ancient oaks of the primeval wood, interspersed with chestnuts and pines. It was just at twilight when I reached the old fane, and after making a sketch of it, I j)assed on to seek lodgings for the ( >> M U N T V E R N X night. Tlie next day was tlio Sabbath, and being mformed that a Methodist meeting was to be held in the church, I repaired tliither at the usual hour, and took a seat in Washing- ton's pew, near the pulpit. Tliere 1 awaited the slow gathering of the little auditory. When all had assembled, men and POHICK CHURCH IN 185?. women and children, white and black, the whole congre- gation numbered only twenty-one persons. I could not refrain from drawing a parallel with the scenes of other days under that venerated roof, when some of the noblest of Vir- ginia's aristocracy worshi])j)ed there, while clergymen, in sur- plice and gown, performed the solemn and impressive ritual of the Church of England. Now, a young man, with nothing to distinguish him from other men but a white cravat, stood as AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 79 teacher witliiu the ohl ehancel Ity the side of the ancient coni- niun ion-table. lie talked sweetly of Christian charity : " Oh, the rarity Of Christian charity !'' and asked the little company to join M'ith liiiu in singing the liynm — "Come, Holy Spirit! Heavenly Dove!" "When the seryice was oyer, I made note, with pen and pencil, of all within. It was a melanclioly task, for decay witli its busy fingers was at work all around me, making sure prophe- cies of the speeedy desolation of a building hallowed by associ- ations with the beloved "Washington. Upon the wall, back of the chancel, were still inscribed, the Law^ the Greedy and the Lord's Prayer^ upon which the eyes of Washington and his friends had rested a thousand times. A large proportion of the panes of glass were broken from the windows, admitting freely the wind and the rain, the bats and the birds. The elaborately wrought pulpit, placed by itself on one side of the church, was sadly i}iarred by desecrating hands. Under its sounding-board, a swallow had built her nest ; and upon the book ledge the fowls of the air had eyideutl}" perched. These things brought to memor}^ the words of the "sweet sniger of Israel" — "Yea, the s])arrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altar, O LiOrCl ol Hosts . PULPIT IN POHICK cnrRCH. 80 MOUNT YERNON III tlio spring of 1772 there was a stranger at Mount Vernon. in errand and person. Tie was one-and-thirty years of age, slender in form, witli a sweet and thoughtful face. He was a native of Maryland, and had been a saddler's apprentice at Annapolis, the capital of the province. In boyhood he had been as beautiful as a girl, and at twenty he was a handsome young man. At that age he felt spiritual aspirations for the life of an artist ; and when, two or three years later, he said to a retired painter who resided a few miles from Annapolis, " Show me, Mr. Ilesselius, how you mix such beautiful tints for your canvas, and I will give you the best saddle that I can make," a new world was opening to his enraptured vision. At that moment his true artist life began, for the generous painter revealed to him the coveted secret. Then the occupa- tions of watchmaker, silversmith, carver, and saddler, in which he had severally engaged, were abandoned for the pursuit of art, except when stern necessity compelled him to employ them in earning his daily food. Thus he w^orked on until a way was opened for him to go to England and place himself under the instruction of Benjamin West, the great American painter, then the loved companion of the king. Two years lie remained with West, and in 1769, Charles Willson Peale, the young artist referred to, returned to his native country and set up his easel as a portrait painter at Annapolis and Baltimore wnth wonderful success. The fame of the young painter soon reached Mount Vernon, and he was invited there to delineate, for the first time, the form and features of the noble " lord of the manor." He executed the commission admirably, and produced a fine portrait of Washington at the age of forty years, life size, a AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 81 little mure than luilf-leiigtli, and in the costume of a colonel of the twenty-second regiment of the Virginia Militia. The coat is blue, Avith red facings, and briglit metal buttons, having the nmnber uf the regiment ("22") cast upon them. The waist- coat and breeches are also red, and the sash, a faded purple. When, in 1797 or 'DS, Field, an English miniature painter and engraver of some eminence, visited Mount Vernun, he slept in a room in "which hung Washington's old military coat. The ])ainter cut off one of the buttons, and brought it away witli him, regarding the transaction as a pious theft, no doubt, be- cause prompted by veneration for the owner. That button was in the possession of John F. Watson, Esq. WASHINGTON S MILITARY BCTTON. 82 MOUNT VERNON the venerable annalist of Philadelphia and New York, and at liis lionsc in Germantown the annexed sketch of it was made. WASHINGTON AS A VIKGIMA COLONEL AT THE AGE OF FOKTY. Field had a pleasant coTintcnance and hne portly figure. He was, on the whole, rather fat, and loved his ease. " When at Centreville, on the eastern shore of Maryland, in 1798," says Eembrandt Peale, in a recent letter to a friend, " Field and I took a walk into the country, after a rain. A wide puddle of water covered the road beyond the fence on both sides. -I climbed tlie fence and walked round, but Field, fat and lazy, in good liunior paid an old negro to carry him on his shoulders over the water. In the middle of it, Field became so convuls- ed with laughter, that he nearly shook himself off the old man's back." AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS Field went to Canada, studied theology a little, was ordain- ed a priest of the Estab- lished Church, and be- came a bishop. The portrait painted by young Peale, at that time, was the first that was ever made of Wasliing- ton. From the study h-e then made, he painted the fine picture which Inmg at Mount Vernon until the owner's death, and since tliat time has graced the walls of Arlington House, the home of the late George AVashington Parke Custis. The study —the really first portrait, was afterward dressed in the continental costume. This remained in posses- sion of the artist and his ftmiily until the Peale gallery, in Philadelphia, was sold a few years ago, when it was purchased by Charles S. Ogden, Esq., in whose possession it now rests. FAC-SIMILE OF PKALe's RECEIPT 84 MOUNT VERNON AVhilc at Mount Vernon at that time, Peale painted a min- iature of Mrs. Wasliington, for her son, John Parke Custis, then a youth of eighteen, for wliieh Washington, as his guardian, paid ten guineas, according to a receipt in the Iiand-writing of Washington, and signed by the artist, a fas-simile of which is on the preceding page. JOH>f PARKK CUSTIS. Peale's miniatures "were excpiisitely painted, and very much sought after. A few years later he painted a portrait, m miniature, of young Custis, who was then General Washing- ton's aide ; also of his wife, the second daughter of Benedict Calvert, of Maryland, a descendant of Lord Baltimore, He also painted a portrait of that lady, life size, before her mar- riage, in which she is represented as a beautiful young girl in equestrian costume, the riding-jacket being open in front, and AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 85 on her head a ridhig-hat with a feather. The miniature of John Parke Custis, from wliich our engraving was copied, was in the possession of Mrs. Washington until her deatli, and is now the property of his granddaughter, the wife of Colonel Ivobert E. Lee, of Arlington House, Virginia. -" A shadow fell upon Mount Vernon in the spring of 1773. Xo child had blessed the union of Washington and his wife, and her two children received the most tender parental care and solicitude from their step-father. He appeared to love them as his own. Martha was a sweet girl, of gentle temper, graceful form, -winning ways, and so much a brunette, that she was called " tlie dark lady." Just as she was blooming into womanhood, pulmonary consumption laid its withering hand upon her. For several months her strength had been failing, and letters filled with expressions of anxiety went frequently from her mother to Washington, who was engaged in his duties in the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg. At lengtli a most alarming letter reached him. He had just made arrangements to accompany Lord Dunmore, the governor, on a long tour of observation west of the mountains, but he hastened to Mount Vernon. He found the dear child in the last moments of earthly life. His manly spirit was bowed with grief, and with deep feeling he knelt at the side of her bed and prayed most earnestly for her recovery. Upon the wings of that holy prayer her spirit ascended, and when he arose and looked upon her pale and placid face, Deatli had set its seal there. She expired on the nineteenth of June, * Mr. Peale painted many other portraits of Washington, life size and in miaia- ture. For an account of these, see note to the chapter on Washington's Port'^aits, in Cu-stis's Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington. 86 MOUNT VERNON when in the seventeenth year of her age. Her departure left a great void in the heart of the mother, and Washington remained for some time at Monnt Vernon, in sedusion, to con- sole Ills afflicted wife, instead of taking the contemplated journey with the governor. And now the flames of the Revolution were rapidly kind- ling all over the land. The representatives of royal authority had been buffeted in Boston, and acts of parliament had been set at naught, in such manner, that an indignant decree went forth from the throne, that the port of the 'New England capital should be shut, and the entire machinery of the colonial gov- ernment be clogged, until the people there should show prac- tical signs of penitence for their political sins. Tlie people defied the ministerial power, and laughed at ministerial anathemas. Tlien a new governor, with armed soldiers, took possession of Boston, and, with iron heel, crushed its commerce and its prosperity. Hot w^as the indignation of the colonists over the length and breadth of the land, and to every stroke of resistance given by the people of Massachusetts, those of Virginia abetted and ga 16 loud acclamations of applause. For ten long years the people, in separate communities, had petitioned and remon- strated in vain. Now there was a universal desire for unity of action, and a General Congress was proposed, in accordance with a suggestion made by Doctor Franklin. It received a hearty response in every colony, and the 5th of September, 1Y74:, was the time agreed upon for such congress to assemble, and Philadelphia the place. For a long time Washington had been much engaged in the discussion of the momentous political questions of the day. He AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 87 was firm in his opinion, but no enthusiast ; and with cautious but unwavering step, lie had walked in the path of opposition to ministerial measures. He heartily approved of a General Congress; and when, after the Virginia Assembly, of which he was a member, had been dissolved by the governor, and met in informal convention, to consult upon the expedient of holding another council to elect representatives to a general congress, he was warmly in favor of the measure. And when that congress met, he was among the delegates chosen for the important business of conferring, in solemn earnestness, upon the destinies of a nation. Washington was now fairly embarked upon the stormy ocean of political life in troublous times — " times," as Paine afterward said, " that tried men's souls." Yast were the stakes that he pledged. Life, fortune, honor, and every social enjoy- ment were all imperilled ; and while his friend and neighbor of Gunston Hall as warmly espoused the same cause, those of Belvoir adhered to the crown. The sports of the chase, social visiting, and almost every amusement of life now ceased at Mount Vernon. Grave men assembled there, and questions of mighty import were con- sidered thoughtfully and ] rayerfully, for Washington was a man of prayer from earliest manhood. At length the time arrived for the assembling of the national congress, and from all the colonies, except Georgia, the dele- gates began to make their way toward Philadelphia, some on horseback, others in coaches or chaises, but none by public conveyances, for there were few of these even in the most pop- ulous provinces. Some travelled alone, others in pairs ; and as they approached the Delaware or the Schuylkill, thej fcur • S8 MOUNT VERNOX themselves in com^^anies. What a glorious spectacle ! From twelve strong viceroyalties, containing an aggregate population of almost three millions of people, the best and the wisest among them, obedient to the public will, were on their way, througli vast forests, and over rugged mountains, across broad rivers, and broader morasses, and through richly cultivated districts, cheerful villages, and expanding cities, to a common goal, there to meet, deliberate, and confederate, for the welfare, not only of a continent, but of the world ! It was a moral spectacle such as had been hitherto unrecorded by the pen of history. On "Wednesday morning, the 31st of August, 1774, two men approached Mount Yernon on horseback. One of them was a slender man, very plainly dressed in a suit of ministei-s' gray, and about forty years of age. Tlie other was his senior in years, likewise of slender form, and a face remarkable for its expression of unclouded intelligence. He was more carefully dressed, more polished in manners, and much more fluent in conversation than his companion. They reached Mount Yer- non at seven o'clock, and after an exchange of salutations with Washington and his family, and partaking of breakfast, the three retired to the library and were soon deeply absorbed in the discussion of the great questions then agitating the people of the colonies. The two travellers were Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton. A third, the silver-tongued Cicero of Yirginia, Picliard Henry Leo, was expected with them, but he had been detained at Cliantilly, his seat in Westmoreland. All dav long these three eminent Yirginians were in council ; and early the next morning they set out on horseback for Phila- delphia, to meet the patriots from other colonies there. Will Lee, Washington's huntsman, and favorite body servant, now that AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 80 PATRICK IIEXRr. Bishop had become too okl and inlinn to be active, was tlic only attendant upon his master. Thej crossed the Potomac at the Falls (now Georgetown), and rode far on toward Balti- more, before the twilight. On the 4th of September, the day before the opening of the Congress, they breakfasted at Cln-is- tina Ferry (now Wilmington), and dmed at Chester ; and that night Washington, according to his diarj', " lodged at Doctor Shippen's, in Philadelphia, after supping at the Xcm- Tavern." At that house of public entertainment he had lodged nearly two years before, Avhile on his way to New York to i)lace young Custis in King's (now Columbia) College. At ten o'clock on Monday morning, the 5th of September, 1774, the First Continental Congress commenced its sessions 90 MOUNT YERNON in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia. Tlie members first assembled at the City Tavern, and marched in j)rocession to the Hall. They organized the congress by choosing Peyton Ran- dolph — a large, fleshy, good-looking Yirginian, five-and-forty years of age — as president ; and for secretary they appointed Charles Thomson, a lean man, with hollow, sparkling eyes, hair quite thin and gray, and a year younger than the president, though bearing marks of premature old age. Thomson was an accomplished Pennsylvanian ; and, notwithstanding he ap- peared so old at the age of forty-four, he lived fifty years longer, while the florid, healthful-looking Randolph died the very next year, within an hour after eating a hearty dinner at Richard Hill's country seat, near Philadelphia. The business of the congress was oj)ened by Patrick Henry, and the session continued until the 26th of October, when they had laid the foundations of a new Republic, deep in the principles of Truth and Justice. They debated great questions with the dignity and wisdom of sages, and, by a large majority adopted the following resolution — a resolution which reafiirmed all pre- vious resolves of the Americans to fight for freedom rather than submit to inglorious political servitude : / " Resolved^ — That this Congress appkove the opposrrioisr or THE INHABrrANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS BaY TO THE EXECUTION OF THE LATE AcTS OF PARLIAMENT ; AND IF THE SAME SHALL BE AT- TEMPTED TO BE CAKEIED INTO EXECUTION BY FORCE, IN SUCH CASE, ALL America ought to support them in their opposition. The Congress closed their important labors by putting forth some of the most remarkable state papers that ever appeared AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 91 in the annals of the nations. The perusal of them drew from the Earl of Chatham the most enthusiastic encomiums, in a speech in the House of Lords. " AVlien your lordships," lie said, "look at the papers transmitted to us from America; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For my- self, I must declare and avow, that in all my reading and study of history (and it has been my favorite study — I have read Tliucydides, and have studied and admired the master states of the world), that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wdsdoni of conclusions, under such a complication of cir- cumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the Congress at Philadelphia." It was in a congress composed of such men that Washington distinguished himself. Altliough he did not engage in the public debates (for he had no talent for extempore speaking), and his name does not appear in the published proceedings of the Congress as a member of any committee during the session, liis diary shows that he was assiduous in his attendance at Carpenter's Hall ; and there is ample evidence that his mind had much to do in the general conduct of the business, and especially in the preparation of the state j)apers alluded to. When Patrick Henry was asked, on his return from Phila- delphia, whom he considered the greatest man in the congress, he replied : " If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid information and sound judgment. Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on that floor," When the Congress adjourned, Washington returned to Mount Yernon, full of desires for a reconciliation with the 92 MOUNTVERNON parent government, and for peacefnlness in tlie bosom of his family ; yet without any well-grounded hope. The hand of inexorable circumstances was then making many and great changes in and around his beautiful home. The sunshine upon the fields, the forests and the river were as bright as ever; and the flowers bloomed as beautifully, and the birds sang as sweetly as ever, when another spring came, like the angel of the resurrection, to call forth the sleepers in the bosom of mother earth. But in the mansion death had left the memorial footsteps of its recent visit ; and the discord of clashing opin- ions had almost hushed into silence the sweet voices of the social circle in which lie had been accustomed to move. His friend of Belvoir was a loyalist and beyond the ocean ; and that fine mansion, wherein the Washingtons and Fairfaxes had held generous intercommunication for a quarter of a century, was soon afterward consumed by fire. Its owner never re- turned to America, and the social intercourse of two long-tried friends was closed forever. George Washington and George William Fairfax never met again on the earth. The Congress of 1774, doubtful concerning reconciliation with Great Britain upon terms to which the colonists could accede, adjoui-ned, to meet again at the same place on th(^ tenth of May following, unless the desired redress of grievances should speedily take place, and render another national coun- cil unnecessary. But the people, taught by long and bitter' experience, expected no justice from a blinded ministry, and prepared for inevitable war. They aroused themselves, and organized into military companies for the purjDose of discipline. Suddenly, as if by magic, a vast army was formed. It was, as we have elsewhere observed, "strong, determined, generous. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 93 and panting for action, yet invisible to the superficial observer. It was not seen in the camp, the field, nor the garrison. No drum was heard calling it to action ; no trumpet was sounded for battle. It was like electricity, harmless when latent, but terrible M'hen aroused. It was all over the land. It was at the plough, in the workshop, and in the counting-room. Almost every household was its head-quarters, and every roof its tent. It bivouacked in every chamber ; and mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts made cartridges for its muskets, and supplied its commissariat. It was the old story .of Cadmus repeated in modern history. British oppression had sown dragon's teeth all over the land, and a crop of armed men were ready to spring up, but not to destroy each other." * Washington, always covetous of rural pursuits and the quiet of domestic life, returned from Philadelphia with the intention of resuming them. But urgent calls to public duty drew him from them. The volunteer companies of his state sought his counsel, and ofi'ered him the general leadership ; and he went from place to place, reviewing the assembled troops, and imparting M'isdom which he had learned from his military experience. Meanwhile, his old companions in arms came frequently to Mount Vernon, for they snufied the smoke of war from afar. Among these. Doctors Hugh Mercer, of Fred- ricksburgh, and James Craik, of Alexandria, were the most welcome, for these Washington loved much. Other men more distinguished also made frequent visits to Mount Vernon. Among the most famous of these were Gen- eral Charles Lee and Major Horatio Gates, both of whom had * Lossing's Life of Washington, i. 470. 94 MOUNT VERNON been officers of distinction in the British army, and were tnen residents in Virginia. These frequently accompanied Wash- ington in his military excnrsions ; and during the spring of 1775, they spent much time under his roof. GENERAL CHARLES LEE. Lee was a Welshman, and a year younger than Washington. He possessed tine manly j)hysical j)ro23ortions, and a fiery spirit which nothing, at times, could control. He had been in 1756 and a few succeeding years; and the Mohawks, who created him a chief among themselves, gave him the signifi- cant name of Boiling Water. Restless and ambitious, he engaged in the continental wars of Europe, wherever he could find employment. At one time we find him an aide to the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 95 king of Poland, and then a companion of that king's ambas- sador to Constantinople. Then we see him in England assail- ing the British ministry with his sarcastic pen, and by his ill natnre and perverse judgment, shntting every door to his own advancement. Disappointed and still restless, he came to America in 1773, and travelled through most of the English provinces. In Virginia he met Major Gates, and was induced by that gentleman to purchase an estate near him, in Berkeley county. There he was residing when the war for independence was fairly kindling, and he espoused the cause of tlie patriots with a zeal that commanded their greatest admiration. He entered the army as the first major-general under Washington, became very popular with the great body of the people, and for awhile disputed a place in their attachment with Washing- ton himself. His ambition soon conquered his prudence, and he became insolent and insubordinate toward his superiors. With apparent collusion with the enemy, he became a prisoner; endeavored, while a captive, to betray his adopted country ; was restored to the army by exchange, but soon afterward was suspended from command because of bad conduct on the field of Monmouth; and died in Philadelphia in comparative poverty, in the autumn of 1782, at the age of fifty-one years. He was a brilliant man in many things, but his life exhibited few commendable traits of character. He was bad in morals and manners; profane and extravagant in language, and feared and loved neither God nor man. In his will he bequeathed his soul to the Almighty and his body to the earth, saying : "I desire most earnestly that I may not be buried in any church or churchyard, or M'ithin a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist meeting-house; for, since I have resided in this 96 I MOUNT TERNON country, I have kept so much had company wlien Hvini^, that I do not choose to continue it -when dead." Major Gates was three years the senior of Washington, and is supposed to have been a natural son of Horace Walpok'. He was an officer in the British army during the French and Indian war, and was with Braddock in the Lattle of the Mononffahela, where he was severelv wounded. lie accom- GENERAL HORATIO GATES. panied General Mockton to the West Indies as his aide-de- camp, and expected great preferment after the campaign was over, as lie was the bearer to the king of the tidings of the English victory at Martinico. He was disappointed, and, in 1772, he sold his commission of major, came to America, and purchased an estate in Berkeley county, Yirginia, beyond the Blue Ridge. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 97 Gates was the opposite of Lee in his social qualities, being a perfect gentleman in his deportment, lie, also, espoused the republican cause at the kindling of the war, was appointed the first adjutant-general of the continental army, and arose to the rank of major-general. lie was ambitious and vain ; and, during the first half of the M-ar, was seeking to take the place of Washington as supreme commander of the American armies. His last active military command was in South Carolina, in the summer of 1780, where he lost his whole army. He returned to his estate in Virginia, where he lived until 1790, and then removed to a farm on Manhattan Island, near the city of New York. He was a member of the Xew York legislature one term, and died in the spring of 1806, at the age of seventy-eight years. Washington was at Mount Vernon only a few weeks at a time, from the summer of 177-1 until his retirement from the army in 1783. He was in the first continental Congress, as we have observed, during the autumn of 1774; was absent upon military services much of the time during the winter of \ 1775, and was a member of the Virginia Assembly in the spring, when Patrick Henry made his famous war speech, which was closed with the burning words : " What is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they have ? Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it. Almighty God ! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me DEATH !" With these words of Henry ringing in his ears, Washington returned to Mount Vernon, and prepared for a journey to Philadelphia, there to take his seat as a member of the Second 98 MOUNT vp:rn ON Continental Congress. Just at the close of a mild April day, while he and his neighbor, Bryan Fairfax, with Major Gates, were discussing the stirring events at Williamsburg, connected with the seizure of powder belonging to the colony, by the royal governor, and the bold stand taken by Patrick Henry — events which were then arousing every republican heart in Virginia to action — a messenger came in haste from Alex- andria, bearing intelligence of bloodshed at Lexington and Concord. That intelligence made a deep but widely different impression npon the minds of the three friends. The gentle Fairfax, even then inclined to enter the gospel ministry, which he afterward adorned, was drawn, by the ties of consanguinity and ancestral reverence, to the side of the parent country. He was much distressed by the tidings from the east, for he per- ceived the gathering of a cloud of miseries for his country, and the peril of all pleasant social relations. Gates, ambitious of military glory, and eagerly looking for the honors and emoluments of office, for which he had long played the sycophant in London, was delighted by this opening of an avenue to a field of action wherein they might be won ; while Washington, communing with the intuitions of his loftier spirit, became thoughtful and reserved, and talked little, but wisely, on the subject. But he resolved nobly and firmly to go zealously into whatever conflicts might arise for the defence of the liberties of his countr3\ All regarded the event as the casting away of the scabbard, as the severing blow to colonial allegiance. Tliese friends parted company on the following day, and to- ward the evening of the 4th of May, Benjamin Harrison, one of the immortal fiftv-six who afterward signed the Declaration ANI' ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 99 of Independence, came to Mount Vernon, supped, lodged, and breakfasted, and departed with Washington, early in the morn- ing of the 5th, for Phihidelphia. They arrived at Chester on the 9th, and, while riding toward Philadelphia, with other southern delegates, were met, five or six miles from the city, by a cavalcade of five hundxed gentlemen. Nearer the city, they were met by military companies, and by tliese, with bands of music, were escorted into and through the city " with great parade." On the following day, the new England delegates were received in a similar manner ; and thus, in the midst of tlie homage and acclamations of the people, the representatives of thirteen viceroyalties assembled to confederate in the great work of constructing a new republic. With the sword of defence in one hand, and the olive-branch of reconciliation in the other, the Congress went on in their solemn labors. The military genius and experience of Wash- ington were continually acknowledged by his being placed as chairman of all the committees appointed for the conduct of military affairs ; and to him was entrusted the important task of preparing rules and regulations for an army, and devising measures for the general defence. Meanwhile, a large, but crude and ill-regulated army, had gathered around Boston, and was keeping the British regulars in cloee confinement upon that little peninsula. It possessed no other cohesion than that derived from a sense of mutual danger. The Congress perceived this, and resolved to con- solidate and organize it by adopting it as a Continental army, with a commander-in-chief and assistant general ofiicers. Tliat adoption was formally made ; and on Thursday, tlie loth of June, two days before the battle of Bunker's Hill, George 100 MOUNT VERNON Washington was chosen commander-in-chief of " all the con- tinental forces raised or to be raised, for the defence of Amer- ican liberty." The appointment was officially anno-unced to him on the following day, and modestly accepted ; and on the 18th he wrote a touching letter to his wife on the subject, tell- ing her he must depart immediately for the camp ; begging her to summon all her fortitude, and to pass her time as agree- ably as possible ; and expressing a firm reliance upon thai Providence which had ever been bountiful to him, not doubt- ing that he should return safe to her in the fall. But he did not so return. Darker and darker grew the clouds of war ; andjduring more than seven years, Washington visited his pleasant home upon the Potomac but once, and then only for three days and nights. Mrs. Washington spent the winter in camp with her husband]; and many are the traditions concerning he'' beauty, gentleness, simplicity, and industry, which yet linger around the winter-quarters of the venerated commander-in-chief of the armies of the Revolution. For many long years she was remembered with aifection by the dwellers at Cambridge, Morristown, Valley Forge, Newburgh, and ]N"ew Windsor. When, on each returning spring, she departed for her home on the Potomac, the blessings of thou- sands — soldiers and citizens — went with her, for she was truly loved by all. Pleasant would it be to read the scores of letters written by Washington to his charming wife during all that campaigning period, and his subsequent services in civil life. That pleasure can never be enjoyed. Only one letter to her — the message informing her of his appointment to the command of the army — is known to be in existence, and that, with one to her son on AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 101 the same subject, written on the following day, is carefully preserved at Arlington House, by her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Mary Custis Lee. Mrs. Washington destroyed all of her husband's other letters to herself, a short time before her death. It is not our design to follow Washington in his career as a soldier, or even as a statesman, for in these his field of action was far away from Mount Yernon — the object of our illustra- tions. His career in each was noble; and even in his defeats in battle, he never lost a particle of the dignit}^ of his char- acter, nor the esteem of his countrymen. His caution and prudence were sometimes misunderstood, but they were always found to be the guaranties of success. For nearly nine months he cautiously watched the British army in Boston, and waited for strength sufficient to attack it with success, while the people, and even the Congress, became impatient and clamored for battle. At length the proper time came, and with skill and energy he ])repared to strike an annihilating blow. Tlie enemy saw their peril, fled to their ships, and escaped to Halifax, while the whole continent rang with the praises of Washington. The . Congress d<3creed a gold medal to the victor. Duvivier, of Paris, cut the die; and to Mount Yernon the glittering testimonial of a nation's gratitude was afterward borne, upon which was inscribed : " The American Congress TO George Washington, commandek-in-chief of its armies, THE assertors OF Freedom : The enemy for the first time PUT to flight — Boston recovered, ITtii March, 177G." Although excessively prudent, Washington was ever ready to strike a blow in the presence of greatest peril, when his judgment and inclination coalesced in recommending the per- 102 MOUNT YERNON AWARDED TO WASHINGTON FOK THE 1>EL formance of the act. We see him with a handful of ill-dis- ciplined, ill-fed, ill-clad soldiers, after a prudent flight of three weeks before a strong pursuing enemy, crossing a rapid river in the midst of floating ice, and darkness, and driving storm, and smiting a band of mercenary Germans at Trenton, wlio had been hired out by their avaricious princes to aid the British soldiery in butchering their fellow subjects. Victory followed the blow, and a few days afterward that victory was repeated at Pi'inceton. Again the praises of Washington were upon every lip. The great Frederick of Prussia declared that the achievements of the American leader and his compatriots, between the twenty-fifth of December 1776, and the fourth of January, 1777 — a space of ten days — were the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military action. A splendid flag, taken from the Hessians at Trenton, composed of two pieces of heavy white damask silk, bearing devices embroid- ered with gold thread, and the words for our princf^ and COUNTRY, in Latin, exrpiisitely wrought in needlework, was AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 103 presented to Washington. It was afterward Imng up in the great hall at Mount Vernon, but only on one occasion, for Washington was careful ^^ never to make even the most tri\ial display of me- mentos of his own valor. This flag was his first trophy of the kind in the war for independence. And all through the war, prudence, sagacity, skill, energy, and great wisdom, marked the acts of Wash- ington. Ilis last hattle was at Yorktown, where another trophy, similar to that at Trenton, was se- cured. It was the flag of the seventh British regiment, made of heavy twilled silk, six feet in length and five feet four inches in width. Tlie ground was blue; the cen- tral stripe of the cross red; the marginal ones white. In the centre was a crown, and beneath it a garter, with the usual inscription in Norman French — Evil he to him who evil thinketh — enclosing a fall-blown rose, the floral emblem of England. This flag, with another, was presented to Washing- ton by a resolution of the Congress, passed ten days after the victory, and was hung in the hall at Mount Vernon on the sinsfle occasion referred to. It had been sadlv tattered during UESSIAN FL TAKEN AT TRENTON. 104 xM IT N T V P] R N N tlie conflict. Until lately it occupied a place near the Hessian flag, in the Museum at Alexandria, where they were de- posited by the late George Washington Farke Custis, and BRITISH FLAG TAKtN AT YORKTOWX, appropriately labeled Alpha and Omega — the first and the last of the trophies won by "Washington. Lonely was the mansion at Mount Yernon without the master during the seven years and more that the war lasted. Yet it was by no means deserted. The only child of Mrs. Washington, John Parke Custis, with his wife and growing family, were there much of the time, for Washington had written to him a few days after liis appoint- ment to the command of the army : "At any time, I Iiope it is unnecessary for me to say, that I am always pleased with your and Nelly's abidance at Mount Yernon, much less upon this occasion, wdien I tliiidv it absolutely necessary for the peace and satisfaction of your mother ; a consideration which 1 have no doubt will have due weight with you both, and require no' arguments to enforce." Neighbors and friends also came frequently to cheer the temporary widowhood of the mistress. Lund Washington, the master's relative and friend, was the faithful manager of the estate, and he scrupulously obeyed the injunction of the owner, who said : "Let the hospitality of the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 105 bouse, w^th respect to the poor, be kept up. Let uo one go away hungry. K any of tliis kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage them in idleness." Nothing of importance, aside from the routine of plantation life, occurred at Mount Vernon after the summer of 1775, until 1781. At the former period. Lord Dunmore and his marauding followers, ascended the Potomac as far as Occo- quan Falls, with the intention of making Mrs. Washington a prisoner, and desolating the estates of Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon. The Prince William militia gathered in large numbers to oppose him, and these, aided by a heavy storm, frustrated his lordship's designs, and he sailed down the river, after destroying some mills and other property. Early in September, 1781, there was great commotion at Mount Vernon, greater than when, a few months before, small British armed vessels had come up the Potomac, plundering and destroying on every hand. One of these, on that occasion, had approached Mount Vernon witli fire and sword, and Lund Washington had purchased the safety of the estate by giving the commander refreshments and supplies. For this the mas- ter of Mount Vernon rebuked him, saying, "It would have been a less painful circumstance to me to have heard tliat, in consequence of your non-compliance with their request, they had burned my house and laid my plantation in ruins." On the 9th of September, 1781, there was an arrival more startling to the dwellers upon the Mount Vernon estate than that of an armed enemy upon the neighboring waters. It was the unexpected arrival of the master himself. Tlie allied French and American armies were then on their march toward 106 MOUNT VERNON Virginia, to assist Lafayette and his compatriots in driving tlie invading Cornwallis from that state. Washington came from Baltimore late at night, attended only by Colonel Humphreys (one of his aides) and laithfiil Billy, They had left the Connt de Rochambeau and the Marquis de Chastellux — one at Alex- andria, and the other at Georgetown — to follow them in the morning. Very soon the whole household was astir, and the news flew quickly over the estate that the master had arrived. At early dawn the servants came from every cabin to greet him, and many looked sorrowfully upon a face so changed by the storms of successive campaigns, during more than six years that he had been absent. None came earlier than Bishop, the venerable body-servant of the master in the old French war, who was now too old to go to the camp. He lived near the mansion, the Nestor of the plantations, and was overseer of one of the farms. No doubt he came, as was his custom on great occasions, fully equipped in his regimentals, made after the fashion of George the Second's time, to greet tlie man he so much loved. Bishop was then almost eighty years of age, with deep furrows upon his cheeks, a few gray locks upon his temples, and his once manly form bent gently by the weight of years, and shrunken by the suns of nearly fourscore summers. On the morrow, the French noblemen, with their suites, ar- rived — Rochambeau first, and De Chastellux afterward — and all but the chief made it a day of rest. For him there was no repose. He was not permitted to pass even an hour alone with his wife. Public and private cares were pressing heavily upon him. He w^as on his way to measure strength with a powerful enemy, and his words of affection were few^ and hurried. All AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 10< COINT DE ROCHAllBEAU. the morning of tlie lOtli lie was closeted with his manager, and before dinner he wrote to Lafayette the first letter that he had dated at Monnt Vernon since early in May, 1775, saying, '-We are thnsfar on our way to yon. The Count de Ttochand)eau has jnst arrived. General Chastellux will be here, and we pro- l)Ose, after resting to-morrow, to be at Fredericksburg on the night of the 12th. The loth we shall reach Xew Castle ; and, the next day, we expect to have the pleasure of seeing you at your encampment." These calculations were correct ; they arrived at the camp of Lafayette, at AYilliamsburg, on the evening of the lltli. Rochambeau and Chastellux were guests worthy of such a host. The former was of a noble Yendome family. He was 108 MOUXT VERXOX of medium height, slender in form, and then fifty-six years of age. lie had been aide-de-camp to the Duke of Orleans, five- and-tliirty years before, and had gained mauy laurels on the fields of battle, especially on that of Minden, which occurred a few months after Washington had taken his" bride to Mount Vernon. A fine picture of that battle hung upon the walls at Mount Vernon for many years, and is now at Arlington House. Whether it was there to delight the eyes of Rochambeau on this occasion is a question that may not now be solved. Rochambeau had come to America at the head of a large army, to assist the struggling colonists to cast off the British yoke. He came with the title of lieutenant-general, but, according to previous arrangement by the French court, he was to be second to Washington in command. He assisted nobly at the siege of Yorktown, where, little more than a month after this visit at Mount Vernon, Cornwallis and a hirge army surrendered to the allied forces. He returned to France, was made a field-marshal by the king, but was called to much suffering during the French Revolution. Bonaparte granted him a pension and the cross of grand officer- of the legion of honor, in 1803. Four years afterward he died at the age of eighty-two. De Chastellux was a much younger man than Rochambeau, heavier in person, very vivacious, fond of company, and exhib- ited all the elegances of manner of the older French nobility, to which class he belonged. He came to America with Roch- ambeau, but seems not to have been confined to the army, though bearing the title of major-general; for during the two years he was here, he travelled very extensively, and made notes and observations. Tlicse he printed on board the French AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 109 fleet — only twenty-four copies — for distribution among his friends ; but a few years afterward they were translated and published in two volumes, by an English traveller. kRQUIS DE CIIASTKI.LITX. De Chastellux was the life of every company into which he was introduced, while in this country, and he left a vej-y pleasant impression at Mount Yemon. In the library there, where he was entertained in the autumn of 17S1, Washington wrote to him a playful letter in the spring of 1787, after receiving from the marquis an account of his marriage to an accomplished lady, a relative of the Duke of Orleans. "I saw," wrute AVashini>ton, •■' bv the eulogium vou often made 110 MOUNT VERNON on the happiness of domestic life in America, that you had swallowed the bait, and that you would as surely be taken, one day or another, as that you were a philosopher and soldier. So your day has at length come. 1 am glad of it, with all my heart and soul. It is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served for coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic ocean, by catching that terrible contagion — domestic felicity — which, like the smallpox or plague, a man can have only once in his life." De Chastellux died in 1Y93, in the midst of the terrible stoi-m of the French Revolution, and by it the fortunes of himself and wife seem to have been swept away, for his widow applied to Washington, two years afterward, for an allowance from our government, on account of the services of her husband, who was in active military duty near New York, and was in the siege at Yorktown. Her application was unsuccessful. On the second day after Washington's arrival at Mount Yernon — the eleventh of September — the fourth anniversary of the battle of Brandywine — the mansion, then not nearly so large as now, was crowded with guests ; and at dinner were met gentlemen and ladies from the country for miles around, who had not been at the festive board with the master of the feast since the war broke out. And there were children, too — tiny children, whom the master loved as his own, for they were the grandchildren of his wife. There were four of these. The eldest was a beautiful girl, five years old, who afterward married a nephew of Lord Ellenborough ; and the youngest was a boy-baby, only six months old, who was afterward adopted as the child of Washington, became one of the AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS 111 executors of his will, and lived until 1857. Tliese were the children of John Parke Custis and his fair young wife, Eleanor Calvert, and had all been born during the absence of the master from his home at Mount Yernon. Here let us pause a moment and look with the eye of faith in the words of a fellow man, upon the person of the great patriot who sat at the head of the feast on that day. The year before, a writer in the London Chronicle (an anti-ministerial paper), who had seen Washington, thus vividly described him: " General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of his age. He is a tall, well-made man, rather large-boned,' and has a genteel address. His features are manly and bold ; his eyes of a bluish cast and very lively ; his hair a deep brown ; his face rather long, and marked with the smallpox ; his com- plexion sunburnt, and without much color. His countenance sensible, composed, and thoughtful. There is a remarkable air of dignity about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness. He has. an excellent understanding, without much quickness; is strictly just, vigilant, and generous; an affectionate husband, a faithful friend, a father to the deserving soldier; gentle in his manners, in temper reserved; a total stranger to relig- ious prejudices; in morals irreproachable; and never known to exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance. In a word, all his friends and acquaintances allow that no man ever united in his own person a more perfect alliance of the vi];-tnes of a philosopher with the talents of a general. Candor, sin- cerity, affability, and simplicity seem to be the striking features of his character; and, when occasion offers, the power of display- ing the most determined bravery and independence of spirit." Domestic felicity and social enjoyment were, at that time. 112 MOUNT VERNON secondary considerations with Washington, and, on tlie morn- ing of the 12tli of September, lie departed, witli all his mili- tary guests, from his delightful dwelling-place, journeyed to Fredericksburg to embrace his aged mother and receive her blessing, and then hastened on toward Yorktown, where Corn- wallis had intrenched himself with a view of overrunning Virginia. There was great sorrow at Mount Vernon on the morning of the departure of the master. It was a grief to the devoted wife to part so soon from her husband, who was on his way to battle, perhaps to death ; but more poignant washer grief as a mother, for John Parke Custis, her only surviving child, in whom her fondest earthly affections were centred, followed Washington to the field as his aide-de-camp. He was then in the flush of manhood, eight-and-twenty years of age, and full of promise. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and very popular wherever known. He now went out to battle, for the first time, leaving his wife and children and his fond mother in the pleasant home at Mount Vernon, with every material comfort around them, but with hearts filled with sadness, and spirits agitated with anxiety and apprehension. Oh, how eagerly did those wives and mothers at Mount Ver- non watch for the courier who daily brought intelligence from the camp ! At length there came a messenger with tidings which produced mingled joy and alarm. He came to tell of- a triumph at Yorktown, and of mortal sickness at Eltham, thirty miles from the field where victory had been won. At Yorktown, the allied armies, after a siege of twelve days, had compelled Cornwallis to surrender, with all his army, seven thousand stronij. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 113 Joy was awakened all over the land as intelligence of this glorious event was spread, by swift couriers, from hamlet to hamlet, from village to village, from city to city. The name of Washington was upon every lip, as the Benefactor, the Lib- erator, the Saviour of his country. And there was peculiar joy and pride at Mount Yernon, when, at early dawn on a frosty morning, a messenger brought the intelligence that prophesied of peace and the speedy return of the loved ones to the safety and repose of domestic life. But, as we have said, the same messenger brought intelligence that produced serious alarm, and preparations were immediately made at Mount Yernon, for a journey. Young Custis was very sick with camp fever at the house of Colonel Bassett, the husband of his mother's sister, at Eltham. His mother and wife were soon upon the road ; and, in an agonj' of suspense, they urged the postillion to increase the speed of his horses. When they arrived at Eltham, all hope for the loved one's recovery had vanished. Washington had sent his old and faithful friend. Doctor Craik, to attend the sutferer, and as soon as his arrangements at Yorktown could be completed, the chief followed. He arrived at Eltham " time enough" he wrote to Lafayette, " to see poor Mr. Custis breathe his last." Li that hour the young wife was made a widow, and the mistress of Mount Yernon a childless woman, Tlie great man bowed his head in deep sor- row, while his tears flowed freely. Tlien he spoke soothing words to the widowed mother, and said, " Your two younger children I adopt as my own." These were Eleanor Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, the former two vears and six montlis of age, and the latter onlv six months. 114 MOUNT VERNON They botli lived beyond the aije of threescore and ten, and Eleanor was eonsidered one of the most beautiful and brilliant women of her day. She married Lawrence Lewis, the favorite nephew of Washinj^ton. The nuptials were celebrated on the ELEANOli FAUKB CUSi'l». chiefs birthday, 1T99, Three days before, Washington, as her foster-father, wrote from Mount Vernon to the clerk of Fairfax county court, saying : " Sir : You will please to grant a license for the marriage of Eleanor Parke Custis with Lawrence Lewis, and this shall be your authority for so doing." Tlie portrait of this beautiful lady, from which our engrav AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 115 is copied, was painted at Philadelphia by Gilbert Stiuii-r. It adorned the mansion at Mount Vernon for several years, and is preserved with care among the Washington treasures of Arlington House. Late in the autumn of 1781, Washington again visited Mount Vernon for a brief season. It was when he was on his journey to Philadelphia, in ISovember, bearing the laurels of u victoi-. lie was accompanied as far as Fredericksburg by a largt' retinue of American and Fi-ench officers ; and there, after an interview with his mother, he attended a ball given in honor of the occasion. The aged matron went with him to the assembly, and astonished the French officers by the plainness of her apparel and the quiet simplicity of her manners, for tlujy expected to see the mother of the great chief distinguished bv a personal display such as they had been accustomed to be- hold among the ftimilies of the great in their own country. They thought of the Dowager Queen of France, of the brilliant Mane Antoinette, and the high-born dames of the court of Louis the Sixteenth, and could not comprehend the vision. Washington retired with his mother from the gay scene at an early hour, for there was grief in his heart because of the death of his beloved Custis ; and, the next morning, attended by two aides and Billy, he rode to Mount Yernon. His stay there was brief Public duties beckoned him forward. " I shall remain but a few days here," he wrote to General Greene, " and shall proceed to Pliiladelphia, when I shall attempt to stimulate Congress to the best improvement of our late success, by taking the most vigorous and effectual measui-es to be ready for an early and decisive campaign the next year." Ha])pily for the country, no other campaign of active mili- IIG MOUNT VERNON tary operations was needed ; and, in the course of a few months, the war was virtually at an end. The desire for peace, which had long burned in the bosom of the British people, now found such potential expression, as to be heeded by the British ministry. The intelligence of the fate of Cornwallis and his army had fallen with all the destructive energy of a bomb- shell in the midst of the war party in parliament. When Lord North, the premier, heard of it, he paced the room violently, and, throwing his arms wildly about, exclaimed, " O God ! it is all over ! it is all over !" The stoutest declaimer in favor of bayonets and gunpowder, Indian and German mercenaries, as fit instruments for enslaving a free people, began to talk of the expediency of peace; and at length, by mutual consent, com- missioners were appointed by the contending parties to treat for peace on the basis of the independence of the United States. 'Hiey were successful; and, early in the spring of 1783, the joyful news, that a treaty had been signed at Paris, reached America, by the French ship Triomphe, sent for the purpose, by Count d'Estaing, at the request of Lafayette. Washington was then, with his wife, at Newburgh, the head- quarters of the continental army, happy in having just frus- trated a scheme of some officers to produce a general mutiny among the discontented soldiers. Tlie intelligence came to him in dispatches from Robert R. Livingston, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and also in a letter from Alexander Hamilton,' ai'.d other New York delegates in Congress. It was hailed by the chief wath joy, and he immediately wrote the fol- lowing letter to Governor Clinton, which is copied from the original manuscript, now in the archives of the state of New York: AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 117 " Head-Quauters, March 27, 1783. " Dear Sir : — I take the first moment of forwarding to your Excellency the dispatches from the Secretary of Foreign AflPairs, which accompany this. They contain, I presume, all the intelligence respecting Peace, on which great and glorious event permit me to congratulate you with the greatest sincerity." Upon the envelope bearing the superscription, Washing ton wrote in large letters, with a broad dash under it — Peace. What a glorious word ! What joy must have filled the heart of the commander-in-chief when he wrote that word ! What dreams of repose upon the Potomac, in the quiet shades of his beautiful home must have been presented to his vision at that time! But many weary months were yet to intervene before he could see his beloved Mount Vernon. It was not until the 1st of November following that all ar- rangements for the departure of the British army from our shores were completed. The American army, by a general order of Congress, on the 3d of November, was disbanded, except a small force retained under a definite enlistment, until a peace establish- ment should be organized ; and, on the 25th of that month, the British evacuated the city of New York — their last resting-place upon the soil of the United States — went on board their ships, and sailed for Nova Scotia and Europe, with a large number of loyalists. On the 4th of December Washington parted with his oflicers at Fraunces' tavern in New York, and then proceeded 118 MOUNT VKIINOX toward Annapolis, wliei-e Congress was sitting, to resign into their liands his commission as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States, wliich had been given him eight years and six months before. He stojiped at PliiLadelphia, and presented his accounts to the proper fiscal officers, and arrived at Annapolis on Friday, the 19th, where he was joined by Mrs. Washington and many warm personal friends. On Monday he was present at a dinner ordered by the Con- gress, at which more than two hundred persons were seated ; and that evening he opened a grand ball given in his honor, with Mrs. James Macubbin, one of the most beautiful women of her time. At twelve o'clock on the 23d Washington entered the hall of Congress in the old State House at Annapolis, ac- cording to previous arrangement, and, in the presence of a great concourse of people, presented his resignation to General Thomas Mifflin, the president of that body, accompanying the act by a brief speech. This was responded to by Mifflin. The great Leader of the Continental Armies, now a private citizen, retired, followed by the audience; and the curtain fell upon the last solemn act in the great drama of the w^ar for independ- ence. Washington now hastened to Mount Vernon, accompanied by many friends, as an escort of honor, among wliom was Colonel Walker, one of the aides of the Baron Steuben, by whose hand he sent a letter to Governor Clinton, the first which he wrote at his home after his retirement. In it he said : "The scene is at last closed. I am now a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac. I feel myself eased of a load of public care. I hope to spend the remainder of my days in AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 119 cultivating tlic affections of good men, and in tlio practice of the domestic virtues." It was on Christmas eve, 1783, that AYasliington, a private citizen, arrived at Mount Vernon, and laid aside forevei the WASHINGTON S MILITARY CLOTHES. military clothes which he had worn perhaps through more than lialf the campaigns of the war just ended. Around them clus- tered many interesting associations, and they were preserved with care during the remaining sixteen years of his life. And they are still preserved, in a condition almost as perfect as when the illustrious owner huno; them in his wardrobe for the 120 MOUNT YERNON last time. They are in a glass case, with other mementos of the Fathi:k of his Country, in the great model hall of the Patent Office at Washington city. The coat is made of deep blue cloth, faced with a yellow called buff, with large plain gilt buttons. The waistcoat and breeches are made of the same kind of buif cloth as the facings of the coat. On the same occasion, "Washington laid aside his battle- sword which he had worn throughout all the later years of the war. It, too, hung at Mount Yernon for almost twenty years, and is carefully preserved in the same glass case in the Patent Office. It is a kind of hanger, incased in a black leather scabbard, with silver mountings. The handle is ivory, colored a pale green, and wound in spiral grooves with thin silver wire. It was manufactured by J. Bailey, in Fishkill, Duchess county, New York, and has the maker's name engraved upon the blade. The belt is of white' leather, mounted M'ith silver, and was doubtless used by AVashington in the old French war, for upon a silver plate attached to it is engraved " 1757." With this sword is a long, knotty, black cane, with a golden head, which was bequeathed to Washington by Doctor Frank- lin, in the following clause in the codicil to his will : " My fine crab-tree walking-stick, with a gold head curiously wrought in the form of a cap of liberty, I give to my friend, and the friend of mankind. General Washington. If it were a sceptre, he has merited it, and would become it. It was a present to me fi-oni that excellent woman, Madame de For- bach, the dowager Duchess of Deuxponts, connected with some verses which should go with it." These "verses" have been lost, and for them we will substi- AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 121 tute the beautiful ode, by Morris, alhiding to these precious 'THE SWORD AND THE STAFF. THE SWORD AND THE STAFF. ' The sword of the Hero ! The staff of the Sage ! "Whose valor and wisdom Are stamp'd on tha age! Time-hallowed mementos Of those who have riven The sceptre from tyrants, 'The lightning from heaven.' n. 'This weapon, Freedom! Was drawn by thy son, And it never was sheath'd Till the battle was won! No stain of dishonor Upon it we see ! 'Twas never surrender'd — Except to the free 1 III. ' While Fame claims the hero And patriot sage, Their names to emblazon On History's page, No holier relics AVill Liberty hoard. Than Franklin's staff, guarded By Washington's sword." In the same glass case are other interesting relics of Wash- ington, the most conspicuous of which is his camp-chest, an old-fashioned hair trunk, twenty-one inches in length, fifteen in width, and ten in depth, filled with the table furniture used by the commander-in-chief during the war. The compart- 122 MOUNT VERNON ments are so ingeniously arranged, that they contain a great number of articles in a small space. Tliese consist of a gridiron ; a tea and coffee pot ; three tin saucepans (one I S CAMi'-CHEST. movable handle being used for all) ; five small glass flasks, used for honey, salt, coffee, port-wine, and vinegar ; three large tin meat dishes ; sixteen plates ; two knives and five forks ; a candlestick and tinder-box ; tin boxes for tea and sugar, and five small bottles for pepper and other materials for making- soup, Washington alluded to the tin plates in this camp-chest, in the following letter to Doctor John Cochran, surgeon-general of the northern department of the continental army, written at West Point on the 16tli of Au^-ust, 1779 : AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 123 "Dkar Doctok:--! have asked. Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow ; but am I not in honor bound to apprise tliera of their fare? As I hate deception, even where the imagination only is concerned, I wilh It is needless to premise that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered is rather more essential ; and this shall be the purport of my letter. "Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham, sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to grace the head of the table; a piece of roast beef adorns the foot ; and a dish of beans, or greens, almost imperceptible, decorates the centre. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, which I presume will be the case to-morrow, we have two beef-steak pies, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on each side of the centre dish, dividing the space and reducing the distance between dish and dish to about six feet, which, without them, would be riearh^ twelve feet apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to dis- cover that apples will make pies ; and it is a question if, in the violence of his eiforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will submit to partake of it on plates once tin hut now iron (not become so by the labor of scouring), 1 shall be happy to see them ; and am, dear doctor, yours, &c., " Geo. WAsmxGTON." Later in the war, "Washington had a pair of plain silver goblets, with his crest engraven upon them, which he used in his tent. These were the only examples of a departure from that rigid economy which he exhibited in all his personal SILVKU CAMI'-GOBLIiT. 124 MOUNT VERNON arrangements -while in the army, not because lie was parsimo- nious, but because he wished to set an example of plainness and self-denial to all around him. These goblets are now used in the family of Colonel Lee at Arlington House. What a contrast do these ^simple table arrangements, and, indeed, all the movements and appointments of the great Re- publican Leader, present to those of the generals of the old world, and of those of antiquity in pai'ticular, whose achieve- ments for the benefit of mankind, placed in the scale of just appreciation, are small compared with his. After the victory at Yorktown, the marquee and tent used by Washington w^ere folded up and placed in the leathern portmanteau in which they were carried, and were never again spread upon the field in camp, siege, or battle. They were made by Captain Moulder, of Philadelphia, who commanded a corps of artillery in the battle at Princeton. The marquee was used for general purposes — for the reception of visitors, consultations of ofiicers, dining, et cetera — and the smaller tent was for more private uses. Li the latter AYashington retired for meditation, and wrote his letters and dispatches for his secretaries to copy ; and in one part of it was a dormitory, wherein he slept. It composed the private apartment of his canvas dwelling uj)on the field, and few were allowed to enter it. What a history is involved in the experience of that tent I AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 125 How many important dispatches were Avritten M'itliin it, u})on the little writing-case, or portfolio, that was presented to President Taylor by Washington's adopted son, and by him de])()sitr(l, with other mementos of the great Leader, in the WASHINGTON S TRAVELLING WRITING-CASE Patent OfHce, where it is M'ell preseryed ! How many anxious hours did that great Leader pass beneath the narrow canopv of that tent? LIow often, during that long war, did the forms of Reed, and Harrison, and Hamilton, and Tilghman, andl Meade, and Humphreys darken the door of that tent as they l^assed in and out with messages and dispatches to and from the illustrious chief! And in the large marquee, what a noble band of mighty men — mighty in moral force — among the noblest the world eyer saw — were gathered in council from time to time, and determined those moyements which achieyed the independence of these states ! In it, too, many distinguished men sat at the table of the chief — members of the old congresses ; foreigners of note in diplomacy and war ; and last, Cornwallis as captive and guest, after his humiliation at Yorktown. It was quite spacious, and, when fully spread, one hundred guests might conyeniently dine beneath its ample roof. Tliat marquee and tent, wrapped in the old portmanteau, with the poles and cords as they were taken from the battle- 126 MOUNT VERNON field, are at Arlington House. The former has been spread occasionally for peaceful purposes. For several years Mr. Custis, who was much interested in the improvement of the breeds of sheep, had annual gatherings of the friends of agriculture and manufactures at a fine spring on his estate, near the banks of the Potomac, in the early days of May. On ■Washington's tisnts in theik poht.manteadx. these occasions the old marquee would be erected, and somo- times nearly two hundred guests would assemble under it to partake of refreshments. These " sheep-shearings at Arlington Spring " are remembered with pleasure by the surviving parti- cipants. "When Lafayette was in this country, in 1824 and '25, as the guest of the nation, that marquee was used at Baltimore by the Socidy of the Cinchinati, for the purpose of receiving the Illustrious Friend as the guest of that fraternity — a fraternity of which he had been a member ever since its formation on the l)anks of the Hudson, more than forty years before. On that occasion Colonel John Eager Howard, one of the heroes of the Cowpens, presided ; and Charles Carroll, who soon after- AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 127 waid had the proud distinction of being- the hist survivor of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was a guest. And twice since that memorable reception, that war-tent, so often spread upon the line of march and on the battle-field, lias been used in the service of the Prince of Peace. On these occasions it was pitched in green fields in the midst of beautv and repose, and thousands came and willingly paid liberal tribute for the privilege of sitting under the Tent of Washing- ton, Two churches Avere erected with the proceeds. We have just alluded to the Society of the Cinchinati. It is a fraternity originally composed of officers of the Revolution, and M-as formed a little while before the disbanding and dis- persion of the Continental Army. Its chief object was the jterpetuation and occasional renewal of the long-cherished friendship and social intercourse which had existed between the officers of the army. Tlie idea originated with General Knox. He communicated it to Washington, who not only approved of it, but gave the eff'orts to form a society upon such a basis of feeling, his cordial co-operation. It was in the spring of 1783 that the Society of the Cincin- nati was formed. The head-quarters of the army were then at Newburgh. A committee, composed of Generals Knox, Hand, and Huntington, and^ the accomplished Captain Shaw, was appointed to arrange a plan ; and, on the 13th of May, at the quarters of the Baron Steuben, in Fishkill, nearly opposite Newburgh, they reported a form which was adopted as the constitutional organization of the society. After referring to the war for independence, and the separation of the colonies from Great Britain, the objects of the society were stated in the fol'owinir words: 128 MOUNT VERNON " To perpetuate, therefore, as well the remembrance of this vast event, as the mutual friendships which have been formed under the pressure of common danger, and in many instances cemented by the blood of the parties, the officers of the Amer- ican army do hereby, in the most solemn manner, associate, constitute, and combine themselves into one society of friends, to endure so long as they shall endure, or any of their eldest male posterity, and in failure thereof, the collateral branches, who may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members." As the officers of the army were chiefly Americans, and were about to return to their citizenship, they appropriately named the society, in honor of the illustrious Eoman, Lucius Qnintius Cincinnatus, whose example they were about to imitate. They resolved that the following principles should form the basis of the society : 1. " An incessant attention to preserve inviolate those ex- alted rights and liberties of human nature for which they have fought and bled, and without which the high rank of a rational being is a curse instead of a blessing. 2. " An unalterable determination to promote and cherish, between the respective states, that unison and national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness and the future dig- nity of the American empire. 3. "To render permanent the cordial affection subsisting among the officers, this spirit will dictate brotherly kindness in all things, and particularly extend to the most substantial acts of beneficence, according to the ability of the societj', toward those officers and their families who unfortunately may be under the necessitv of receiving it." AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS, 129 For the sake of frequent communication, the association was divided into state societies, to meet annually on the •ith of July, or oftener if they should find it expedient. The society also adopted an Order hy which its members should be known and distinguished. It is composed of a medal of gold with proper em- blems, " suspended by a deep-blue ribbon two inches wide, edged with white, descriptive of the union of America with France." A representation of the Order, full size, is seen in the engraving. The leaves of the olive branches are of gold and green enamel ; the head and tail of the eagle gold and white enamel ; and the sky in the centre device (which is a fac- simile of one of the medallions on the certificate of membership), is blue enamel. The French ofiicers who served in the continental army presented to Washington an elegant Order, studded with precious stones, about two hundred in number. The leaves of the olive branches and wreath are composed of emeralds, the berries of ruby, and the beak of the eagle amethyst. Above the eagle is a group of military emblems — flags, drums, and cannon — surrounding a ORD£E OF THE CINCINNATI. 130 MOUNT VERNON ribbon, upon which are inscribed the words : " Presented, in THE NAME OF THE FeENCH SOLDIEKS, TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE General Washington." Tliis also is studded with precious stones. Above it is a bow of moire antique ribbon, of liglit-])hie color, with white edges. This jewel is at present [1859] in the possession of the Honorable Hamilton Fish, of j^ew York, president of the Society of the Cincinnati, The Society had a certifi- cate of niembersliip engraved in France, by J. J. Le Veau, from a drawing by Aug. Le Belle. It occupies a space thirteen and a half inches in width and twenty inches in length, and was printed on fine vellum. Tlie engraving upon the next page is a fac- simile on a reduced scale. The design represents Amer- ican liberty as a strong man armed, bearing in one hand the Union flag, and in the other a naked sword. Beneath his feet are British flags, and a broken spear, shield, and chain. Hovering by his side is the eagle, our national emblem, from whose talons the lightning of destruction is flashing upon the British lion. Britannia, with the crown falling from her head, is liastening toward a boat to escape to a fleet, which denotes the departure of British ORDER PRESENTED BY FRENCH OFFICERS. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 131 "^ S^ Jftl o 132 MOUNT VERNON power from our shores. Upon a cloud, on tlie right, is an angel blowing a trumpet, from which flutters a loose scroll. Upon tlie scroll are the sentences : Palam nuntiata lihertas, A. D. 1776. Foidus sociale cum Gallia^ A. D. 1778. Pax: libertas parta, A. D. 1783 — "Independence declared, A. D. 1776. Treaty of alliance with France declared, A. D. 1778. Peace ! independence obtamed, A. D. 1783." Upon the medallion on the right is a device representing Cincinnatus at his plow, a ship on the sea, and a walled town in the distance. Over his head is a flying angel, holding a ribbon inscribed: Virtutis jproemiuTn j "Reward of virtue." Below is a heart, with the words: Esto jperjpetua; "Be thou perpetual." Upon the rim is the legend : Societas Cincinna- tornm Instituta A. D. MDCCLXXXIII. ; "Society of the Cincinnati, instituted 1783." The device upon the medallion on the left is Cincnmatus, with his family, near his house. lie is receiving a sword and shield from three senators : an army is seen in the distance. Upon the rim are the words : Omnia relinqui tservare rempuhlicam / " He abandons every thing to serve his country " (referring to Cincinnatus). Washington was chosen the first president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati, and General Henry Knox the secre- tary. The former remained in office until his death, a period of sixteen years, and was succeeded by General Alexander Hamilton. All of the certificates given to the original mem- bers, like the one delineated in the engraving, were filled up and signed by Washington, at Mount Yernon. We have observed that it was Christmas eve when Wash- ington arrived at Mount Vernon from Annapolis, once more a private citizen. What a glad Christmas was that for all in AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 133 that pleasant home on the banks of the Potomac I It Avas a Christmas to be specially remembered by the retired soldier. It was a day long hoped for by him Avhen engaged in the mighty labors of his official station. Rest, rest lie often sighed for, and now the elements seemed to sympathize in his great desire. An intensely severe winter closed almost every avenue to Mount Vernon, and even neighborly intercourse was sus- pended. Washington had rest in abundance. To Lafayette he wrote on the first of February following his retirement: "On the eve of Christmas I entered these doors an older man by near nine years, than when I left them. Since that period, we have been fast locked up in frost and snow, and excluded in a manner from all kinds of intercourse." " I have not only retired from all public employments," he added, " but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walks, and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am detennined to be pleased with all ; and this, my dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently down the stream of life, imtil I sleep with my fathers." And yet, even in that perfect retirement, it was several weeks before Washington could entirely divest his mind of the burden of solicitude for public affairs. To General Knox he wrote on the 20th of February: "I am just begiiming to experience that ease and freedom from public cares, which, however desirable, takes some time to realize ; for strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that it was not till lately I could get the better of my usual custom of ruminating, as soon as I waked in the morning, on the business of the ensuing day ; and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things in 134 MOUNT VERNON my mind, that I was no longer a public man, nor Lad any thing to do with public transactions. "I feel now, however, as I conceive a wearied traveller must do, who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former were directed ; and from his house-top is looking back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quicksands and mires which lay in his way ; and into which none but the all-power- ful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevent- ed his falling." Never had a traveller more cause for serenity of mind and perfect gratitude, in the hour of calm retrospection, than vb George Washington at that time ; and also twelve years later, ^--^ when he resigned the helm of the vessel of state into other '\^ , hands, and sought repose for the last time in the shades of Mount Yernon. And when he fully realized his relief, his social desires, so long repressed, came into full play, and renewals of old acquaintance and friendly correspondence took place. "Freed from the clangor of arms and the bustle of a camp," he wrote to the wife of Lafayette, in April, after receiving information that the marquis intended to visit America soon — " Freed from the cares of public employment and the responsibility of office, I am now enjoying domestic ease under the shadow of my own vine and my own fig-tree ; and in a small villa, with the implements of husbandry and lambkins around me, I expect to glide gently down the stream of life, till I am entombed in the mansion of my fathers. * * ^ Come, then, let me entreat you, and call my cottage youi home ; for your own doors do not open to you with more AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 135 readiness than mine would. You will see the plain manner in which we live, and meet with rustic civility ; and you shall taste the simplicity of rural life. It will diversify the scene, and may give you a higher relish for the gaieties of the court, when you return to Versailles." "My manner of living is plain," he wrote to a friend, "and I do not mean to be put out by it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them are always welcome. Those who expect more will be disappointed." But this modest dream of quietude and simplicity of life was not realized. Washington was the central figure of the group of great men who had laid the foundations of the republic. To him the eyes of the nation were speedily turned for counsel and action, for that republic and all its dependent interests were soon in peril. He was too great to remain an isolated citizen, and men of every degree, his own countrymen and strangers, were soon seen upon pilgrimages to Mount Vernon ; and the little " villa" was too small to shelter in comfort the many guests that often assembled under its roof. Washington now took a general survey of all his affairs, and turned his thoughts to the improvement of his farms, the en- largement of his mansion, and the adornment of the grounds around it. These improvements were commenced in the spring of 1784, and then the construction of the house, in its present form was resolved upon. Tlie mansion built by Lawrence Washington, and called a " villa" by the general, was of the old gable-roofed style, with only four rooms upon each floor, as we have observed. It was about one-third tlie size of the pres- ent building, and in the alteration, it was made to occupy tl • 136 MOUNT VERNON central portion, the two ends having been built at the same time. Tlie mansion, when completed by General Washington, (and as it now appears) was of the most substantial frame- work, two stories in height, ninety-six feet in length, thirty feet in depth, with a piazza fifteen feet in width, extending along the entire eastern or river front, supported by sixteen square columns, twenty-five feet in height. Over this piazza is a balustrade of a light and pleasing design ; and in tlie centre of the roof is an observatory with a small spire. Thei'e are seven dormer windows in the roof, three on the eastern side, one on each end, and two on the western or lawn side. The ground floor of the house contains six rooms, with a spacious passage in the centre of the building, extending through it from east to west. From it a massive staircase ascends to the chambers. Tlie rooms and the passage are all wainscoted, and have large worked cornices; and they present to the eye the appearance of great solidity. On the south side of the passage is a parlor, and the library and break- fast-room of Washington, from which a narrow staircase ascends to his private study on the second floor. On the north side of the passage are a reception-room and parlor, and a large drawing-room, in which, when there was much company, the guests were sometimes entertained at table. These apartments and theii- present ajDpearance and uses we will consider else- wdiere. Near the mansion, a substantial kitchen on one side, and store-]'oom and laundry on the other, were built, and these were connected with the dwelling by very neat open colon- nades, each with roof and pavement ; and, at a little distance from them, two other strong buildings were erected for house- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 131 >h ,^^^^:^ WESTEK.N i'rfONT OF MOUNT VERNON, AS IT APPEAUKD IN lBo8. servants' quarters. The mansion, the kitchen and store-house, with tlie connecting colonnades, and the servants' quarters, all remain, and exhibit the same external appearance wliich they bore when Washington left them. Tliese may be best seen from the lawn that spreads out before the western front of the niansion, which is first approached by visitors in carriages, there being no road for horses upon the grounds before the river-front. In the prosecution of these improvements Wasliington was his own architect, and drew every plan and specification for tlie workmen with his own hand. Every measurement I 13S MOUNT VERNON was calculated and indicated with exactness ; and in every arrangement for his home, he appears to have m&de convenience and durahility the prime objects of his care. The following letter to Mr. William Eumney, of Alexandria (who had been an aide to General Charles Lee at one time during the Revolu- tion), will give an idea of the carefulness and forethought of Washington in the management of his aifairs. Mr. Eumney was then about to leave for England : "General Washington presents his compliments to Mr. Eum- ney — would esteem it as a particular favor if Mr. Eumney would make the following enquiries as soon as convenient after his arrival in England, and communicate the result of them by the Packet, or any other safe and expeditious conveyance to this country. " 1st. The terms upon which the best kind of Whitehaven flag-stone — black and white in equal quantities — could be delivered at the Port of Alexandria, by the superficial foot, — workmanship, freight, and every other incidental charge included. The stone to be 2|- Inches, or there- abouts, thick ; and exactly a foot square — each kind. To have a rich polished face, and good joints so as that a neat floor may be made therewith. " 2nd. Upon what terms the common Irish Marble (black and white if to be had) — same dimensions, could be delivered as above. " 3rd. As the General has been informed of a very cheap kind of Marble, good in quality, at or in the neighborhood of Ostend, he would thank Mr. Eumney, if it should fall in his way, to institute an enquiry into this also. " On the Eeport of Mr. Eumney, the Genei-al will take his AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 139 ultimate determination ; for wliicli reason he prays him to be precise and exact. The Piazza or Colonnade, for which this is wanted as a floor, is ninety-two feet eight inches, by twelve feet eight inches within the margin, or border that surrounds it. Ov^er and above the quantity here mentioned, if the above Flags are cheap — or a cheaper kind of hard Stone could be had, he would get as much as would lay floors in the Circular Colonnades, or covered ways at the wings of the House — each of which at tlie outer curve, is 38 feet in length by 7 feet 2 Inches in breadth, witliin the margin or border as aforesaid. "Tlie General being in want of a House Joiner & Bricklayer who understand their respective trades perfectly, would thank Mr. Rumney for enquiring into the terms upon which such workmen might be engaged for two or three years (the time of service to commence upon the ship's arrival at Alexandria) ; a shorter term than two years would not answer, because foreigners generally have a seasoning, which with other inter- ruptions too frequently waste the greater part of the first year — more to the disadvantage of the 'employer than the Em- ployed. — Bed, board & Tools to be found by the former, cloth- ing by the latter. " If two men of the above Trades and of orderly and quiet deportment could be obtained for twenty-five or even thirty pounds sterling per annum each (estimating the dollar at 4s. fid.), the General, rather than sustain the loss of Time neces- .sary for communication would be obliged to Mr. Rumney foi- entering into proper obligatory articles of agreement on hi-: behalf with them and sending them by the first vessel bound to this Port. "Geo. Washington. "Mount Vernon, Juhj 5, 1784." 140 MOUNT VERNON The pavement-stone procured SECTIOX OF SHADED CARRIAGE-WAT. througli Mr. Riimney, in ac- cordance with the foregoing order, still exists beneath tlie grand piazza and the colon- nades, but in a dilapidated state. Many of the blocks are gone, others are broken, and all show abrasion by footsteps and the elements. Many of the carpenter's tools, imported from Eng- land at that time by Wash- ington, for tlie use of his workmen, are preserved. Washington was very fond of planting trees and shrub- bery ; and his diaries show that he was much engaged in that business in 1784 and 1785. lie went to the woods almost every day to select and mark young trees for transplanting to the grounds around the mansion, and he generally superintended their removal. In the rear of the man- sion, Washington laid out a fine lawn, upon a level sur- face, which comprises about AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 141 GENERAL PLAN OP THE MANSION AND GROUNDS AT MOUNT VERNON. A The Mansion. B Oval Grass-plot. C The Lawn D D Flower-gwrden. E E Vegetable Garden. F F Kitchen and Laundry G G House-servants' Quarters. H H Circular ( olonnades. I I Water closets. J J Seed-houses. K Carriape-waj- as finally laid out L Outside Koad. 142 MOUNT VERNON twenty acres. Around it he made a serj^entine carriage-way ; and he planted a great variety of shade trees upon each side of it. Upon one side of the lawn he formed a spacious flower- garden, and upon the other an equally spacious vegetable gar- den, and these were planted with the greatest care, according to the minute directions of the master. I have before me the original plan of these grounds, made by "Washington's own hands. It is very carefully drawn. The exact position and the name of every tree to be planted, are laid down. Witli it is a section-drawing, on a larger scale, showing the proposed car- riage-way around the lawn, the names of a large number of trees that were to adorn it, and the places of others indicated by letters and numerals, which are explained by a memorandum. Directly before the western front an oval grass-plot was designed, with a dial-post in the centre, and a carriage-way around it. The lawn, the oval grass-plot, and the gardens were laid out according to the plan drawn by Washington, and i-emain unchanged in form. Quite a large number of trees, planted along the margins of the carriage-way, at that time, are yet there, and are noble specimens of their kind. Many others have decayed and passed away ; and, in some instances, quite large trees now stand where others were planted by the hand of Washington three-quarters of a century ago. In each garden Washington erected small houses, of octag- onal form, for the storage of seeds and implements of hor- ticulture. These are yet standing. The lower portion of each is of brick, and the remainder of plank, wrought so as to resemble blocks of stone. These garden-houses, and water- closets of similar form and dimensions, standing on the borders of the garden near the mansion, are now [1859] fallen into AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 143 GAliDJi.N-HOUSE. almost hopeless decay. The massive brick walls around both gardens remain in perfect preservation. On tlie north side of the flower-garden Washington erected quite an extensive conservatory for plants, into whicli he col- lected many rare exotics. Some of them were presented to him as testimonials of esteem, and others were purchased at the garden of John Bartram, near Philadelphia. Bartram was a member of the Society of Friends, and an eminent botanist. He had died during the Revohition, leaving his business in the able hands of his son William, who, in 1791, published a most interesting account of his botanical explora- tions throui,di the Southern states of our Union. 144 MOUNT VERNON A few tropical plants found tlieir way to the Potomac oc- casionally, upon vessels from the "West Indies. Among the liitter, on one oc(;asion, were some fine lenion-trecs of large CENTURY PLANT AND LEMON-TUEE. growth, and from them Washington selected two or three. Others were propagated from these by cuttings, until, at the time of his death, they had become quite a grove in one end of the conservatory. Only one of these now remains. It was standing in the flower-garden when I was there in 1S58, by the side of a fine century-plant, which was sent to Washington by a gentleman at Porto Rico, in 1798, The tree is about fifteen feet in height ; and, though bearing fruit in abundance, shows signs of decay. At the junction of two of the principal avenues in the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 145 VIEW IK THE FLOWEE-GAHDEN AT MOUNT VEUNON — THE SAGO PALM. flower-garden, I saw one other plant — and only one — that had experienced the fostering care of "Washington, It was a Sago Palm, an East India production, from which is obtained the article of domestic nse known as pearl sago, a species of fecula or starch. It stands in a large tub in which flowers were blooming ; and its tufted leaves, like immense feathers, growing from the heavy stem seven feet from the ground, were fresh and beautiful. The L.mon Tree^ the Century Plant, and the Sago Palm, are all that remain of the movable plants which belonged to Washington, and were taken from the green-house when it 10 146 MOUNT VERNON was destroyed by fire in December, 1835, the same night when the destructive element consumed more than five hun- dred buildings and other property valued at more than twenty millions of dollars, in the city of New York, The fire origi- nated in a defective flue connected with the conservatory, and S OF THE CONSERVATORY AT MOUKT VERNON. that building, with the servants' quarters adjoining it, was laid in ashes in the course of a few hours. What plants were saved from the flames were mostly destroyed by the frost, for it was one of the coldest nights on record. The conservatory was never rebuilt nor the ruins removed. Tliese, now overgrown with vines and shrubs, form a pict- uresque garden wall, but lose some of their attractiveness to the eye of taste, by the presence of two tall, perpendicular chimneys, which are seen above the shrubbery from every point of view in the garden. These broken walls, too, strike tlie visitor unpleasantly. They are at the modern carriage AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 147 entrance to Mount Vernon, and are the first dejects associated with Wasliington that meet the eye on approaching the man- sion from the public road ICE-HOCSE AT MOUNT VERNON. Eastward of the flower-garden, and on the opposite side of the present entrance to Mount Vernon, Wasliington con- structed an ice-house, after liis retirement from public life, at the close of his j^residencj. It was something new in Vir- ginia ; indeed, ice-houses were not in very common use else- where at that time. It is well preserved, and is finely shaded by tall trees, which form a beautiful grove on the north side of the mansion. Previous to the erection of this ice-house, Washington had used, for the purpose of keeping meat, butter, and vegetables cool in summer, a large dry-well at the south-east corner of the lawn in front of the mansion, just on the brink of the high precipitous bank of the river. Into this a descent was made 148 MOUNT VERNON by a flight of steps, and over it he erected an elegant summer- house, with a spire and iron vane in the form of a crescent. The well and the snnimer-house are there, but a part of the walls of the former have fallen in. From the summer-house fine views -#ixM^. SIIIIMER-IIOLTSE AT MOUNT VERNON. of the Potomac may be obtained, but as the staircase leading to it has nearly rotted away, there is difficulty and some danger in climbing up into it over the chasm formed by the caving in of the side of the well. It was from that summer-house that the sketch was made of the mansion, out-buildings, and lawn, with the visitors, as they appear in the frontispiece to this volume. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 149 I have before me a manuscript memorandum from tlie hand of Washington, in which he notes, in minute detail, the dis- tances and directions in feet and inches, and by points of compass, of various objects, such as the garden-houses, the dial-post, and the dry-well, from the " front door of the man- sion." It is interesting, as showing the extreme minuteness and accuracy with which Washington kept a record of all his operations, and might serve those who are about to restore Mount Yernon to its original form and perfection, as an indi- cator of points now lost through neglect and decay. During the spring and summer of 178-4, visitors flocked to Mount Vernon in great numbers. Many of the companions in arms of the beloved chief, of all grades, from general officers to private soldiers, went there to pay their respects, and enjoy once again sweet intercourse with him under whom they had always delighted to serve. At length one came who was specially a man after Wash- ington's own heart — a young man whom he loved as a son or a younger brother. He had been a friend to the Americans in their struggle for freedom, and was a friend of mankind. That visitor was the Marquis de Lafayette, a distinguished scion of an ancient noble family, who, in the summer of 1776, while at the table of the commandant of Mentz, in Ger- many, with other French officers, heard the Duke of Glouces- ter, brother to the King of England, speak of the Declaration of Independence just put forth by the Anglo-American colo- nies, and of the strong measures adopted by the British ministry to crush the rising rebellion. Tlie manpiis was then just past eighteen years of age, slender in form, and a boy in personal appearance. But the heart of a ])atri(it and hero beat 150 MOUNT VERNON beneath liis coat of green, and liis imagination and zeal were fired by the recital of the story of a people fighting for liberty. He returned to Paris full of high resolves, and leaving there an equally enthusiastic and a cheerfully consenting yonng wife — the rich and beautiful daughter of the Duke de Noailles — he came to America, volunteered to fight in the cause of colo- nial emancipation, and, throughout the war, performed services in the field here, and at the court of France, of inestimable benefit to the country. Life, youth, fortune, the endearments of home, were all freely devoted to the cause, and he made the aspirations of the Americans emphatically his own, with an en- thusiasm that scorned all obstacles. "It is fortunate for the king," said the old Count Maurepas, " that Lafayette does not take it into his head to strip Versailles of its furniture to send to his dear Americans, as his majesty would be unable to refuse it." Washington, governed by his intuitive perception of char- acter, which never deceived him, took Lafayette to his bosom on his first arrival at Philadelphia, in 1777; and from that hour until death severed the bond, they were friends of truest character. And now, the intelligence that this dear friend was about to visit him in his quiet home at Mount Yer- non gave Washington a most exquisite pleasure. The portrait of the marquis, painted by Charles Willson Peale, in 1778, was then hanging upon the wall of his parlor : it now occupies a prominent place among the works of art at Arlington House. Lafayette arrived at ISTew York on the 4th of August, 1784, after a passage of thirty-four days from France. There he received the congratulations of the citizens for a few days, and tiien hastened toward Mount Yernon. He was detained in Philadelphia two or three days, and there wrote as follows: AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 151 "PniLADELPniA, Tuesday Evening. " My Dear General : — I liave already had the pleasure to acquaint jou with my arrival in America, and am endeavor- ing to reach Mount Vernon as soon as possible. ]\[y first plan was only to stay here two days, but the affectionate reception I have met with in this city, and the returning some compli- ments to the Assembly, render it necessary for me to stay one day longer. On Friday I will be at the head of Elk, the next day at Baltimore, and by Sunday or Monday I hope at last to be blessed with a sight of my dear General. Tliere is no rest for me until I go to Mount Yernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear General, and the happiness of being once more with you will be so great that no words can ever express it. In a few days I will be at Mount Yernon, and I do already feel delighted with so charming a prospect. My best respects wait upon Mrs. Washington, and not long after you receive this I shall tell you myself how respectfully and affectionately I have the honor to be, my dear General, " Your most obedient, humble servant, " LAFAYETTE. " In case your affairs call you to the Springs, I beg leave either to go there after you, or to accompany you in your jour- ney." Lafayette arrived at Mount Yernon on the ITtli, and re- mained twelve days in the enjoyment of the most sincere friendship and genuine hospitality. During that time Mount Yernon was crowded with other guests, who came to meet the , great benefactor of America; and when he departed for Balti- 152 MOUNT VERNON LAFAYETTE PAINTED BY C. \V . PEALE, IN 1778. more, quite a cavalcade of gentlemen accompanied liim far on liis way. There was a bond of union, of peculiar strength, between AVashington and Lafayette otlier than that of mere ]3ersonal friendship. They were members of the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, and both loved the mystic brotherhood sin- cerely. Madame Lafayette was deeply interested in every thing that engaged the attention of her husband ; and she had learned to reverence Washington with a feeling closely allied to that of devotion. She had corresponded with him, and received from him cordial invitations to the simple delights of rural life at Mount Vernon. She had, no doubt, earnestly desired to present some visible testimonial of her regard to the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 153 great patriot of the Ke^v World ; and wlieii her husband resolved to visit him in his retirement at Mount Vernon, she prepared, with her own hands, an apron of white satin, upon MASONIC APRON, WROUGHT BY MADAME THE MARCHIONESS LAFAYETTE. which she wrought, in needlework, the various emblems of the Masonic order. This apron Lafayette brought with him, and presented to his distinguished brother at Mount Yernon. It was kept by Washington as a cherished memorial of a noble woman ; and, after his death, his legatees formally presented 154 MOUNT VERNON it to tlie "Wasliington Benevolent Society of Philadelphia, in the followino; words : "To THE Washington Benevolent Society. " The legatees of General Wasliington, impressed with the most profound sentiments of respect for the noble institution which they have the honor to address, beg leave to present to them the enclosed relic of the revered and lamented Father of his Country. Tliey are persuaded that the apron, which was once possessed by the man whom Philadelphians always delighted to honor, will be considered most precious to the society distinguished by his name, and by the benevolent and grateful feelings to which it owes its foundation. Tliat this perishable memento of a hero, whose fame is more durable than brass, may confer as much pleasure upon those to Avliom it is presented as is experienced by the donors, is the sincere wish of the legatees. "October 2Gih, 1816." When the society to which this apron was presented was dissolved, the precious memento of Washington and his fair friend was presented to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and now occupies a conspicuous place upon the walls of the Grand Master's room in Masonic Hall, Philadelphia, carefully pre- served under glass, in a frame. More than two years previous to the visit of Lafayette, Washington received from the late Elkanah Watson, and his business partner, M. Cossoul, several Masonic ornaments, ac- companied by the following letter : AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 155 "To HIS Excellency, General Washington, America. ** Host Illustrious and Respected Brother : " In the moment when all Europe admire and feel the effects of your glorious efforts in support of American liberty, we hasten to offer for your acceptance a small pledge of our homage. Zealous lovers of liberty and its institutions, we have experienced the most refined joy in seeing our chief and brother stand forth in defence of a new-born nation of repub- licans. " Your glorious career will not be confined to the protection of American liberty, but its ultimate effect will extend to the whole human family, since Providence has evidently selected you as an instrument in His hands to fulfil His eternal decrees. "It is to you, therefore, the glorious orb of America, we presume to offer Masonic ornaments, as an emblem of your virtues. May the Grand Architect of the universe be the guardian of your precious days, for the glory of the western hemisphere and the entire universe. Such are the vows of those who have the favor to be by all the known numbers, " Your affectionate brothers, "Watson & Cossoul. "East of Nantes, IZd \st Month, 5782." Washington replied as follows, from his head-quarters at Newburgh : "State of New York, August lOth, 1782. " Gentleimen : — Tlie Masonic ornaments which accompanied voiir brotherlv address of the 23d of Januarv last, though 156 MOUNT VERXOX elegant in themselves, were rendered more valuable by the flattering sentiments and affectionate manner in which they were presented. " If my endeavors to avert the evil with which the country was threatened, by a deliberate plan of tyranny, should be crowned with the success that is wished, the praise is due to the Grand Architect of the universe, who did not see fit to suffer His superstructure of justice to be subjected to the ambition of the princes of this world, or to the rod of oppres- sion in the hands of any power upon earth. " For your affectionate vows permit me to be grateful, and offer mine for true brothers in all parts of the world, and to assure you of the sincerity with which I am, " Yours, " Geo. Washington. "Messrs. Watson & Cossoul, East of Nantes." Watson says, in relation to this gift : " Wishing to pay some mark of respect to our beloved Washington, I employed, in conjunction with my friend M. Cossoul, nuns in one of the convents at Nantes, to prepare some elegant Masonic orna- ments, and gave them a plan for combining the American and French flags on the apron designed for his use." They were executed in a superior and expensive style, being wrought in gold and silver tissue. This regalia was sent by Washington to Mount Yernon, and was afterward worn by him when he met his brethren in the lodge at Alexandria. The apron and collar are now in possession of Washington Lodge, Alexandi'ia, to which they were presented by the late George Washington Parke Custis. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 157 The reverence whicli was felt for the person of Washington by individuals was expressed by public bodies, even, as in the example just given, before the close of the struggle which he conducted so nobly. The Federal Congress took the initiative in voting him honors, such as the senate of old Rome was wont to decree for their heroes and sages. That body was in session at Princeton, in the summer of 1783, when arrange- ments for the consummation of the declared peace with Great Britain was in progress, and Washington, having been requested to make his head-quarters near, took post at Rocky Hill, a few miles off. Before his arrival, the Congress, on the 7th of August, " Resolved (unanimously, ten states being present), Tliat an equestrian statue of General Washington be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established ;'' and appointed Arthur Lee, Oliver Ellsworth, and Thomas Mifflin, a committee to propose a plan for the same. The committee recommended a statue of bronze, the general to be represented in a Roman dress, holding a truncheon in his right hand, and his head encircled with a laurel wreath. The statue was to be supported by a marble pedestal, on which were to be represented — the evacuation of Boston, the cap- ture of the Hessians at Trenton, the battle of Princeton, the action of Monmouth, and the surrender of York. On the upper part of the pedestal was to be the following inscrip- tion : "The United States, in Congress assembled, ordered this statue to be erected in the year of our Lord, 1783, in honor of George Washington, the illustrious commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States of x\merica. during the war which 158 MOUNT VERNON vindicated and secnred their liberty, sovereignty, and inde- pendence." It was resolved that this statue should be executed by the best artist in Europe, under the superintendence of the min- ister of the United States at Versailles (Doctor Franklin), at the expense of the government, and that Congress . should transmit to the minister the best likeness of Washington that could be procured. A few months after the passage of these resolutions, two young artists arrived at Eocky Hill. Tliese were Joseph Wright and William Dunlap. The former bore a letter from Dr. Franklin to Washington, and he was permitted to paint the portraits of the general and his wife. Dunlap, then a mere lad, also, painted a portrait of the chief. Young Wright was a son of Mrs. Patience Wright, who had then acquired much eminence in Europe and America for her models in wax of living men, and he inherited some of his mother's peculiar faculty. Some members of the Congress, aware of this, conceived the idea of having him make a plaster cast from the face of Washington, to be sent to Europe for the use of the sculptor who should execute tlie bronze statue. It was proposed, and Washington consented to submit to the unpleasant operation of lying upon his back and having the wet plaster laid upon his face. What a spectacle did the great Republican leader present at that moment ! Tlie operation was a most disagreeable one, for the manipu- lator was inexperienced and unskilful. He was very anxious, too, to relieve Washington from his position, and, in his haste and trepidation, an accident occurred which made his labor fruitless. After the plaster had sufficiently hardened, the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 159 artist proceeded, as quickly as possible, to remove it, when he let it fall upon the floor, and it was dashed in pieces. Tlie desires of Congress, strongly expressed, to have another trial, were of no avail. Wasliington would not consent, and the statue voted by that body was never made. Young Wright appears to have been unfortunate in his efforts to acquire fame and fortune in connection with the likeness of Washington. He afterward cut a die for a medal- lion profile of the chief, which was declared by all to be an exceedingly faithful picture. After striking a few impressions the die was broken, and the artist's labor was lost. An engraving on copper, of larger size, was afterward made from one of these impressions. A broadside edition of Washing- ton's Farewell Address, printed in 1796, in possession of the writer, is embellished with an impression from that engraving. When Washington had become a private citizen — a plain farmer on the banks of the Potomac — neither desiring nor expecting further public employment, the hearts of his coun- trymen, beating warmly with gratitude for his services, yearn- ed to honor him with some testimonial of their profound regard. Virginia, his .lative state, proud to own him as her son, took the lead in the manifestation of this sentiment. On the 22d of June, 1781, the legislature of Virginia — '•'•liesolved^ That the Executive be i*equested to take meas- ures for procuring a statue of General Washington, to be of the finest marble and best workmanship, with the following inscription on its pedestal: " ' The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused this Statue to be erected as a Monument of Affec- tion and Gratitude to Geokge Washington, who, uniting to 160 MOUNT VERNON tlie Endowments of the Hero the Virtues of the Patriot, and exerting both in establishing the Liberties of his Country, has rendered his Name dear to his Fellow Citizens, and given the World an immortal Example of true Glorj'.' " This inscription was written by James Madison. On the day when this resolution w^as ado^^ted, the General Assembly also voted an address to General Washington, and a joint com- mittee of the two houses was appointed to prepare one and present it. The committee, with Mr. Madison at the head, waited upon Washington, at Mount Yernon, a few days after- ward, presented the address, and received the following reply : " Gentlemen : — With feelings which are more easy to be conceived than expressed, I meet and reciprocate the congrat- ulations of the representatives of this commonwealth on the final establishment of peace. " Nothing can add more to the pleasure which arises from a conscious discharge of public trust, than the approbation of one's country. To have been so happy, under a vicissitude of fortune, amidst the difficult and trying scenes of an arduous conflict, as to meet this, is, in my mind, to have attained the highest honor ; and the consideration of it, in my present peaceful retirement, w411 heighten all my domestic joys, and constitute my greatest felicity. " I should have been truly wanting in duty, and must have frustrated the great and important object for which we re- sorted to arms, if, seduced by a temporary regard for fame, I had suffered the paltry love of it to interfere with my country's welfare ; the interest of which was the only inducement which carried me into the field, or permitted the sacred rights of civil AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 161 authority, tliough but for a monieut, to be violated and in- fringed by a power meant originally to rescue and confirm them. " For those rewards and blessings which you have invoked for me in this world, and for the fruition of that happiness which you pray for in tliat which is to come, you have, gen- tlemen, all my thanks and all my gratitude. I wish I could insure them to you, and the state you represent, a hundred- fold." Eenjamin Harrison was governor of Virginia when the General Assembly requested the executive to take measures for procuring a statue of Washington ; and a little more than a month after the date of that resolution, he wrote to Doctor Franklin and Mr. Jefferson, then in Paris, on the subject, requesting them to attend to the matter, and acquainting them that he had ordered Mr. Peale to send them a full-length portrait of the general, to be used as a model for the sculptor. The only method by which a perfect likeness of the great patriot might be secured, was to have the artist make a model from the living face; and Messrs. Franklin and Jefferson ac- cordingly engaged Houdon, a portrait sculptor, then without a rival in the world, to go to America for the purpose. Houdon was a small, active, and exceedingly industrious Frenchman ; careful and prudent, and disposed to make an excellent bar- gain for himself. " The terms," Mr. Jetferstjn wrote, " are twenty -five thousand livres [about $4,620], one thousand Eng- lish guineas (the English guinea being worth twenty-five livres), for tlie statue and pedestal. Besides tliis, we pay his expenses going and returning, which we expect will be 11 102 MOUNT TEUNON between four and five thousand livres ; and if he dies on the voyage, we pay his family ten thousand livres. This latter proposition was disagreeable to us ; but he has a father, mother, and sisters, who have no resource but in his labor; and he is liimself one of the best men in the world." To insure the state against loss in case of his death, Mr. Jeiferson, through Mr. Adams, procured an insurance upon Iloudon's life, in London, at an additional expense of five hundred livres, or about ninety-two dollars. It was more than a year after the order for the statue was given before Houdon arrived. He came over in the same vessel that brought Doctor Franklin home. On the 20th of September, 1785, the Doctor gave Houdon a letter of intro- duction to Wasliington, and, at the same time, he wrote to the general to apprise him of the sculptor's arrival. Washington immediately wrote to Houdon, saying, " It will give me pleas- ure, sir, to welcome you to this seat of my retirement ; and whatever I have or can procure that is necessary to your pur- poses, or convenient and agreeable to your wishes, you must freely command, as inclination to oblige you will be among the last things in which I shall be deficient, either on your arrival or during your stay." Houdon arrived at Mount Yernon on the 3d of October, furnished with all necessary materials for maldng a bust of Washington. He remained there a fortnight, and made, on the living face of our illustrious Friend, a plaster mould, pre- paratory for the clay impression, which was then modelled into the form of a bust, and immediately, before it could shrink from drying, moulded and cast in plaster, to be afterward copied in marble, in Paris. That clay model was left at A K D ITS A S S C I A T 1 X ; 163 HOUDON S BUST OP VVASHINGTOX. Mount Veniun, where it may be seen upon a bracket in tiie library, white-washed, so as to resemble marble or plaster of Pans. In the presence of Mr. Madison, Iloudon made exact meas- urements of the person of Washington, and with ample mem- oranda Concerning costume, et cetera, he returned to France. The statue was not completed nntil 1789, when to the inscrip- tion npon the pedestal were added the words : " Done in the year of Cnmsx one thonsand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the year of the commonwealth, twelve." Iloudon's statue stands in the rotunda of the capitol at Richmond. It is of fine Italian marble, size of life. The costume is the militarv dress of the Revolution. The riijlit 164 MOUXT VERNON HOUDON S STATUE OF WASHINGTON. AXD ITS ASvSOCIATIOXS. 10,") liaiul of the general rests upon a staff; tlio left is upon the folds of a military cloak thrown over the end of a hnndle of fasces, with which are connected a sword and plongh. Gouver- neur Morris, who was in Paris when the statue was executed, stood as a model for the person of "Washington. " Of what use," says Dunlap, "his person coukl be to the artist I cannot conceive, as there was no likeness, in form or nuiniier, hetween him and the hero, except that they were hoth tall men." Yet snch was the fact. Morris, in his diai-y, nnder date of "June 5, 1789," says: "Go to M. Houdon's. He's been waiting for me a Ions; time. I stand for his statue of General AVashiiiffton, being the humble employment of a manikin. This is literally taking the advice of St. Paul, to be all things to all men." The foregoing facts are presented in contrast with the creations of fancy which an orator recently put forth as the forms of real history, in the following words : " Houdon, after taking a mould of Washington's face, persisted to make a cast of ]iis entire person. * * * * The hero and the sage — the man of supreme dignity, of spotless purity and the most veiled modesty, laid his sacred person bai-e and prone before the eyes of art and affection ! * * * * The cast of the body was left to the care of his workmen, but that of the head was reserved in his own hands." All this is utterly untrue. The workmen of Houdon, it is known, never joined him, and no such scene as above described ever occurred at Mount Vernon. Six months before Houdon's arrival at Mount Vernon, another artist wr.s domiciled there. It was Robert Edge Pine, a very small, morbidly irritable Englishman, who came to America in 1784, with the rare reputation of "king's ]iainter," and witli the lofty design of ])iccuring portraits of 16G MOUNT YERNON the most distiiiguislied men of the Eevolution, as materials for a series of historical paintings of the war then just ended. His wife and daughters, who came with him, were as diminu- tive as himself, and the family appeared almost like pigmies. Pine had been a student of art under Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was highly esteemed by that artist, and was popular with a large number of influential men in England. He brought letters of introduction to Francis Hopkinson, of Philadelphia ; and the first portrait that he painted after his arrival in this country, was of that gentleman. It was finished early in 1785, and w^as first well engraved by Longacre, and published in the American Portrait Gallery. Robert Morris also pat- ronized him, and built a studio for him in Eighth street, in Philadelphia. Pine's republican proclivities made him unpopular with the ministerial party at home, and gave him corresponding sym- pathy in America. He found constant employment for his pencil in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Annapolis, and in several places in Virginia. He went to Mount Vernon in May, 1785, with a letter of introduction to Washington from Francis Hop- kinson, in which the chief was requested to give the painter sittings, in furtherance of his grand design of composing scenes of the War for Independence. He was cordially re- ceived, and remained there three weeks. During that time Washington wrote as follows to Mr. Hopkinson, dated at Mount Vernon, May 16, 1785 : " Dear Sir : ' In for a penny in for a pound,' is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painters jiencil, that I am now altogether at their beck, and sit, like AND ITS ASSOC I AT I OXS. 107 Patience on a nioinunent, wliil^t tlit-y are delineating tlie lines of niy face. "It is a proof among many others of what habit and custom can effect. At first I was as impatient at the request, and as restive under tiie operation, as a colt is of the saddle. Tlie next time I submitted very reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now no dray moves more readily to the thill than I do to the painter's chair. It may easily be conceived, therefore, that I yielded a ready obedience to your request, and to the views of Mr. Pine. " Letters from England, recommendatory of this gentleman, came to my hand previous to his arrival in America, not only as an artist of acknowledged eminence, but as one who had discovered a friendly disposition toward this country, for which it seems he had been marked." While at Mount Yernon Pine painted the portraits of two of Mrs. Washington's grandchildren. These were Elizabeth Parke Custis, then about nine years of age, who afterward married Mr. Law, a wealthy English gentleman ; and George Washington Parke Cuistis, the last survivor of his famil}^, who died at Arlington House, on the Potomac, in the autumn of i 1857. The pictures are exquisitely painted, and, like all of ! Pine's productions, the colors retain their original vividness. Elizabeth is represented as a beautiful girl, with rich brown hair lying in careless curls, and in great profusion, upon her | head and neck, her bosom covered with very light drapery, ! and iiaving lying upon it the miniature of her father, John Parke Custis (printed on page 84 of this volume), suspended by a ribbon around her neck. \m MOUNT VERNON ELIZABETH PARKE CHSTIS. The brother was then between fonr and five years of age. lie is represented as a fair-haired child, with loose summer garments, and carrying in his hand a branch with two or three leayes upon it. These pictures now occupy a con- spicuous place upon the walls of the drawing-room at Arling- ton House. Pine's grand design was iieyer carried out. He died four or fiye years after his visit to Mount Vernon, and his family returned to England. The portraits which he had painted were & Tlie sea voyage was beneficial, and on the Sotli of Aiignst the President and liis family set out for Mount Yernon, there to spend the few months before the next meeting of Con- gress at Philadelphia. Tliey left Xew York for Elizabethtown in the splendid barge in which they had arrived, amid the thunders of cannon and the huzzas of a great multitude of people. Washington never saw New York again. Having no further use for his barge, lie wrote to Mr. Pandall, the 216 MOUNT VERXON cliairman of the coinaiittce tlirongli whom he liad received it, saying: "x\s I am at this moment about commencing my journey to Virginia, and consequently will have no farther occasion for the use of the Large, I must now desire that you will return it, in my name, and with my best thanks, to the original proprie- tors ; at the same time I shall be much obliged if you will have the goodness to add, on my part, that in accepting their beautiful present, I considered it as a pledge of that real urbanity which, I am happy in declaring, I have experienced on every occasion during my residence among them ; that 1 ardently wish every species of prosperity may be the constant poi-tion of the respectable citizens of New York ; and that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the polite atten- tions of the citizens in general, and of those in particular to whom the contents of this note are addressed." A few days after this, Washington was again beneath the roof he loved so well, at Mount Vernon, but the coveted enjoyment of his home was lessened by the weight of public cares that pressed upon him. The old feeling of deep respon- sibility, wliicli it was so difficult for him to lay aside at the close of his military career, returned; and in his library, where he loved to devote his morning hours to reading and the labors of the pen in recording facts connected with his pursuits as a farmer, he might be seen with state papers, maps, plans', and every thing that indicated the weighty cares of a public nu\n. The Congress then just closed had been a most important one, and the labors of every conscientious officer and employee of the government hud beei* very severe. Upon them had AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 217 been laid the responsible and niomentons task of puttinc- in motion the machinery of a new government, and laying the foundations of the then present and fntm-e policy of that gov- ernment, domestic and foreign. As the chief magistrate of the republic;, the chief officer of tlie gov^ernment, the chief archi- tect of the new superstructure in progress, Washington felt the solemnity of his position, and the importance of the great trusts which the people had placed in his hands ; and the sense of all this denied him needful repose, even while sitting within the quietude of his home on the banks of the Potomac. Just before Congress adjourned, Washington received a curious present, which he carried with him to Mount Vernon. It was the key of the Bastile, that old state prison in Paris, which had become a strong arm of despotism. It was first a royal castle, completed by Charles V. of France, in 1383, for the defence of Paris against the English, but in the lapse of time it had become a fortress, devoted to the selfish purj)oses of tyranny. It was hated by the people. During the preceding year, the slumbering volcano of revo- lution burning in the hearts of the people, upon which for a long time, royalty and the privileged classes in France had been reposing, showed frecpient signs of incpiietude, which projih- esied of violent eruption. The abuses of the government, under the administration of the ministers of a well-meaning but weak monarch, had become unendurable, and the best friends of France had spoken out boldly against them. Among these the boldest was Lafayette. He had made a formal demand for a National Assembly. " What !'' said the Count d'Artois to him on one occasion, " Do you make a mo- tion for tlie States General?" "Yes, and even more than that," 218 MOUNT VERNON Lafayette replied ; and tliat more was nothing less tlian a char- ter from the king, by which the public and individual liberty should be acknowledged and guarantied by the future States General, That body opened their session at Versailles in May, and soon constituted themselves a ISTational Assembly. Their hall was closed by order of the king, on the 20th, and from that time until early in July, Paris was dreadfully agitated. Every one felt that a terrible storm was ready to burst. The king, surrounded by bad advisers, attempted to avert it by means which precipitated it. He placed a cordon of troops around Paris, to overawe the opposers of government. The Assembly, supported by the people, organized a militia within the city. The number required was forty-eight thousand. In two days, two liundred and seventy thousand citizens enrolled them- selves. A state mayor was appointed by the tow^n assem- bly, and the Marquis La Salle was named commander-in-chief. The armed people intercepted the court dispatches by ari-est- ing the royal couriers ; and an immense assemblage went to the Plospital of the Livalids, on the 10th of July, and demand- ed of the governor to deliver up to them all the arms depos- ited there. He refused, and they seized thirty thousand mus- kets and twenty pieces of cannon. They also seized all the arms in the shops of the armorers, and those of the Garde- Meuble. The tumult throughout the city became terrible ill strength and intensity, and the N'ational Assembly sent a dep- utation to the king to inform him of the disturbances, and to point to the cause — the surrounding troops. The king, under advice, refused to make a change, haughtily declaring that he alone had the right to judge of the necessity of public measures. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 219 On the iiiglit of the IStli, Paris was comparatively quiet. It was the hill before tlie bursting of the storm. The dismissal of M. Necker from the post of minister of finance, had greatly exasperated the inhabitants. The streets were barricaded. The people formed, themselves into a National Guard, and chose Lafa3'ette as their commander. Each assumed some sort of military dress, and laid hold of gun, sabre, scythe, or whatever weapon first fell in their way. Multitudes of men of the same opinion, embraced each other in the streets as brothers ; and in an instant, almost, a National Guard Avas formed, consisting of a hundred thousand determined men. It was believed that the Bastile contained a lai'ge quantity of arms and ammunition, and tliither the people repaired on the morning of the 1-ith. A parley ensued, the gates were opened, and about forty citizens, leaders of the people, were permitted to go in. The bridges were then drawn, and a filing was heard within ! That moment marks the opening of the terrible drama of the French revolution. The fury of the popnlace was excited beyond all control. That firing fell upon their ears as the death-knell of their friends who had gone within the walls of the hated prison. With demoniac yells they dragged heavy cannon before the gates, in the face of a storm of grape-shot from the fortress. They quailed not before the storm, but attacked the stronghold of Despotism with tiger-like ferocity. The alarmed governor, Delaunay, soon displayed a white flag, and the firing ceased. A second deputation was now sent to the governor. They shared the fate of/the former. With redoubled fui-y the people again assailed the walls, made a breach, rushed in. 220 MOUNT V E R X N seked the governor and other officers, and conducting them in triumpli to the Place de Grace, first cut off their hands, and then their heads. Tlie hitter were then paraded upon pikes through the streets, and the great iron key of the Bastihi was carried to the Hotel de Ville, or town halL The National Assembly decreed its demolition. Seven prisoners who had been confined in its dungeons since the reign of Louis the Fifteenth (three of whom had lost their reason) were set at liberty, and the old fortress was demolished soon afterward. Upon its site is now the Place de Bastile^ within which stands the Column of July ^ erected by order of Louis Philippe, in commemoration of the events of the meujorable Tln-ee Dtiys of July, 1830, which placed him upon the throne of Finance. The National Assembly, by unanimous vote, now elected Lafayette commander-in-chief of the National Guard of all France, a corps of more than four millions of armed citizens. He accepted the appointment, but, imitating the example of Washington, he refused all remunei'ation for his ser\ices, not- withstanding a salary of fifty thousand dollars a year was voted. The king approved of his appointment, and the mon- arch, being deserted by his bad advisers, thi-ew himself upon the National Assembly. " He has hitherto been deceived," Lafayette proclaimed to the people, " but he now sees the merit and justice of the popular cause." The people shouted " Vive le roi ! " and for a moment the revolution seemed to be at an end. The key of the Bastile was placed in the hands of Lafayette, and in March following he sent it to Thomas Paine, then in London, to be forwarded as a present to Washington, together with a neat drawing, in pencil, representing the destruction of XD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 221 f ^/ II ^iilv':iJI|l|l|ll|li;||l||||lll!|13;ililii'|i|l!'ii'iri;i«i!«li!lil"'lillLi 222 MOUNT VERXON the 2:)rison. A copy of tliat sketch is given on page 221. With these Lafayette enclosed a letter to Washington, dated the lYtli of March, in wliich he gave him a general picture of affairs in France, and added : "After I have confessed all this, I will tell jou, with the same candor, that we have made an admirable and almost incredible destruction of all abuses and jDi'ejudices ; that every thing not directly useful to or coming from the people has been levelled; that in the toj^ographical, moral, and political situation of France, we have made more changes in ten months than the most sanguine patriots could have imagined ; that our internal troubles and anarchy are much exaggerated ; and that, upon the whole, this revolution, in which nothing will be wanting but energy of government, as it was in America, will im- plant liberty and make it flourish throughout the world ; while we must wait for a convention, in a few years, to mend some defects, which are not now perceived by men just es- caped from aristocracy and despotism." He then added : " Give me leave, my dear general, to present you with a picture of the Bastile, just as it looked a few days after I ordered its demolition, with the main key of the fortress of despotism. It is a tribute Avhich I owe as a son to my adopted father — as an aide-de-camp to my general — as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch." After considerable delay, Paine forwarded the key and drawing to Washington, with a letter, in which he said : " I feel myself happy in being the person through whom the j\[arquis has conveyed this early trophy of the spoils of despot- ism, and the first I'ipe fruits of American principles trans- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 223 jilanted into Europe, to liis great master and patron. AYlicn lie iiu'iitioiK'd to me the present he intended for you, my lieart leaped with joy. It is something so truly in character, that no remarks can illustrate it, and is more happily expressive of his remembrance of liis American friends than any letters can convey. That the principles of anerica opened the Bastile is not to be loubted, and therefore the key comes to fthe right place. * * * * " I should rejoice to be tlie direct )£arer of the nuirquis's present to your excellency, but I doubt I shall not be able to see my much-loved America till next spring. I shall therefore send it by some American vessel to New York. I have permitted no drawing to be taken here, thougli it has l)een often requested, as I think there is a propriety that it should first be presented. But Mr. West wishes Mr. Trumbull to make a painting of the presentation of the key to you." On the 11th of August "Washington wrote to Lafayette : '•I luive received your atiectionate letter of the ITth of March by one conveyance, and the token of the victory gained by liberty over despotibui by another, for both which testimonials of your friendship and regard I pray you to accei)t my sincerest thanks. In this great subject of triumph for the Xew World, and for humanity in general, it will never be forgotten how cons|)icu(ms a part you bore, and how much lustre vou reflected on a country in which you nuide the first displays of your character."' KEY OF THE BASTILE. 224 MOUNT VKRXON The key of tlie Bastile, and the drawing representing the demolition of tlie fortress, are at Mount Vernon. The former is preserved in a glass case, and the latter hangs near it, in the same relative position in which they were originally placed by Washington, in the great passage of the mansion. Directly opposite the key, in the great passage, hangs the spy-glass used by Washington in the Revolution, and after- iQ-=^=?i WASHINGTON S SPY-GLASS. ward at Mount Yernon. This was always carried by Billy, his favorite body-servant, to be used in reconnoitring at a distance. Mr. CXistis, in his Recollections of Washington^ gives the following anecdote in connection with this spy -glass, or telescope, on the field of Monmouth : "A ludicrous occurrence varied the incidents of the 28th ot June. The servants of the general officers were usually well armed and mounted. Will Lee, or Billy, the former hunts- man, and favorite body-servant of the Chief, a square, mus- cular figure, and capital horseman, paraded a corps of valets, and, riding pompously at their head, proceeded to an eminence crowned by a large sycamore-tree, from whence could be seen an extensive portion of the field of battle. Here Billy halted, and, having unslung the large telescope that he always carried in a leathern case, with a martial air applied it to his eye, and reconnoitred the enemy. Washington having observed these manfjeuvres of the corps of valets, pointed them out to his AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS 225 officers, observing, 'See those fellows collecting on yonder heiglit; the enemy will fire ou them to a certainty,' Mean- while the British M'ere not unmindful of the assemblage on the height, and perceiving a burly figure well mounted, and with a telescope in hand, they determined to pay their respec's ti) the group. A shot from a six-pounder passed through the tree, cutting away the limbs, and producing a scampering among the corps of valets, that caused even the grave coun- tenance of the general-in-chief to relax into a smile." The pocket telescope used by AVashington throughout the war was presented to President Jackson, by the late George Washington Parke Custis, on the 1st of January, 1830. To this interesting memorial Mr. Custis had affixed a silver plate, with the following inscription : ^'■Erat Aiictoris, est conservatoris^ Lihertatis. 1775 — 17S3." On presenting the gift, Mr. Custis observed that, "'Although it was in itself of but little value, there was attached unto it recollections of the most interesting character. It had been raised to the eye of the departed Chief, in the most awful and momentous periods of our mighty conflict ; it had been his com])anion from '75 to '83, amid the toils, privations, the hopes, the fears, and the final success of our glorious struggle for independence ; and, as the memorial of the hero who triumphed to obtain liberty, it is now appropriately bestowed upon the hero who triumphed to presei've it. Mr. C. request- ed that, as he (the General) was childless, he would be pleased, at his decease, to leave the telescope as Alexander left his kingdom — ' to the most worthy.' " 15 226 AMOUNT VERNON President Jackson accepted the ])resent and the complhnent, and made a brief response. Whetlier he left it " to the most WASHINGTON S PISTOL. where it is now, we have ]io information. Washington carried with him to Mount Yernon, with the key of the Bastile, a pair of elegant pistols, which, with equally elegant holsters, had been presented to him by the Count de Moustier, the French minister, as a token of his personal regard. These weapons, it is believed, are the ones pre- sented by Washington to Col. Samuel Hay, of the tenth Pennsylvanian regiment, who stood high in the esteem of his general. They bear the well-known cipher of Wash- ington, and were purchased at the sale of Colonel Hay's effects, after his death in No- vember, 1803, by John Y. Baldwin, of jS'ew- ark, New Jersey. His son, J. O. Baldwin, presented one of them to Isaac I. Green- wood, of New York, in 1825, in whose pos- session it remains, the other having been lost on the occasion of a fire which destroyed the residence of his mother. Our eni2:raviDir represents the preserved one. Mr. Baldwin relates the following anecdote in connection with these pistols: — "When I was a boy,'' he says, " my father AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 227 would frequently take uj) the ^l^^/wa, a newspaper tlien pub- lished in Philadelphia, and marking off about twenty lines, would say, 'JSTow, Joseph, if you read those correctly, and without a single inistake, you shall fire off one of Washing- ton's pistols.' Such a promise was a liigh incentive, and if the task was fairly accomplished, my mother would take off her thimble to measure the charge, and my father, having loaded the pistol, I would go to the backdoor with an exulting heart, and lifting the weapon on high, tightly grasped with both hands, pull the trigger." While at Mount Yernon in the autumn of 1T90, Washington received from the Count D'Estaing a small bust of M. Xecker, the French minister of finance, or comptroller-general, when the French llevolution broke out in 1789. James Necker was a native of Geneva, in Switzerland. He went to France as ambassador for the republic, where, in 1765, he obtained the office of syndic to the East India Company, and in 1775 was made director of the royal treasury. He exhibited such virtue of character, and such eminent abilities, that twice, though a foreigner, he was made prime minister of France. He was popular with the people at the breaking out of the French llevolution, but that storm was so variable and fickle, that he returned to Switzerland, where he remained until his death, M'hich occurred in 1804, at the age of seventy -two years. His daughter married Baron de Stael Holstein, a Swedish ambassador at the court of France. She was the Madame de Stael so well known in the world of letters. Tlie little bust of Necker sent by D'Estaing to Washing- ton, is upon a bracket over the fireplace in the library at Mount Yernon, where the President placed it himself. Upon 22S MOUNT vp:rnon tlie tall pedestal are two brass plates, bearing inscriptions, and also a small plate upon the lower part of the bust itself. On the latter is onlj the name of NECKER. Upon the upper plate on the pedestal are the words : QUI NOBIS EESTFTCriT REM. LFpon the second or lower plate is inscribed : PRESENTED TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 0:<^ AJVIERICA, BY HIS MOST DUTIFUL, MOST OBEDIENT, AND MOST HUMBLE SERVANT, ESTAING, A CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, BY AN ACT OF 22d FEB., 1785, AND A CITIZEN OF FRANCE IN 1786. Count D'Estaing, who had twice commanded a French fleet on our coast, in co-operation with American land forces, be- came a member of the Assembly of Notables in the early part of the French Revolution, and being suspected of an unfriendly feeling toward the Terrorists, he was destroyed by the guillo- tine, on the 29th of April, 1793. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 229 In a letter to Tobias Lear, (then in New York,) dated at Mount Vernon on the 3d of August, 1790, Washington requests him, when able to get at Count D'Estaing's letters (which, with others, had been packed for removal from New York to Philadelphia), to send him a transcript of what the Count says of a bust of M. Necker he had sent to Iiini, together with • a number of prints of Necker and Lafayette. Upon another bracket in tlie library at Mount Vernon, not far from the little head of Necker, is a full-size bust of Lafayette, a copy ot the one in the capitol at Richmond made by Houdon, by order of the legislature of the state of Vir- ginia, in 1786, which was exe- cuted under the direction of Mr. Jefferson, then American minister in Paris. The legisla- ture of Virginia also ordered a copy to be made and pre- sented to the city of Paris. Tliis fact was made known to the authorities there, by Mr. Jefferson, in the following words : BUST OF M. NECKBB. " Tlie legislature of the state of Virginia, in consideration of the services of Major-General the Marquis de Lafayette, has resolved to place his bust in their capitol. Tliis intention of erecting a monument to his virtues, and to the sentiments with which he has inspired them, in the country to wliich they are 230 MOUNT VERNON indebted for his birtli, has induced a hope that the city of Paris would consent to become the depository of a second proof of their gratitude. Charged by the state with tlic execution of this resohition, I have the honor to solicit the Prevot des Marchands and municipality of Paris to accept the bust of this brave ofhcer, and give it a situation where it may continually aw^aken the admiration and witness the respect of the allies of France. "Thos. Jeffersok. 'Dated [at Paris] 11th September. 1786." . The Prewt soon received a letter from the Baron de Ere- teuil, minister and secretary of state for the department of Paris, informing him that the king, to whom the proposition had been submitted, approved of the bust being erected in the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 231 city, Tlic council accordingly assembled on tlie 28tli of Sep- tember, and Mr. Short, of Virginia, representing Mr. Jefferson (who Avas confined to his room by illness), went to the Hotel de Yille to present the bust, which Houdon had satisfactorily executed. The proceedings of the meeting were opened by M. Pelletier de Morfontaine, counsellor of state and Precot des Jfarckands, by stating its object. M. Veytard, the chief clerk, read all the documents connected with the matter, after which M. Ethit de Corny, attorney-general and knight of the order of Cinciunatus, delivered an address, in which he recounted the services of Lafayette in America, the confidence of the army in him, and the attachment of the people to him. In his official capacity he then gave the requisite instructions for the reception of the bust, agreeably to the wishes of the king. It was accordingly placed in one of the galleries of the Hotel de Yille, where it remains to this day. This was a most rare honor to be paid to a young man, only twenty-nine years of age. It was as unexpected to Lafayette as it was grateful to his feelings ; and it was an additional link in the bright chain of memories and sympathies which bound him to this country. Soon after his arrival in ISTew York to assume the duties of the presidency, Washington imported a fine coach from Eng- land, in which, toward the close of the time of his residence there, and while in Philadelphia, he often rode with his family, attended by outriders. On these occasions it was gen- erally drawn by four, and sometimes by six fine bay horses, Tlie first mention of a coach, in his diary, in which he evident-^ ly refers to this imported one, is under the date of December 12, 1TS9, where he records as follows : 232 MOUNT YERNON " Exercised in the coach with Mrs. ^Yashington and the two children (Master and Miss Custis) between breakfast and din- ner — went the fourteen miles round," Previous to this he WASHINGTON S ENGLISH COACe. mentions exercising in "« coach" (probably a hired one), and in "the post-chaise" — the vehicle in Mdiicli lie travelled from Mount Yernon to New York. This coach was one of the best of its kind, heavy and sub- stantial. The body and wheels were a cream color, with gilt mouldings ; and the former was suspended upon heavy leathern straps which rested upon iron springs. Portions of the sides of the upper jiart, as well as the front and rear, were furnished with neat green Yenotian blinds, and the remainder M'as enclosed with black leather curtains. The latter might be raised so as to make the coach quite open in fine weather. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 233 The blinds afforded shelter from the storm wliile allowing ventilation. The coach was lined M'itli bright black leatlier; and the driver's seat was trimmed with the same. The axles were wood, and the curved reaches iron. Upon the door "Washing- ton's arms were handsomely emblazoned, having scroll ornaments issuing from the space between the shield and the crest ; and below was a ribbon M-itli his motto upon it. Upon eacli of the four panels of the coach was an allegorical picture, emblem- atic of one of the seasons. Tliese were beautifully painted upon copper by Cipriani, an Italian artist. The ground was a very dark green — so dark that it appeared nearly black; and the allegorical figures were executed in bronze, in size nine and a half by ten inches. One of them, emblematical of spring, is represented in the engraving. Washington and his family travelled from Elizabethtown to Philadelphia in this coach when on their way from New York to Mount Yernon, in the early autumn of 1789. Dunn, his driver, appears to have been quite incompetent to manage the six horses with winch the coach was then drawn ; and almost immediately after leaving Elizabethtown Point, he allowed the coach to run into a gully, by which it was injured. At Governor Livingston's, where they dined, another coachman EMBLAZONING ON WASHINGTON S COACH. 234 MOUNT VERNON PICTURE ON A. PANEL OF WASHINGTON S COACH. was employed. In a letter to Mr. Lear, written at a tav^ern in Maryland, while on his way to Mount Vernon, Washington said: " Dunn has given such proof of his want of skill in driving, that I find myself under the necessity of looking out for some one to take his place. Before we reached Elizabethtown we were obliged to take him from the coach and put him on the wagon. This he turned over twice, and this morning he was found much intoxicated. He has also got the horses into the habit of stopping." AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 235 In a letter to Mr. Lear soon after arriving at Mount Vernon, Washington mentions the fact that he had left his coach and harness with Mr. Clarke, a coach-maker in Philadelphia, for repairs, and requests him to see that they are well done^ when he shall reach that city, Mr. Lear being then in New York. David Clarke was an Englishman, and came over to Philadelphia about the year 1783. He constructed a travelling coach for the First President, and was sometimes called '• "Washington's coach-maker." On the 31st of October, Washington again writes about his coach, in a letter to Mr. Lear. He appears to have had the emblazoning changed at that time, and instead of liis entire coat-of-arms upon the doors, he had the crest only retained. He tells Mr. Lear that he thinks a wreath around the crests would better correspond with the seasons which were to re- main on the panels, than the motto ; and suggests that the motto might be put upon the plates of the harness. He leaves the whole matter, however, to the taste and judgment of Mr. Lear and the coach-maker. This English coach was purchased by the late Mr. Custis, of Arlington, when the eifects of the general were sold, after Mrs. Washington's death ; and it finally became the property of tlie Eight Peverend William Meade, now Bisliop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Yirghiia. Of this vehicle, the bishop thus writes : ^ His -old English coach, in wliicli himself and Mrs. Wash- ington not only rode in Fairfax county, but travelled tlirough i the entire length and breadth of the land, was so faithfully execnted, that at the conclusion of that long journey, its build- er, who came over with it, and settled in Alexandria, was 236 MOUNT YERNON proud to he told b}^ the general, that not a nail or screw had failed. It so happened, in a way I need not state, that this coach came into \n\ hands about fifteen years after the death of General Washington. In the course of time, from disuse, it being too heavy for these latter days, it began to decay and give away. Becoming an object of desire to those who delight in relics, I caused it to be taken to pieces and distributed among the admiring friends of Washington Mdio visited my house, and also among a number of female associations for benevolent and religious objects, which associations, at their fairs and other occasions, made a large profit by converting the fragments into walking-sticks, picture-frames, and snuff- boxes. About two-thirds of one of the wheels thus pro- duced one hundred and forty dollars. There can be no doubt that at its dissolution it yielded more to the cause of charity than it cost its builder at its first erection. Besides other mementos of it, I have in my study, in the form of a sofa, the hind seat, on which the general and his lady were wont to sit."* From Mount Yernon, during the recess, Washington M-rote several letters to Mr. Lear, who was charged with the removal of the effects of the President from New York, hiring a house for his residence in Philadelphia, and arranging the furniture of it. Previous to Washington's arrival in Philadelphia from New York, the corporation of the latter city had hired for his use the house of Robert Morris, in Market street, on the west side of Sixth street — the best that could be procured at that time. Washington had examined it and- found it quite too * Meade's Old ClmrcJies, Jfinisters, and Families in Virginia, II, 237. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 237 small to accommodate his household as he could wish, even with an addition that was to be made. " There are good sta- bles," he said, " but for twelve horses only, and a coach- house which will hold all my carriages." There was a fine garden, well enclosed by a brick wall, attached to the man- sion. The state legislature, had, at about the same time, appropri- ated a fine building for his use on South Ninth street, on the grounds now covered by the University. But he declined ac- cepting it, because he would not live in a house hired and fur- nished at the public expense. There were other considerations, without doubt, that caused "Washington to decline the liberal offers of the state and city authorities, to relieve him of any private expense for the sup- port of his personal establishment. The question of tlie per- manent locality of the seat of the federal government was not then fairly settled, and the Philadelphians were using every means in their power to have it fixed in their city. "Wash- ington was aware of this, and as he was more favorable to a site farther south, he was unwilling to afford a plea in favor of Philadelphia, such as the providing of a presidential man- sion would afford. This matter appears to have given "Washington considerable anxiety. He was willing to rent Mr. Morris's house on his own account, and, with his accustomed prudence, he directed Mr. Lear to ascertain the price; but up to the middle of !N^o- vember his secretary was unsuccessful in his inquiries, though they were repeatedly made. "Washington was unwilling to go into it, without first knowing what I'eiit he had to pay. " Mr. Morris, has most assuredly," he said, " formed an idea 238 MOUNT YERNON of what ought to be the rent of the tenement in the condition he left it ; and with this aid, the committee [of the Philadel- phia city council] ought, I conceive, to be as little at a loss in determining what it should rent for, with the additions and alterations which are about to be made, and which ought to be done in a plain and neat and not by any means in an extravagant style ; because the latter is not only contrary to my wish, but would really be detrimental to my interest and convenience, principally' because it would be the means of keeping me out of the use and comforts of a home to a late l^eriod, and because the furniture and every thing else would require to be accordant therewith." Washington was convinced that the committee was delaying with the intention of having the rent paid by the public, to which he would not consent ; and he was not willing to have the place fixed and furnished in an extravagant manner, and thus be subjected to pay extortionate prices for the same. " I do not know," he said, " nor do I believe that any thing unfair is intended by either Mr. Morris or the committee ; but let us for a moment suj)pose that the rooms (the new ones I mean) were to be hung with tapestry, or a very rich and costly paper, neither of which would suit my present furniture ; that costly ornaments for the bow windows, extravagant chimney- pieces and the like were to be provided ; that workmen, from extravagance of the times, for every twenty shillings' worth of work would charge forty shillings ; and that advantage would be taken of the occasion to newly paint every part of the house and buildings ; would there be any propriety in adding ten or twelve-and-a-half per cent, for all this to the rent of the house in its original state, for the two years that I am to hold AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 239 it? If the solution of tliese questions is in the negative, wherein lies the difficulty of determining that the houses and lots, M'hen iinished according to the proposed plan, ought to rent for so much. "When all is done that can be done, the residence will not be so commodious as that I left in Kew York, for there (and the want of it will be found a real inconvenience at Mr. Morris's) my office was in the front room, below, where persons on business immediately entered ; whereas, in the present case, they will have to ascend two pairs of stairs, and to pass by the public rooms as well as the private chambers to get to it." In making suggestions to Mr. Lear about the proper ar- rangement of the furniture, even in minute detail, Washington said: "There is a small room adjoining the kitchen that might, if it is not essential for other purposes, be appropriated to the Sevres china, and other tilings of that sort, which are not in common use." He nndoubtedly referred to the sets of china which had been presented, one to himself, and the other to Mrs. Washington, by the officers of the French army. The former was a dull white in color, with heavy and confused scroll and leaf ornaments in bandeaux of deep blue, and hav- ing upon the sides of the cups and tureens, and in the bottoms of the plates, saucers, and meat dishes, the Order of the Cin- cinnati, held by Fame, personated by a winged woman with a trumpet. These designs were skilfullj' painted in delicate colors. These sets of china were j^i'csented to Washington and his wife, at the time when the elegant and costly Order of the Cincinnati (delineated on page 130) Avas sent to him. That 240 MOUNT VERNON Order, I omitted to mention in the proper place, cost three thousand dollars. Tlie whole of the eagle, except the beak and eye, is composed of diamonds. So, also, is the group of mili- tary emblems above it, in which each drum-head is composed of one large diamond. WASHINGTON S CINCINNATI CHINA Several pieces of the Cincinnati china, as it is called, are preserved at Arlington House. In the engraving is shown a group composed of a large plate, a souj) tureen, custard cup, and teapot. The set of china presented at the same time by the French officers to Mrs. "Washington, was of similar material, but more delicate in color than the general's. The ornamentation was also far more delicate, excepting the delineation of the figure and Cincinnati Order on the former. Around tlie outside of each cup and tureen, and the inside of each plate and saucer. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 241 IRS. WASIIINOTON S CHIN'A. is painted, in delicate color, a chain of thirteen large and thirteen small elliptical links. Within each large link is the name of one of the original thirteen states. On the sides ot the cups and tureens, and in the bottom of each plate and saucer, is the interlaced monogram of Martha Washington — M. W. — enclosed in a beautiful green wreath, composed of the leaves of the laurel and olive. Beneath this is a ribbon, upon which is inscribed, in delicately-traced letters, Decus et tuta MEXABiLLo. From tlic Wreath are rays of gold, which give a brilliant appearance to the pieces. There is also a delicate- colored stripe around the edges of the cups, saucei's, and plates. A few pieces of this set of china are preserved at Arlington House. The engraving represents a cup and saucer, and plate. Mrs. Atkins of Germantown, granddaughter of Dr. David Stuart, who owns Washington's telescope, already mentioned. 16 242 MOUNT VERNON CHINA BUTTER-BOWL AND DISH. has a single piece of porcelain ware that belonged to the household goods of Mount Vernon. It is a white china butter- bowl and dish, with a cover. It is entirely white, with the exception of a gold stripe along the edges of the bowl and dish, and the knob of the lid. Tlie bowl and dish are united. At that time the china like that presented by the French officers was only made at the Sevres manufactory, the art of decorating porce- lain or china-ware with enamel colors and gold being then not generally known. The colors used are all prepared from metallic oxides, which are ground with fluxes, or fusible glasses of various degrees of softness, suited to the peculiar colors with which they are used. "When painted, the goods are placed \n the enamel kiln, when the fluxed colors melt and fasten to the glazed surface, forming colored glasses. The gold, wdiich is applied in the form of an amalgam, ground in tur})entine, is afterward polished with steel burnishers. The first Monday in December was the day fixed upon for the assembling of Congress. The seat of government, as we have observed, had been transferred to Philadelphia, not per- manently, but temporarily. As early as December, 17S8, the legislature of Virginia had offered to present to the United States a tract of land ten miles square, anywhere within the bounds of that connnonwealth, for the permanent seat of go\-- ernment. Maryland made a similar offer. Tlie citizens ot New Jersey and Pennsylvania asked to have it upon the Delaware, within a tract of land ten miles square, to be ceded AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 243 to the United States. The people of Trenton, in JS^ew Jersey, petitioned to have it there ; those of Lancaster, in Pennsyl- vania, wished to have it there, while, as we have observed, the Philadelphians were extremely anxious to have their city remain the federal capital, as it had been most of the time since the commencement of the Revolution. States and towns perceived great local advantages to be derived from a political metropolis in their midst, and were ready to make heavy sacrifices to obtain the boon. It is amusing to observe, in the correspondence and public proceed- ings of the times, how strongly local prejudices were engaged in the consideration of the matter. Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, eager to have the Congress fix on that city as its future home, wrote to one of the Pennsylvania representatives, saying : " 1 rejoice in the prospect of Congress leaving New York ; it is a sink of political vice ;" and advised tearing it away from that city " in any way.'''' A Virginian declared that, in his opinion, New York was the best situation in the Union for the national capital, it being superior to any place within his knowledge, " for the orderly and decent behavior of its inhabitants ;" while the South Carolinians objected to Philadelphia, on account of the Quakers, who, they declared, were " eternally dogging Southern members with their schemes of slave emancipation." It was finally agreed by both Houses of Congress, that the national capital should be upon the " Potomac River, between the eastern branch and Conogocheague," and that Philadelphia should be tlie national city for ten years, until the one upon the Potomac should be laid out, and proper public buildings erected. The selection of the exact site was left to the Presi- dent. 2-i4 MOUNT V E R N X This action dissatisfied the New Yorkers, and elated the PhiUidelphians, for they considered a " half loaf better than no bread." Robert Morris had been chiefly instrumental in secur- ing the residence of the government at Philadelphia for the ten years, and wit and satire pointed their keenest arrows at him. A caricature was issued " in wliich," says Griswold, / " the stout senator from Pennsylvania was seen marching ofl:' ; with the federal hall upon his shoulders, its windows crowded ' with members of both houses, encoin-aging or anathematizing this novel mode of deportation, while the devil, from the roof of the Paulus' Hook ferry-house, beckoned to him in a patron- izing manner, crying, 'This way, Pobby.' " / L Preneau,' who had written many pungent poems during the Revolution, used his pen upon the topic of the removal with considerable vigor, in prose and verse. In a political epistle, lie makes a New York huusenuiid say to her friend in Phila- delphia: ; "As for us, my dear Nanny, we're much in a pet. And hundreds of houses will be to be let; Our streets, that were just in a way to look clever, "Will now be neglected and nasty as ever ; Again we must fret at the Dutchified gutters And pebble-stone pavements, that wear out our trotters. He******** This Congress imsettled is, sine, a sad thing — Seven years, my dear Nanny, they've been ou the wing; My master would nithor saw timber, or dig Than see them removing to Conogocheague — Where the houses and kitchens are yet to be framed. The trees to be felled and the streets to be named." There were some Philadelphians who were as afflicted AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. -24:0 because Congress was coming there, as New Yorkers were in having the government leave their city. As soon as it was ascertained that the government woukl reside there ten years, rents, and tlie prices of every kind of provisions and other necessaries of life, greatly advanced. "Some of the blessings," said a letter-writer at Philadelphia, quoted by Griswold, " an- ticipated from the removal of Congress to this city, are already beginning to be apparent; Rents of houses have risen, and I fear will continue to rise shamefully; even in the outskirts they have lately been increased from fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen pounds to twenty-five, twenty-eight, and thirty. Tliis is oj^pression. Our markets, it is expected, will also be deai-er than heretofore." It was a view of these changes, and anticipated extortion, tliat made Washington so anxious to know beforcliand how much rent he must pay for his house in Philadelphia, and to avoid furnishing it in an extravagant manner, as he did not expect to remain there more than two years. He was resolved to continue the unostentatious way of living he had com- menced in New York, not only on his own account, but for the benefit of those connected with the government Mdio could not afford to spend more than their salaries. And that resolu- tion, well carried out, was most salutary in its effects. When Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut, was appointed first auditor of the treasury, he, like a prudent man, before he would accept the office, went to New York to ascertain whether he could live upon the salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. He came to the conclusion that he could live upon one thou- sand dollars a year, and he wrote to his wife, saying : " The example of the President and his family will render parade 2-i6 ' MOUNT VERNON and expense improper and disreputable." This sentence speaks powerfully in illustration of the republican simplicity of Wash- ington's household in those days. The rent of Morris's house was fixed at three thousand dollars a year, and on the 2'2d of November, Washington left Mount Vei'non for Philadelphia, accompanied by Mrs. Washington and Master and Miss Custis, in a chariot drawn by four horses. They were allowed to travel quietly, without any public pa- rade, but receiving at every stopping-place the warm welcome of many private citizens and personal friends. None gave the President a heartier shake of the hand on this occasion, and none was more welcome to grasp it, than Tommy Giles, a short, thickset man, of English birth, who kept a little tavern a short distance from the Head of Elk (now Elkton), on the road from Baltimore. His tavern-sign displayed a rude portrait of Washington ; and the President on his way to and IVom Mount Yernon, never passed by until he had greeted the worthy man. Tommy had been a fife-major in the Continental army, and had been employed a long time by Washington as liis confi- dential express in the transmission of money from one point to another. In tliis business he was most trustworthy. Mrs. Giles was a stout Englishwoman, but republican to the core. AVashington always shook hands with her as heartily as with her husband, and frequently left a guinea in her palm. On these occasions, when the President had passed. Tommy would array himself in his Continental uniform, and hasten to Hollingsworth's tavern, in Elkton (wliere Washington slept, or took a meal and fed his liorses), to pay his respects in a formal manner to his beloved General. Washington always treated him with the s-reatest consideration, and for several AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 247 days after such interviews, Toinniy would be the greatest man in the viHage. Tommy was appointed postmaster at Elkton, by Washing- ton, and was for several years crier of the Cecil county court. He always deported himself with dignity ; and, regarding his acquaintance with Washington and his official position as suf- ficient- claim to profound personal respect, he sometimes as- sumed an authoritative manner quite amusing. In a recent letter to me, an old resident of Philadelphia, speaking of Tom- my, remarks; "I was once obliged to attend court as a witness, and one day went home, a distance of twenty-two miles. I i-cturned the following morning in a snow-storm, in the month of April, and reached the court-house a few minntes after nine o'clock, when Mr. Giles w^as making his proclamation for me to appear. As I dismounted from my horse, my nose com- menced bleeding, and I called across the street to say I would be in court as soon as it stopped. Tommy rejoined shortly and authoritatively, ' You have no busiaess to let your nose bleed when the court wants you !' The court was more in- dulgent, and readily excused me." Tlie President and his family reached Philadelphia on Sat- urday, the 28th of November, and found tlieir house in read- iness for them. Mr. Lear had brought on the furniture from N'ew York, purchased some in Philadelphia, and arranged the house much to the satisfaction of the President and his wife. Yet it was some time before they were ready to see company, and the first of Mrs. Washington's public receptions was on Friday evening, the 25th of December — Christmas-day. It is said that the most brilliant assemblage of beautiful, well- ' dressed, and well-educated women that lia- clause in his M-ill : "To the Earl of Bnchan I recommit the hox made of tlie oak that sheltered the great Sir William Wallace, after the battle of Ealkirk, presented to me by his lordship, in terms too flattering for me to repeat, with a request 'to pass it, on the event of my decease, to the man in my country who should appear to merit it best, upon the same conditions that have induced him to send it to me.' Whether easy or not to select the man who might comport with his lordship's (>])inion, in this respect, is not for me to say ; but, conceiving thnt no dis- j)osition of this valuable curiosity can be more eligible than the recommitment of it to his own cabinet, agreeably to the original design of the Goldsmith's Company of Edinburgh, who presented it to liiin. and. at his re(piest, consentcil that it 262 MOUNT VERNON shoukl be transferred to ine, I do give and bequeath the same to his lordship ; and, in case of his decease, to his heir, with my grateful thanks for the distinguished honor of presenting it to me, and more especially for the favorable sentiments with which he accompanied it." The first session of the second Congress terminated on Tues- day, the 8th of May, and on the 10th Washington set out for Mount Yernon, leaving his family in Philadelphia. He re- mained there about four weeks, directing the affairs of his estate, inspecting the progress of the surveys and plans for the national city, and in correspondence witli friends at home and abroad. He cari'ied home with him on that occasion several copies of the Ii'ajJds of ^fan, a work from the pen of Thomas Paine, published tlie year before, fifty copies of which, sent by the author to the President, reached him a day or two before lie left Philadelphia. One of these he gave to Kichard Henry Lee, who, after thanking him for it, i-emarked : " It is a performance of M'hich any man might be proud ; and I most sincerely regret that our country could not have offered sufficient inducements to have retained as a permanent citizen, a man so tliorougldy republican in sentiment, and fearless in the expression of his opinions." In his letter accompanying the books, Paine remarked : " The work has had a run beyond any thing tliat has been })ublished in this country on the subject of government, and the demand continues. In Ireland it has had a much greater. A letter I received from Dublin, 10th of May, mentioned that the fourth edition was then on sale. I know not what number of copies were printed at each edition, except tlie second, which was ten thousand. The same fate follows me here as I AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 263 at first experienced in xVnieriea— strono- friends and violent enemies ; but as I have gut tlie ear of tlie country, I shall go on, and at least show them, what is a novelty here, that there can be a person beyond the reach of corruption," This work was written in answer to Edmund Burke's famous letter to a French gentleman, in 1790, entitled Heflectionn on the Itt'volution in France. The government, incensed at Paine's language in the Eights of Man^ instituted a prosecu- tion against him for libel. lie went to France, became a member of the National Assend)ly, fell into prison during the reign of the Terroiists, and becoming offended at Washington because he properly refused his official aid in procuring Paine's liberation, on the ground of his being an American citizen, he abused him most shamefully in a published letter, more remarkable for its scurrility than talent. Washington returned to Philadelphia early in June, and toward the close of July journeyed with his family to Mount Vernon. He remained there until early in October, when he returned to Philadelphia, with his family, to prepare for the assembling of the Congress, which took place on the 5tli of Xovember. During that time he was in frequent correspond- ence with the heads of departments, for nuitters of great public interest required frequent communications between them and the chief magistrate. An Indian war in the west M-as then in progress, and symptoms of insurrectionary movements in West- ern Pennsylvania, on account of an excise law which the people deemed oppressive, began to appear. Washington was also much engaged, during that time, with his agricultural operations; and he and Mrs. AVashington were much distressed on account of the mortal sickness of his 26-i MOUNT VERNON ' nephew George, who had resided at Mount Vernon nmch of the time since his marriage several years before. Washing- ton''s anxiety concerning him is evinced by the frequent men- tion of his ilhiess to his correspondents. In a letter to Lafay- ette, in June, he said : " I am afraid my nephew George, your old aide, will never have his health perfectly re-established. He has lately been attacked with the alarming symptoms of spitting large quan- tities of blood ; and the physicians give no hopes of resto- ration, ujdess it can be effected by a change of air, and a total dereliction from business, to which he is too anxiously attentive. He will, if he should be taken from his family and friends, leave three fine children, two sons and a daughter. To the eldest of the boys he has given the name of Fayette, and a fine looking child he is." To Genei-al Knox, he wrote : " I thank you most sincere- ly for the medicine you were s(3 obliging as to send for my nephew, and for the sympathetic feeling you express for his situation. Poor fellow ! neither, I believe, \yill be of any avail. Present appearances indicate a sj^eedy dissolution. He has not been able to leave his bed, except for a few moments to sit in an arm-chair, since the 14th or 15th of last month. The par- oxysm of the disorder seems to be upon him, and death, or a favorable turn to it, must speedily follow." The sufferer was then residing uj)on a small estate in Han- over. He lingered for several weeks, and expired ; and on the 2-rth of February, Washington wrote to his widow : "Mv Dear Fanny: To you, who so well know the aft'ec- tionate regard I had for our departed friend, it is unnecessarv AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 205 to describe tlie sorrow witli wliich I m-us afflicted, at tlic news of liis death, altliougli it was an event I liad expected nianv weeks before it happened. To express this sorrow M'ith the force I feel it, Avoukl answer no other purpose tlian to revive in your breast tliat poignancy of anguish, wliich hj tliis time, I hope, is abated. The object of this letter is to convey to your mind the warmest assurance of my love, friendship, and disposition to serve you. These I also profess to bear, in an eminent degree, for your children." He then invites her to make Mount Vernon the home of herself and children. "You can go to no place," he said, " where you will be more welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expense or trouble." He then invites her to bring liis niece, Harriet Washington, with her, to Mount Vernon, of whose conduct he had heard pleasant words. Miss Harriet remained at Mount Vernon a long time, the grateful recipient of her uncle's bounty. The young widow appears to have declined the offer of a home at Mount Vernon, preferring to keep house in Alexan- dria, l)ut offering to resign the charge of her eldest son, Fay- ette, into Washington's keeping. In March, the President wrote to her, saying : "The carriage which I sent to Mount Vernon, for your use, I never intended to reclaim, and now, nuiking you a fui-mal present of it, it may be sent for wlu'uever it suits your conve- nience, and be considered as your own. I shall, when I see you, refpiest that Fayette may be given up to me, cither at that time, or as soon after as he is old enough to go to school. This will relieve you of that portion of attention, which his educa- tion would otherwise call for." 266 MOUNT VERNON Wut;liiiigtun's affection fur cliiklren was very great, and he was ever anxious to have young people in the mansion at Mount Yernon. He enjoyed tlieir amusements with a keen relish, and yet the mysterious awe felt in his presence, by all who had the good fortune to know him personally, was expe- rienced by children. His adopted daughter (Mrs. Lewis) used to say that she had seen hiin laugh heartily at her merry pranks, or when, a gay, joyous girl, she would give him a description of some scene in which she liad taken a part ; and yet she had as often seen him retire from the room in which her young companions were amusing themselves, be- cause he perceived that his presence created a reserve which they could not overcome. His love for his two adopted children was very strong, and he "watched over their mental and moral development with great solicitude. In several of his letters to Mr. Lear, from Mount Vernon, in the autumn of 1790, when preparing for his residence in Philadelphia, he mentioned the subject of schools, expressing a great desire to have young Custis placed in one of the best character. Mrs. Washington was always over-indulgent to her two grandchildren. Tlie boy (George Washington Parke Custis) was always familiarly called Washington, and by that name he was always distinguished in the general's private corre- spondence. His beautiful sister, Nelly, used to speak of the affection which Mrs. Washington lavished upon him, and the many excuses which she offered in his defence, when the father, true to his nature and education, exacted submission to the most thorough discipline on all occasions, mucli as he loved the boy. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 2t)7 '" GraiidiiKUinna alwavs spoiled Washington,'' his sister would say ; and his daughter, in a late memoir of him, has said — " He was the pride of her heart, while the public duties of the veteran prevented the exercise of his influence in form- ing the character of the Loy, too softly nurtured under his loof, and gifted with talents, which, under a sterner discipline, might liave Leen more availal)lc for his own and his coun- try's good." IS^otwithstanding her indulgent disposition, Mrs. Washing- ton was a thoi'ough disciplinarian in her household, and j^elly Custis experienced many a tearful hour Avhen compelled by her grandmother to attend assiduously to her studies in letters and nnisie. Washington made her a present of a fine harpsi- chord, at the cost of one thousand dollars — Schroeder's beau- tiful invention, the piano-forte, not being then much used in America. In England, even, where Zumpe liad introduced it, with many improvements, between twenty and thirty years before, the piano had by no means supplanted its parent the harpsichord, and the latter instrument, or the spinet, might be found in almost every family of wealth in the kingdom. Tlie best teachers were employed to instruct Kelly in the nse of the harpsichord, and her grandmother made her practise upon it four or five hours every day. " The poor girl," says her brother, the late Mr. Custis, " would play and cry, and cry and play, for long hours, under the immediate eye of her grandmother, a rigid disciplinarian in all things." That harpsichord, according to the inscription upon a plate above the keys, was manufactured by " Longman and Brode- rip, musical instrument nuikers, No. 26 Cheapside, and No. 13 Ilaynnirket, London." It was carefully packed and taken 268 MOUNT V E R N N to Mount Vernon when Washington retired from office the hist time. It was nsed there until liis death, for Nelly and her husband resided at Mouiit A'ernon for more than NELLY CUUTISS HARPSICHORD. a year after their marriage in February, 17T9. It is now (1859) in the possession of Mrs. Lee, of Arlington House,^ who intends to present it to the Mount Yci'non Ladies' Associu- tlon, when the home of Washington shall have passed into their absolute possession, that it may take its ancient place in the parlor of the hallowed mansion. The instrument was one of the most elegant of its kind. It is about eight feet long, three and a half feet wide, and three AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 269 feet in Icngtli, with two banks, contuining one liundred and twenty keys in all. The case is mahogany. Oji the -ith of March, 171)3, Judge Cnshing, of Massaelui- setts, administered, to Washington, in the senate chambei', in Pliiladelphia, tlie oatli of ofHce as President of the United States, lie having been, by unanimous vote of the electoral college,' speaking the will of the people, re-elected to the exalted station of chief magistrate. It was Avith great reluc- tance that he consented to serve another prescribed tei-ni of four years. He had looked forward to retirement from office with real pleasure, and when he agreed to serve his country still longer, he endured a sacrifice which none but a disinterested patriot could have made. For himself he preferred the quiet of domestic life at his pleasant home on the Potomac, to all the honors and emoluments that the world could ofier. But in this instance, as in all others, he yielded his own wishes to the more important demands of his country. He knew, as well as any man living, the dangers to which the coun- try was then exposed from the influence of French politics and of domestic factions; and the representations of the true friends of goA'ernment convinced him that his further service in public life was demanded by every consideration of patriotism. Hamilton, in whose judgment and purity of motives Wash- ington had the most entire confidence, had urged him, in a touching letter, to accept the high office a second term ; and while his cabinet was agitated by discordant opinions upon other subjects, they all agreed that Washington's retirement from office at that time would be a serious calamity to the country. Every one felt that the affairs of tiie national gov- ernment were not yet firmly established ; that its enemies 270 MOUNT VERXON were many and inveterate, and that Wasliington could not retire without damaging his I'epntation as a patriot. "I trust. sir, and I pray God, that you will determine to make a further sacrifice of your tranquillity and happiness to the public good," said Hamilton, at the close of his letter just alluded to. Such sacrifice was made, and for four years longer Mount Yernon was without its master, except at long intervals. Although' Washington's second inauguration was in public. X^ajV tli^'i'G was far less parade than at the first. It had been deter- mined by those with whom he luid consulted respecting the matter, as the democratic feeling was very strong, that the President should go to the senate-chamber " without form, attended by such gentlemen as he may choose, and return without form, except that he be preceded by the marshal," Thus he went and thus he returned, conveyed in his own beautiful cream-colored coach, drawn by six splendid bay horses. And thus he went to that senate-chamber a few months later, when he presented his annual message to the Congress, for in those days the President read the address before the assembled wisdom of the nation, and did not, as now, send it in manuscript by his private secretary. An eye-witness on one of these occasions has left a pleasant picture of it on record. "As the President alighted," he says, " and, ascending the steps, paused upon the platform, looking over his shoulder, in an attitude that would have furnished an admirable subject for the pencil, he was preceded l)y two gen- tlemen bearing long white wands, who kept back the eager crowd that pressed on every side to get a nearer view. At that moment I stood so near that I might have touched his clothes ; but I should as soon have thouii'ht of touching an AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 271 electric battery. I Avas penetrated with a veneration aniount-l ing to tlie deei)cst awe. j Nor was this the feeling of a school- boy only ; it pervaded, I believe, every Ininian being that approii^ched AVashington ; and I have been told tliat, even in his social and convivial honrs, this feeling in those who were honored to share them never suffered iiitermission. I saw liini a hundred times afterward, but never v.-ith any other than that same feeling. Tlie Almighty. avIio i-aiscd np for onr hour of need a man so peculiarly pi'e])ared for its whole dread respon- sibility, seems to ha\e put an impress of sacredness upon His own instrument. The first sight of the man struck the heart Avitli involuntary homage, and prepared every thing around him to ol)ey. '^yhen he ' addressed himself to speak,' there was an unconscious suspension of the breath, while every eye was raised in expectation. "The President, having seated himself, remained in silence, serenely contemplating the legislature before him, whose mem- bers now resumed their seats, waiting for the speech. No house of worship, in the most solemn pauses of devotion, was ever nu)re profoundly still than that large and crowded chamber. /^"Washington was dressed precisely as Stuart has painted him in' Lord LansdoAvne's full-length portrait — in a fidl suit of the richest black velvet, with diamond knee-buckles, and square silver buckles set upon shoes japanned with the most scrui>ulous neatness, black silk stockings, his shirt I'ufHed at the breast and wrists, a light dress-sword, his hair profusely powdered, fully dressed, so as to project at the sides, and gatliei'cd behind in a silk bag, ornamented with a large rose of black i'il)and. He held his cocked hat, which had a laree 'Zrl MOUNT VERNON black cockade on one side of it, in Lis hand, as he advanced toward the chair, and, when seated, laid it on the table. "At lengtli, thrnsting his hand Avithin the side of his coat, he drew forth a roll of manuscript, which he opened, and rising, held it in his hand, while in a rich, deep, full, sonorous voice, he read his opening address to Congress. His enun- ciation was deliberate, justly emphasized, very distinct, and accompanied with an air of deep solemnity, as being the utterance of a mind profoundly impressed with the dignity of the act in which it was occupied, conscious of the whole re- sponsibility of its position and action, but not oppressed by it." Washington made a hurried visit to Mount Vernon in April, on account of the death of his nephew, already mentioned, some matter connected with that young man's affairs requiring his personal attention. He was again called to Mount Vernon at the close of June, on account of tlie sudden death of Mr. Whiting, his manager, who had taken the place of Eobert Lewis. " It was a critical season," says AVasliington, in a letter to General Henry Lee, " for the business with which he was interested. How to supply his place I know not ; of course my concerns at Mount Vernon are left as a body without a head." Kotwitlistanding Congress was not in session, the pressure of public business was such that Washington remained at the seat of government all through the summer, and it was yot until tlie yellow fever, which broke out in Philadelphia in August, had raged for two or three weeks, and the officers of government had lied, that he left his post and retired to Mount Vernon. He left Philadelphia on the lOth of September. He would have remained longer, but Mrs. Washino:ton, alarmed AXD ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 273 fur the safety of the whole family, the house in which they lived beiiiii; in a manner blockaded by the disorder, prevailed on him to leave. The fever raged with great violence until late in October, when frosts checked its progress, and in November the inhab- itants who had fled from the pestilence generally returned to the city. On the 2d day of December Congress was convened there. The progress of the disease at Philadelphia was watched by Washington, at Mount Yernon, with great solicitude, espec- ially when September had passed away, and much of October had gone by, before it abated. It was near the time set for the asseml^ling of a new Congress, and the public welfare demanded legislative action, upon important points, as early as possible. He therefore proposed to call the Congress together at Germantown, or some other place near Philadel- phia, but at a safe distance from the pestilence ; and yet he doubted his power to do so. This to^jic employed his pen as well as his thoughts, and of many letters from Mount Vernon it was the burden. His agricultural aflairs occupied much of his time while at home. He appears to have found a manager not much to his liking, for he needed instruction. At the middle of October we find him writing to his friend. General Henry Lee, concerning a threshing-machine that that gentleman had recommended. He seemed anxious to use all really useful improvements, but the difficulty in making his overseers understand them was a bar. "The model [of a threshing machine] brought over by the English farmers," he said, " may also be a good one, but th(> 18 274 MOUNT VKRNON utility of it among careless negroes and ignorant overseers will depend absolntel}' upon the simplicity of the construction ; for if there is any thing complex in the machinery, it will be no longer in use than a mushroom is in existence. I liave seen so much of the beginning and ending of new inventions, that I have almost resolved to go on in the old way of treading until I get settled again at home, and can attend, myself, to the management of one. As a proof in point of the almost impos- sibility of putting the overseers of this country out of the track they have been accustomed to walk in, I have one of the most convenient barns in this or perhaps any other countr}^, where thirty hands may with great ease be employed in threshing. Half of the wheat of the farm M'as actually stowed in tliis barn in the straw by my order, for threshing; notwithstanding, when I came home about the middle of September, I found a treading-yard not thirty feet from the barn-door, the wheat again brought out of the barn, and horses treading it out in an open exposure, liable to the vicissitudes of weather." Washington and his family set out for tlie seat of govern- ment toward the close of October. Mr. Dandridge, a relation of his wife, who had been appointed the President's private secretary, accompanied them. Philadelphia presented a most gloomy aspect. Between three and four thousand of the in- habitants had fallen before the scythe of the pestilence, and there was mourning in almost every family. There M'as very little gayety in the capital during the session of Congress that followed. Tliere was also a general expectation that the scourge would reappear the ensuing summer of 1791; and when, at the middle of June, Washington made a flying visit to Mount Yernon, he removed his family to a pleasant resi- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 276 donee at Gerjuaiitowii, about six miles from the eity. To that phiee he returned at the close of July, and he seems not to have visited Mount Vernon again until April the following year, when he was there for only a short time, to give his per- sonal attention to home duties that required them. He again visited his home early in July, 1795, but, as his correspond- ence oii the way and at Mount Vernon shows, he can-ied a vast M'eight of public business upon his mind ; for, besides the routine of official duties, he was greatly burdened with anxiety respecting a treaty lately made with England, by John Jay, which he approved, and which for a time was so unpopular as to cause great excitement throughout the country. Washington left Mount Vernon again toward the middle of August for the seat of government, and returned early in Sep- tember. He remained until the 12th of October, when he set out for Philadelphia, stopping at Georgetown for a day to attend to business with the commissioners of the fedei-al city. It was not until June, 1796, that the master of Mount Ver- non was again under his own roof. His fjimily accompanied him ; and there, at the beginning of July, they received as a guest, Don Carlos Martinez, Marquis d'Yrujo, the newly- arrived Spanish ambassador. On the 4th of July Washington wrote to Timothy Pickering, the secretary of state, saying : "The Spanish Minister, M. d'Yrujo, spent two days with me, and is just gone. I caused it to be intimated to him that, as I should be absent from the seat of the government until the middle or latter end of August, I M'as ready to receive his letter of credence at this place. He answered, as I understood it, that his credentials were with his baggage on its passage to 1376 MOUNT VERNON Pliiliulclpliia, and that his reception at that place, at the time mentioned, would be perfectly convenient and agreeable to himself. He is a young man, very free and easy in his man- ners, professes to be well disposed toward the United States, and, as far as a judgment can be formed on so short an ac- quaintance, appears to be well informed." The Spanish minister had not been long in Philadelphia when he became enamored of Sally, the beautiful daughter of Thomas M'Kean, the chief-justice of Pennsylvania, and they were married. Their son, the Duke of Sotomayer, ^\'ho was born in Philadelphia, became prime minister of Spain. "Philadelphia," says Griswold, "furnished wives for the envoys of France, England, and Spain during Wasliington's administration, and a large number of foreign ministers have since been married to American women." Genet, the French minister during Washington's first term, married a daughter of Governor Clinton, of New York. Washington remained at Mount Yernon until the mid;ton then arose, and with the most commanding dio-- AJi.D ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 281 iiity and solf-eoiitrol, inti-uduced Mr. Adams to the assembly, and proceeded to read, in a firm, clear voice, a brief valedictory. '•The most profoniid silence greeted him," says a still living eye and ear witness of the august event, *' as if the great assembly desired to hear him breathe, and catch his breath in homage of their hearts. Mr. Adams covered his face M'ith both, his hands ; the sleeves of his coat and his hands were covered with tears." As he pronounced his parting words, a sob was heard here and there in the assendjly ; and when he sat down, the whole audience Avere in tears. " Then," says the eye-witness just quoted, "when strong nervous sobs broke loose, when tears covered the faces, then the great man was shaken. I never took my eyes from his face. Large droi)s fell from his cheeks." The late President Duer, of Columbia College, who was present on that occasion, says that when Washington left ihe hall, there was " a rush from the gallery that threatened ihe lives of those who were most eager to catch a last look of him Avho, among mortals, was the first object of their veneration." " Some of US," he said, " effected an escape by slipping down the pillars." "When Washington had entered his carriage, the multitude in the streets uttered long and loud huzzas, and he waved Ins hand in return. "I followed him," says Duer, "in the crowd to his own door, where, as he turned to address the multitude, his coun- tenance assumed a serious and almost melancholy expression, his voice failed him, his eyes were suffused with tears, and only by his gestures could he indicate his thanks, and convey a farewell blessing to the people." 282 MOUNT VERXOX 111 tlie evening a splendid entertainment was given to the retiring President, by the inhabitants of Philadelpliia, in the Amphitheatre, Avhich was beautifully decorated with appro- priate paintings. One of the newspapers of tiie day thus describes a com])liment rhat was paid to Washington on that occasion : " Upon entering the area the General was conducted to liis seat. On a signal given, the band played Washingfcm'^s March^ and a scene, which represented simple objects in the rear of the ^^rincipal seat, was drawn up and discovered emble- matical paintings. The principal M'as a female figure as large as life, representing America^ seated on an elevation composed of sixteen marble steps. At her left side stood the federal shield and eagle, and at her feet lay the cornucojna j in her right hand she held the Indian calumet of peace supporting the cap of liberty ; in the perspective appeared the temple of fame ; and, on her left hand, an altar dedicated to public grat. itude, upon which incense was burning. In her left hand she held a scroll inscribed Valedictory ; and at the foot of the altar lay a plumed helmet and sword, from which a figure of General Washington, as large as life, appeared retiring down the steps, pointing with his right hand to the emblems of power which he had resigned, and with his left to a beautiful land- scape i-epresenting Mount Yernon, in front of which oxen wei-e seen harnessed to the plough. Over the General appeared a genius, placing a wreath of laurels on his head." These pictures were from the pencil of Charles Willson Peale, who, twenty-five years before, as we have observed, had painted the portrait of Washington at Mount Vernon, in the costume of a Viro-inia colonel. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 283 The lieads of departments, foreign ministers, and distin- guished strangers in Pliiladelphia, were present on tliis gahi occasion ; and Avitli that elegant display of taste, fashion, and gayety, ended the public life of Washington. To General Knox he had written two days before: "The remainder of my life, which i]i the course of nature cannot be long, will be occupied in rural amusements; and, though I shall seclude myself as much as possible from the noisy and bustling crowd, none would more than myself be regaled by the company of those I esteem, at Mount Yernon ; more than twenty miles from which, after I arrive there, it is not likely that I shall ever be." Before following "Washington to his home, from which he went " twenty miles'' only once afterwards, let us listen to the voice of another eye-witness of events during Washing- ton's administration (the late Eev. Aslibel Greene), as he dis- courses of the table of the President. He says : "The President ate Indian cakes for breakfast, after the Virginia fashion, although buckwheat cakes were generally on the table. Washington's dining parties were entertained in a very handsome style. His weekly dining day, for company, was Tliursdav, and his dining honr was always four o'clock in the afternoon. His rule was to allow five minutes for tlie variation of clocks and watches, and then go to the table, be present or absent whoever might. He kept his own clock in the hall, just within the outward doer, and always exactly regulated. When lagging members of Congress came in, as they often did, after the guests had sat down to dinner, the President's only apology was, ' Gentlemen (or sir), we are too punctual for you. I have a cook who never asks whether the 284: M u X T V j^: p> n o n company, but wlietlier the hour has come.' The corapauy usually assembled in the drawing-room, about Hfteen or twenty minutes before dinner, and the President spoke to every guest personally on entering the room. Mrs. Wasliing- ton often, but not always, dined with the company, sat at the Iiead of the table, and if, as was occasionally the case, tiiere were other ladies present, they sat each side of her. The private secretary sat at the foot of the table, and M-as expected to be quietly attentive to all tlie guests. The President him- self sat lialf-way from the head to the foot of the table, and on that side he would place Mrs. Washington, though distant from liim, on his right hand. He alwaj^s, unless a clergyman was present, at his own table asked a blessing, in a standing posture. If a clergyman were present, he was requested both to ask a blessmg and to return thanks after dinner. The centre of the table contained live or six large silver or plated waiters, those of the ends, circular, or rather oval on one side, so as to make the arrangement correspond with the oval shape of the table. The waiters between the end pieces were in the form of parallelograms, the ends about one-third part of the length of the sides ; and the whole of these waiters were filled with alabaster figures, taken from the ancient mythology, but none of them such as to ofiPend in the smallest degree against delicacy. On the outside of the oval, formed by the Avaiters, were placed the various dishes, always without covers; and outside the dishes were the plates. A small roll of bread, enclosed in a napkin, was laid by the side of each plate. Tlie Pi'esident, it is believed, generally dined on one dish, and that of a very simple kind. If offered something, either in the first or second course, which was very rich, his usual reply was : AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 285 'That is too good for inc.' lie had a silver pint cup or mug of beer phiced by his plate, which he draidv while dining, lie took one glass of wine during dinner, and coniinonly one after. lie then retired (the ladies liaving gone a little before him), and left his secretary to superintend the table, till the wine- bibbers of Congress had satisfied themselves with drinking. Ilis wines were always the best that could be obtained. Nothing could exceed the order with which his table was served. Every servant knew what lie was to do, and did it in the most quiet and yet rapid manner. The dishes and plates were removed and changed, with a silence and speed that seemed like enchantment.*' On tlie 9th of March Washington set out for Mount Vernon, a private citizen, accompanied by Mrs. Washington, her /grand-daughter, Eleanor Parke Custis, and George Washing- ton Lafayette, son of the marquis, who was then an exile from France, and in prison. Young Lafayette was then between seventeen and eighteen years of age, and was accompanied by his preceptor, M. Frestel, who composed a part of the family then on its way to Mount Vernon. Tlie misfortunes of Lafayette, whom Washington loved so devotedly, and the condition of his interesting family, had given him more painful anxiety, during the latter part of his administration, than any other circumstance. Lafayette, as we have seen, was one of the prime leaders in the revolution in France during its lirst stages. He was an active advocate of civil liberty, but conservative in a country where and when representatives and constituents were alike radical. When the revolution was at its height, he was at the head of the Constitutionalists, M'ho advised moderation. 286 .M O U N T V E R N X GEOIiGli WASllINCTdN LAFAY I'.TTK. Eecause of this, ho, of all the leaders, was left almost iilone. He was ft)rsaken by timid friends, who trembled at the frowns of the Terrorists, and M'as menaced bv his violent political enemies. lie dared to oppose the factions, of whatever creed, and for this he drew npi)n his head the anathemas of the Jacobins, the emigrants, and the royalists. Even his army, hitherto faithful, had become disaffected toward him, throngh the machinations of his enemies, and nothing remained for him' but to flee. He left his army encamped at Sedan, and, in company with a few faithful friends, set off for Holland, to seek an asylum there or in the United States. At the first Austrian post he and his friends were at first detained, and then made prisoners. Soon afterward they AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 287 were sent to the dnngeoiis of Wesel and Magdeburg, and ultimately to those of Olniutz, by order of the allied monarchs of Austria and Prussia. When information of this condition of his dear friend reached AVashington at Philadelj)hia, he was deejjly moved. The late venerable Kichard Ilusli — intelligence of whose death is spreading upon electric pinions over the land while I Avrite (August 1, 1859) — relates an interesting incident illustrative of the feelings of AYashington on that occasion. Mr. Bradford, the attorney-general, was living directly opposite the Presi- dent's house, and was spending an evening with AVashington's family, when the conversation reverted to Lafayette. Wash- ington spoke with great seriousness, contrasted the marcpiis's hitherto splendid career with his present forlorn and suffering condition, and at length became so deeply afiected, that his eyes tilled with tears, and his whole great soul was stirred to its very depths. "Magnanimous tears they were," says Mr. Rush, "fit for the first of heroes to shed — virtuous, honorable, sanctified !" Mr. Bradford, who deeply sympathized with the feelings of Wasliington, was much afiected at the spectacle, and returning to his own house, lie " sat down," says Griswold, from wdiose R('])uUican Court I quote, " and wrote the following simple, but touching verses, an impromptu effusion from the heart of a man of sensibility and genius : "THE LAMENT OF WASHINGTON "As beside his clieerful fire, 'Midst his happy family, Sat a venerable sire, Tears were starting in his eye, 288 MOUNT VERNON Selfish blessings were forgot, Whilst he thought on Fayette's lot, Once so happy on our plains — Now in poverty and chains. " 'Fayette,' cried he — 'honored name I Dear to these far distant shores — Fayette, fired by freedom's fiame, Bled to make that freedom ours. What, alas ! for this remains — Wiiat, but poverty and chains ! " ' Soldiers in our fields of death — Was not Fayette foremost there ? Cold and shivering on the heath, Did you not his bounty share? What reward for this remains, What, but poverty and chains! '■'Hapless Fayette! 'midst thiue error. How my soul thy worth reveres! Son of freedom, tyrant's terror, Hero of both hemispheres ! What reward for all remains, What, but poverty and chains ! "'Born to honors, ease, and wealth. See him sacrifice them all; Sacrificing also health, At his country's glorious call. What for thee, my friend, remaiu.s, What, but poverty and chains! " 'Thus with laurels on his brow Belisarius begged for bread ; Thus, from Carthage forced to go, Hannibal an exile fled. Alas ! Fayette at once sustains Exile, poverty, and chains 1' AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 289 "Courage, child of Wa.slnuglon! Thougli U13' fate disastrous .«eems, We have seen the setting sun Rise and burn with brigliier beams, Tliy country soon sliall break tliy chain. And take tliee to her arms again. Tiiy country soDn shall hreak thy chain, ^.nd like tl ^'e to her a-ms a^ain!" In the liorrid clinigedii ;it Olniiitz, in a cell three paces broad and five and a half loiig. coiitainini;' no olher ornament than two French veises which rhyme with the words to snfi'ei' and to die, the generous Ltifajette was confined almost three years, and yet his great soul was not hound l)y suffei'ing, nor his zeal for liberty one \vhit abated. De[)rived of pen, ink, and paper, except a sheet that " by a miracle" he possessed, he M'rote a letter with a toothpick to a princess who sympa- thized with him. and said, in a postscript: "1 knctw nor what disposition has been made of my planta- tion at Cayenne, but I hope Madame Lafayette will take care that the negroes who cultivate it ."^hall 2>resf rve their liberty^ Lafayette's noble wife, as soon as she could get pernnssion to leave France, hastened to Olmutz, with her daughters, to share the prison with the husband and father, while their son, George Washington, came to the United States, with his tutor, consigned to the fatherly care and protection of the great [)atriot whose name he bore. They arrived at Boston at the close of the summer of 1705, and innnedia'.ely infurmed Wash- ington of the fact. The President's fij-st impulse was to take the young man to his bosom and cherish him as r. son, but grave reasons of state denied him that pleasure. ''To express all the sensibility," he said, in a letter to Senator Cabot, of 19 200 MOUNT VKRXON Boston, '' wliieli lias been excited in my breast by the receiiJt of young Lafayette's letter, from tlie recollections of liis lathers merits, services, and sufferings, IVom my friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to his son, is unnecessary.''' lie then declared himself the young man's frit'nd, but intimated that great caution in the manilestation of that frieudship would be necessary, considering the light in which his father was then viewed by the French government, and "Washington's own situation as the executive of the United States. He desired Mr. Cabot to nuvke young Lafayette and M. Frestel, his tutor, understand why he could not receive them as he desired, but that his support and protection, until a more auspicious moment, might be relied on. lie ordered them to be provided with every thing necessary, at his expense, and advised their entrance at Harvard University. Young Lafayette assumed the name of Motier (a family name of his father); and in November Washington wrote to him with caution, telliiig him that the causes which rendered It necessary for them both to be circumspect were not yet removed, and desiring him to repair to Colonel Hamilton, in New York, who M'ould see that he was well provided for. " How long the causes which have withheld you from me may continue," Washington said, "I am not able at this moment to decide ; but be assured of my wishes to embrace you so soon as they shall have ceased, and that, whenever tlije period ariives, I shall do it with fervency." He then, with fatherly solicitude, advised him to attend well to his studies, that he might "be found to be a deserving son of a meritorious father." After leaving Boston, young Lafayette lived with his tutor AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 291 for awliile in the vicinity of Now York, in comparative seclu- sion. At length the Congress took cognizance of the presence of the young man, and on the IStli of March the House of Representatives passed the following resolution and order: '^Information having been given to this House that a son of General Lafayette is now within the United States; '^Besolvc'd, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the truth of the said information, and report thereon ; and what measures it would be proper to take if the same be true, to evince the grateful sense entertained by the country for the services of his father. " Ordered that Mr. Livingston, Mr. Sherburne, and Mr. Murray be appointed a connnittee pursuant to the said resolu- tion." As chairman of the committee, Mr. Livingston wrote to young Lafayette as follows : "Sir: xVctuated by motives of gratitude to your father, and eager to seize every opportunity of showing their sense of his important services, the House of Representatives have passed the resolution which I have the pleasure to communicate. The committee being directed to inquire into the fact of your arrival within the United States, permit me to advise your immediate appearance at tliis ])lace, that the legislature of America may no longer be in doul)t, whether the son of Lafay- ette is under their protection, and within the reach of their gratitude. "I presume to give this advice as an individual personally attached to your father, and very solicitous to be useful to any pei'son in whose happiness he is interested. If I sliould have 292 MOUNT VEllNON that good i'ortiine on tlu8 occasion, it will afford me the great- est satisfaction. " I am, etc., " Edward Livingston." This letter and the resolutions of the House of Kepresentatives young Lalayette forwarLod to President AYashington^ and asked his advice as to the course he should })ursue. Washington advised him to come to Philadelphia at the opening of the ; next session of Congress, hut to avoid society as much as pos- sible. He complied, and reii;ained in Philadelphia nntil the following spring, when Washington, on becoming a private citizen, embraced the son of his friend as if he had l)een his own child, and bore him to his home on the Potomac. There he remained until eai'ly in October, when the joyfid news having reached him of the release of his father from confine- ment, and his restoration to his country and friends, caused him to leave for the seaboard to depart for France. He and M. Frestel sailed from New York on the 2l]t]i of October, 1797. As young Lafayette was about to leave Mount Vernon, Washington placed a letter in his hands for his father, in which he said : •'From the delicate and rcspoih-ible situation in which I stood as a public officer, but more especially from a miscon- ception of the manner in which your son had left France, till exphiined to me in a personal interview with himself, he did not come immediately into my family on his arrival in Amer- ica, though he was assured in the first moments of it of my protection and support. His conduct, since he first set his feet on AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 293 American ground, has been exemplary in every point of view, such as has g-ained liim the esteem, att'ection, and confidence of all who have had the ])leasure of his acquaintance. Ilis filial afi:ection and duty, and his ardent desire to embrace his parents and sisters in the first moments of their release, would not allow him to wait the authentic account of this much- desired event; but, at the same time that I suggested the pro- priety of this, I could not withhold my assent to the gratifica- tion of his wishes to fiy to the arms of those whom he holds most dear, persuaded as he is from the information he has received, that he shall find you all in Paris, '■'■ M. Frestel has been a true Mentor to George. No parent could have been more attentive to a favorite son ; and he richly merits all that can be said of his virtues, of his good sense, and of his prudence. Both your son and he carry witli them the vows and regrets of this family, and all who know them. And you may be assured that yourself never stood higher in the afifections of the people of this country than at the present moment." The profile of George "Washington Lafayette, given on a preceding page, was painted in crayon, by James Sharpless, an English artist, who came to this country in 1796, and visited all the principal cities and towns in the United States, carrying letters of introduction to various distinguished ])er- sons, and requesting them to sit for their portraits. These were generally painted in crayon, upon a small scale, and finished in less than three hours from the commencement of the sitting. Sharpless usually drew them in profile, and the likenesses Averc generally so much admired for their faithful- ness, that orders would sometimes be iriven for whole families. 294 MOUNT VERNON In this way lie ])ainted immense numbers of portraits, and received lifteen dollars for each commission. Sharpless brought with him Ins wife and three children. He made New York his head-quarters, and generally travelled in a four-wheeled carriage, so contrived by himself as to con- W. p. CUSTIS AT TU vey his whole family and all of his painting apparatus, and drawn by one stout horse. He was a plain and frugal man,' and amassed a competence by his profession. He was a man of science and a mechanician, and manufactured the crayons which he used in his profession. He died suddenly in New York, at the age of about sixty years, and was buried in the cemetery attached to the Ilonuxn Catholic chapel in I^arclay AND ITS ASSOCIATIOXS. 295 Street. His wulow and I'aniily returned to England, where they sold the ])ortraits of the distinguished Americans whom Sharpless had painted, and settled hi Bath. While in Philadelphia Sharpless painted the profile portraits of President and Mrs. Washington ; and also those of George Washington Lafayette (just mentioned) and George Washing- ton Parke Custis. The latter was then a lad between sixteen and seventeen years of age, and he and young Lafayette became warmly attached friends. When, in 1824 and 1825, General Lafayette visited this country, as the guest of the nation, his son George accompanied him, and he and Mr. Custis were much togeiher when opportunity allowed the privilege. The following note from George W. Lafayette to the friend of his youth, is an exhibition of the warmth of his attachment : " Wasiiixgtox City, January the third, 1825. " My dear Custis : My father being able to dispose of him- self on Wednesday, will do himself the pleasure of going that day to dine at Arlington. It is so long since I wished for that satisfaction nwself, that I most sincerely rejoice at the antici- pation of it. You know, my friend, how happy I was when we met at Baltimore. Since that day I felt every day more and more how much our two hearts were calculated to under- stand each other. Be pleased, my dear Custis, to present my respectful homage to the ladies, and receive for yourself the expression of my most affectionate and brotherly sentiments." The profiles of General and Mrs. Washington, by Sharpless, have been pronounced by members of the Washington family who remembered the ori2;inals, as the best likenesses extant. \ 296 MOUNT VKRNON both in form and color. Sliarpless made many copies from it. So also did Mrs. Sliarpless, who painted miniatnres in water colors most exquisitely. One of these is in the possession of CRAYON PROFILE OF Mrs. Eliza M. Evans, a daughter of General Anthony Wall on AVhite, of ]S"ew Jersey. It is somewhat smaller than the usual size of miniatures, and on the hack is written, by the hand of the fair artist : " rieneral "Washington, Philadelphia, 1796. E. Sliarpless." These fonr originals, by Sliarpless, are preserved at Arling- ton House. Those of Mrs. Washington, and Lafayette and Custis, Avhen lads, have never been engraved before. They hung upon the walls at Mount Vernon from the time when Washington retired from the presidency until the death of Mrs. Washington, in 1802, when they passed into the posses- sion of her grandson, G. W. P. Custis. When fairly seated again in private life at Mount Yernon. AND IT.S ASSOCIATKjNS. 297 Washington ai)pean'd to ivvel in the hixurv of (juiet. lie was never idU", never indift'erent to the ])rogress of current events, Imt he lovi'd tlie peaccfuhiess of nature away from tlie haunts CRAYON PROFILE OF MRS. WASHINGTON. of nien, and was delighted wlien working hke tlic hee among the fruits and flowers. He was not unsocial, and yet he h)ved to l)e away from the great gathering-places of men and the tumults of puhlic life. lie was not unambitious, hut he was not only indiftercnt but averse to the plaudits of the multitude Avhen given in tho accents of flattery. lie wished to be loved as a righteous man, and he relied upon his conscience more than upon the voices of men for a knowledge of the accept- ableness of his endeavors. It was his guide in all things, for he regarded it in one sense as Emanuel— (ii id with us — tlio righteous judge of the thoughts and actit)ns of mi-n. AVashington now felt that his conntrv had received all that 298 MOUNT VERNON could reasonably be asked of liiiii as a public servant, and he returned to his old pursuits with a sincere desire to mingle no more in the stirring arena of busy life. " To make and sell a little flour annually," he wrote to Oliver Wolcott, " to repair houses (going fast to ruin), to build one for the security of my papers of a public nature, and to amuse myself in agricultural and rural pursuits, will constitute employment for the few years I hav^e to remain on this terrestrial globe. If, also, I could now and then meet the friends I esteem, it would till the measure and add zest to my enjoyments; but, if ever this hap- pens, it must be under my own vine and fig-tree, as I do not think it probable that I shall go twenty miles from them." Washington enjoyed the visits of friends, but those of mere ceremony he disliked, and was sometimes annoyed by those prompted by idle curiosity. " 1 might tell my friend," he said, in a letter at the close of May to Mr. Mc Henry, the secretary of war, "that I begin my diurnal course with the sun ; that if my hirelings are not in their jilaces at that time, I send them messages of sorrow for their indisposition; that, having put these wheels in motion, I examine the state (;»f things further; that the more they are probed, the deeper I find the wounds which my buildings have sustained by an absence and neglect of eight years ; that by the time I have accomplished these matters, breakfast (a little after seven o'clock, about the time I presume you are taking leave of Mrs. McHenry) is ready ; that this being over, I mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is time to dress for dinner, at which I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come, as they say, out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as well? And how dif- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 29i> lerent this iVoni having a few social frieiuls at a cheerful board! The usual time of sitting at table, a walk, and tea, bring nie within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented by company, 1 resolve that, as soon as the glimmering t>aper supplies the i)laee of the great luminary, I M-ill retire to my writing-table and acknowledge the letters 1 have received ; but when the lights are brought, I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this work, conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next night comes, and with it the same causes for postponement, and so on, " This will account for your letter remaining so long unac- knowledged ; and, having given you the history of a day, it will serve for a year, and I am persuaded you will not require a second edition of it. But it may strike you that, in this detail, no mention is made of any portion of time allotted for reading. The remark would be just, for I have not looked into a book since I came home ; nor shall I be able to do it until I have dischaj-ged my workmen, probably not before the nights gi-ow longer, when possibly I may be looking in Dooms- day Book." Washington's allusion in the foregoing letter to his writing- table, reminds me of his inkstand, which is preserved at Arling- ton House. It is composed wholly of silver, except three cut- glass bottles, two of them used for ink, and one (in the centre) for sand. The tray is seven and a half inches in length. It was used by AVashington during the last two years of his administration, and ever afterward at Mount Yernon. Washington found his mansion and all of the sui-rounding buildings much in want of repair when he returned home, " I find myself," he said, " in the situation nearly of a new 300 M O U N T \' E R N X \SASUI>UTU> beginner; for altliougli I luivc not houses to build (except one, which I must erect for the acconinioo^vl delineated in the engi'aving, has a deep blue border at the rim, spangled with gilt staj'S and dots. It wrs made expressly for "Washington, but when, where, and l)y whom is not known. In the bottom is a picture of a frigate, and on the side are the initials G. W., in gold, u])on a sliield with ornamental sur- roundings. It is supposed to have hcen presented to Washington by the French naval officers. If so, it was doubtless manufactured and sent over at the lime when tlie Cin- cinnati china was forwarded. There are two massive silver can- dlesticks, with extinguishers and snuffers of the same metal, at Ar- lington House, that once belonged to Washington. Tliese formed a part of his furniture after his- retirement from the army, in ■WASHINGTON S SILVKK CANDLKSTICK. 304 MOUNT VEIIXON 1783, and are a portion of Lis plate not remodelled afterward in New York. How many interesting associations are made to cluster around these simple ntensils of domestic use, at the sugges- tions of fancy and conjecture! Perhaps almost every distin- guished European — Lafayette, Itochambcan, ('hastellnx, IIou- don. Pine, JViousiier, Brissot, D'Yrnjo, Gi'aham — as well as equally distinguished Americans who have spent a night at Mount Vernon — bore one of them t<» the bedchamber. Perhaps they M-ere used by Washington himself at his writing-table or by the fireside, or to light the conjugal chamber. And it is quite pnssible that the master bore one of them on the occasion mentioned in the following paragi-aph from the pen of Elkanah Watson, when describing his visit at Mount Yernon : ''The first evening 1 spent under the wing of Washington's hospitality, we sat a full hour at table by ourselves, without the least interruption. After the family had retired, I was extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted by the exposure of a harsh winter journey. He pressed me to use some remedies, but I declined doing so. As usual after retiring, my coughing increased. When some time had elapsed, the door of my room was gently opened, and on drawing my l)e(l-cnrtains, to my utter astonishment I beheld Washington himself standing at my bedside, with a bowl o.f hot tea in his hand. I was mortified and distressed beyond expression. This litile incident occurring in common life wilh an ordinary man, would not have been noticed; but as a trait of the benevolence and private virtue of Washington, deserves to be recorded.'' AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 305 W^ _-^-5>S. MORMXG — A LANDSCAPE BY WIXSTANLEV. "Wliile residing in Pliiladelpliia, "Washington became ac- quainted witli the merits of William Winstanley, an Englisli- L\IMN(, — \ I VM)bC\ri, V.\ \MN-,TVME^. man, and landscape painter, ^vho came to America in 1790. 306 MOUNT VERNON He was spoken of as " an artist of genius and reputation, whose landscapes in oil are greatly admired by the connois- seurs." Washington, pleased Avith some specimens of his skill which were brought to his notice, gave him a commission to paint six medium-sized pictures, representing scenery on the Hudson Hiver. These were afterward taken to Mount Vernon, and adorned the walls of the drawing-room there. Two of these, called respectively Morning and Evening, are now at Arlington House. Two others are in the family of the late Mrs. Lewis (Nelly Custis) ; of the remaining two we have no intelligence. Washino-ton was again awakened from his sweet dream of peace and quietness in his home on the Potomac, by the call of his country to lend to it once more his voice and his arm. There were signs of war in the political firmament. France, once the ally of the United States, assumed the attitude of an enemy. Tlie king and queen of that unhappy country had been murdered at the command of a popular tribunal. Out of the anarchy that ensued, had been evolved a government, in wliich supreme power was vested in five men called a Directory, who ruled in connection with two chambei's the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred. It was installed at the Little Luxembourg, at Paris, on the 1st of November, 1795, and held the executive power four years. That Directory was a most despotic tyrant, and ruled with an iron hand. Its pride disgusted the nations, and every true friend of man rejoiced when it quailed before the genius and the bayonets of Napoleon. Before Washington had left the chair of state, the friendly AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 307 feeling between the United States and France had become greatly weakened. The French Directory assumed a tone of incomparable insolence, and the American representatives in Paris were insulted. Three judicious men had been sent to adjust all difficulties with the French government. Tliey were refused an audience with the Directory unless they would agree to pay a large sum into the French treasury, " Millions for defence, but not one cent fur tribnte !" said Charles Cotes- worth Pinckney, one of the American envoys; and he and John Marshall, another of the envoys, were ordered out of the country. Tliis insult the United States did not choose to allow to pass unheeded, and all diplomatic intercourse between the two governments was suspended. Preparations were made for war ; and in May, 1798, Congress authorized the formation of a large military force, to be called a Provisional Army. Tlie movement was popular with the people, and with anxious hearts their thoughts turned instinctively to Washington as the man for the commander-in chief. There appeared to be a universal opinion that the weight of "Washington's name and character would be necessary in order to produce unanimity among the military leaders that would be brought upon the stage, and to secure the confidence and support of the people. Washington, though in absolute retirement, had watched the progress of affairs in France with sorrow and indignation, and had expressed his mind freely to his friends upon the subject. President Adams, in the perplexities which the prog- ress of events produced, turned to him for advice, and looked to him for aid. " I must tax you," he said, " sometimes for advice. We must have your name, if you will in any case 308 MOUNT VERNON permit us to use it. Tliere will Le more efficacy in it than in many an army." And before Washington could reply, Adams nominated to the Senate : " George Washington, of Mount Vernon, to be lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of all the armies raised and to be raised in the United States." Already Mr. McIIenry, the secretary of war, had written : " You see how the storm tliickens, and tliat our vessel will soon require our ancient pilot. AVill you — may we flatter ourselves that, in a crisis so awful and important, you will accept the command of all our armies? I hope you will, because you alone can unite all hearts and all hands, if it is possible that they can be united." The Senate confirmed the nomination of the president, and Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Provi- sional Army. True to the prophecies and promises of his antecedents, he accepted the trust, for his country demanded his services, but with the provision that he should not be re- quired to take the field until circumstances should make it absolutely necessary. " I see, as you do," he said to McHenry, " that clouds are gathering and that a storm may ensue ; and I find, too, from a variety of hints, that my quiet, under these circumstances, does not promise to be of long continuance. * * ■J^ * ^^^ ^^^j whole life has been dedicated to my country in one shape- or another, for the poor remains of it it is not an object to con- tend for ease and quiet, when all that is valuable is at stake, further than to be satisfied that the sacrifice I should make of these is acceptable and desired by my country." And now there were stirring times again at Mount Vernon. Washington's post-bag came filled with a score of letters some- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 309 times, for to him had been entrusted the selection of officers for the army, and there were thousands of aspirants for places of ahuost every grade. He nominated Colonel Alexander Ilamilton as first major-general, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, then on his way from France, the second, and General Knox the third. The subordinate offices were frequently filled by the sons of his old comjianions in arms, and several of his own family received commissions. Young Custis, his adopted son, was appointed aide-de-camp to General rinckney, and his favorite nephew, Lawrence Lewis, also received a com- mission. Many were the visitors who flocked to ]\[ount Yernon dur- ing the autunni of 1798. A large number of these were army officers, who went to head-quarters to consult with the chief about military aftairs ; and General Pinckney having returned, was there at Christmas time. At the same time Judge Cushing, of the Supreme Court of the United States, who administered the oath of office to Washington at his second inauguration, was also there. "We reached Mount Yernon," wrote the wife of Judge Cushing, in February, 1700, "the evening before Christmas, and if any thing could have added to our enjoyment, it was the arrival of General and Mrs. Pinckney the next day [Tues- day], while we were dining. You may be sure it was a joyful meeting, and at the very place my wishes had pointed out. To be in the company of so many esteemed friends, to hear our good General Washington converse upon political sul)jeets without reserve, and to hear General and Mrs. Pinckney re- late what tliey saw and heard in France, was truly a feast to me. Thus the moments glided away for two days, when our 31U MOUNT VERNON reason pointed out the propriety of our departin<^ and iin})i'ov- ing the good roads, as the snow and frost had made them better than they are in summer. " The attitude assumed by the United States, and the ap])ear- ance of Washington at the head of the army, humbled the French Directory, and President Adams was encouraged to send representatives to France again. Wlien they arrived, toward the close of 1799, the weak Directory were no more. Napoleon Bonaparte was at tlie head of the government as first consul, and soon the cloud of war that hong between France and the United States was dissipated. We now come to consider the associations of Mount Vernon during the last year of Washington's life. It opened with joy, it closed with sorrow. Lawrence Lewis, son of Washington's sister Elizabeth, had been a resident at Mount Yernon for some time. We have already observed, by an expression in a letter of Washington to Mr. McHenry, that the visits of strangers to Mount Vernon had become somewhat burdensome to the master. With this feeling he wrote to Lawrence, giving him a formal invitation to reside at Mount Vernon, and saying: " As both your aunt and I are in the decline of life, and regular in our habits, especially in our hours of rising and going to bed, I require some person (fit and proper) to ease me of the trouble of entertaining company, particulai'ly of nights, as it is my inclination to retire (and unless prevented by very particular company, I always do retire) either to bed or to my study soon after candlelight. In taking those duties (which hospitality obliges one to bestow on company) ofi" my hands, it w^ould render me a very acceptable service." Lawrence com- AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 311 plied with the request of his uncle, and became an inmate of the family at Mount Vernon at the beginning of 1798. Nelly Custis was at this time blooming into Avomanhood, and was exceedingly attractive in person and manners. She was a great favorite with her foster-father, and as she ap- proached marriageable age, he had indulged many anxious thoughts respecting her. The occasional visits of Lawrence Lewis to Mount Vernon had been productive of the most intimate friendly relations between them, and when he became a resident there, his respect for Nelly grew into warm and tender attachment. "Washington was pleased ; but there came a rival, whose suit Mrs. Washington decidedly encouraged. That rival was a son of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, who had just returned from Europe, ansl displayed all the accomplish- ments of a good education, adorned with the social graces derived from foreign travel. "1 find that young Mr. C has been at Mount Vernon, and, report says, to address my sister," wrote her l)rother to Washington, in April, 1798, from Annapolis, where he was at school. "It may be well to subjoin an opinion," he said, " which I believe is general in this place, viz., that he is a young man of the strictest probity and morals, discreet with- out closeness, temperate without excess, and modest without vanity; possessed of those amiable qualities and triendship which are so commendable, and with few of the vices of the age. Li short, I think it a most desirable match, and wish that it may take place with all my heart." Washington, who favored the suit of his nephew, closed abruptly the correspondence with young Custis on that sub- ject, by saying, in a letter to him a fortnight afterward : 312 MOUNT VERNON " Young Mr. C came here about a fortnight ago, to dinner, and left us next morning after breakfast. If liis object was such as you say has been reported, it was not declai'ed liere; and therefore the less is said upon the subject, particu- larly by your sister's friends, the more prudent it will be until the subject develops itself more." In his next letter, in reply to this, young Custis ventured only to say : " With respect to what I mentioned of Mr. C in my last, I had no other foundation but report, which has since been contradicted."* Lawrence Lewis triumphed, yet the foster-father had some time doubted respecting the result, for other suitors came to Mount Vernon, and made their homage at the shrine of IS'elly's wit and beauty. " I was young and romantic then," she said to a lady, from wliose lips Mr. Irving has quoted — " I was young and roman- tic then, and fond of wandering alone by moonlight in the woods of Mount Vernon. Grandmamma thought it wrong and unsafe, and scolded and coaxed me into a promise that I would not wander in the woods again unaccompanied. But I was missing one evening, and was brought home from the interdicted woods to the drawing-room, where the General was walking up and down with his hands behind him, as was his wont. Grandmamma, seated in her great arm-chair, ojjened a severe reproof." * For very interesting correspondence between General Washington and his adopted son, G-. W. P. Custis, while the latter was in college at Princeton and Annapolis, from November, 1796, to January, 1799, see Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, by his adopted son, George "Washington Parke Custis, edited by the autlior of this work. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 813 " Poor Miss Nelly," says Mr. Irving, " was reminded of lier promise, and taxed with her delinquency. She knew that slie ]iad done wrong — admitted her fault, and essayed no excuse ; l)ut, when there was a slight pause, moved to retire from the i-oom. She was just shutting the door when she overheard the General attempting, in a low voice, to intercede in her behalf. 'My dear,' observed lie, 'I would say no more — perhaps she was not alone.' " His intercessi(m stopped Miss Nelly in her retreat. Slie reopened the door and advanced up to the General with a firm step. ' Sir,' said she, ' you brought me up to speak the truth, and when I told Grandmamma I was alone, I hope you believed / was alone.'' "The General made one of his most magnanimous bows. ' My child,' replied he, ' I beg 3^our pardon.' " Lawrence and Nelly were married at Mount Yernon on "Washington's birthday, 1799. It was Friday, and a bright and beautiful day. The early spring flowers were buddiug in the hedges, and the bluebird, making its way cautiously north- ward, gave a few joyous notes in the garden that morning. Tlie occasion was one of great hilarity at Mount Yernon, for the bride was beloved by all, and Major Lewis, the bride- groom, had ever been near to the heart of his uncle, since the deatli of his mother, who so much resembled her illustrious brother, that when, in sport, she would place a chapeau on her head and throw a military cloak over her shoulders, she might easily have been mistaken for the Chief. It was the wish of the young bride, said her brother, that the general of the armies of the United States should M'ear, on that occasion, the splendidly-embroidered uniform which the 3U MOUNT VERXON board of general officers had adopted, but Washington could not be persuaded to appear in a costume bedizened with tinsel. He preferred the plain old continental blue and bulf, and the modest black ribbon cockade. Magnificent white plumes, which General Pinckney had presented to him, he gave to the bride ; and to the Keverend Thomas Davis, rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, who performed the marriage ceremony, he presented an elegant copy of Mrs. Macaulay's Histcrry of England, in eight octavo volumes, saying, when he handed them to him : " These, sir, w^ere written by a remarkable lady, who visited America many years ago ; and here is also her treatise on the Immutability of Moral Truth, which she sent me just before her death — read it and return it to me." With characteristic modesty, Washington m.ade no allusion to the fact that Mrs. Macaulay (Catharine Macaulay Graham) crossed the Atlantic in the spring of 1785, for no other pur- pose, as she avowed, than to see the great leader of the Amer- ican armies, whom she revered as a second Moses. Washing- ton thus alluded to her, in a letter to General I\jiox, written on the ISth of June, 1785 : " Mrs. Macaulay Graham, Mr. Graham, and others, have just left us, after a stay of about ten days. A visit from a lady so celebrated in the literary world could not but be very flattering to me." The year 1799 — next to the last year of the century, and the last of Washington's life — was now drawing to a close, and he appears to have made preparations for his departui-e, as if the fact that the summons from earth would soon be presented had been revealed to him. In March he said, in a letter to AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 31.J Mr. McIIenry, after alliuliiig to business afluirs : "My greatest anxiety is to have all these concerns in such a clear and dis- tinct form, that no i-eproach may attach itself to me wIk-u I have taken my departure for the land of spirits." In July he executed his last will and testament. It was written entirely by himself, and at the bottom of each l>aij:;e of manuscript he signed his name. During tlie autumn he digested a complete system of management for his estate for several succeeding years, in which were tables designating the rotation of crops. This document occupied thirty folio pages, all written in his peculiar and clear style. It was com])leted only four days before his death, and was accompanied by a letter, dated December 10th, 1799, to his manager or stcM'ard, giving liim special directions, as if the master was about to depart on a journey. At this time Washington was in full health and vigor, and the beautiful days of a serene old age were promised him. He had once said: "I am of a short-lived family, and cannot expect to remain very long upon the earth ;" yet now, at the age of almost sixty-eight, he appeared to have full expectations of octogenarian honors. Only a few days before his death, he had walked out, on a cold, frosty morning, M'ith his nephew. Major Lewis, and pointed out his anticipated improvements, especially showing him the spot where he intended to build a new family vault. ''This change," he said, "I shall make the first of all, for 1 may require it before the rest." " When I parted from him," said Major Lewis, to Jau'es K. Paulding, "he stood on the steps of the front door, where he took leave of mvself and another. He had taken his usnal 31G MOUNT VERNON ridL', and tlie clear healthy flush on his elieek and his spri;i-htly manner, hronght the remark from both of us that we liad never seen the general look so welh I have sometimes thought him deeich'dly the handsomest man I ever saw; and wlien in a lively mood, so full of pleasantry, so agreeal)le to all with whom he associated, 1 could hardly realize that he was the same AVashington whose dignity awed all who approached Idm/'' On the 11th of December Washington noted in his diary that there was wind and rain, and "at night a large circle i-onhd the moon." This portent of snow was trnthful, for at one o'clock the next day it began to fall. It soon changed to hail, and tlien to rain. Washington had been out on horseback, as usual, since ten . o'clock in the morning, and returned only in time for late dinner. Mr. Lear, who was again residing at Mount Yernon, as Washington's secretary and business manager, carried some letters to him to frank, when he observed snow hanging to the general's hair abont his neck, and expressed a fear that he was wet. " No," Washington replied, " my great coat has kept me dry ;" and after franking the letters, and observing that the storm was too heavy to send a servant to the post-office that evening, he sat down to dinner without changing his damp clothes. On the following day (Friday, the 13tli) the snow was three inches deep npon the gronnd, and still falling. Washington complained of a sore throat, and the storm continning, he omitted his usual ride. At noon the clouds broke, the sun came out clear and Avarm, and he occupied himself before dinner in marking some trees, between the mansion and the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 317 river, tluit were to be eut down, and with eonipass and chain detining lines for improvements. After dinner his hoarseness grew worse, yet he i-egarded it as nothing serious, lie was very cheerful during the evening, and sat in the parlor with Mrs. Washington and Mr. Lear, amusing himself with the newspapers, which were brought in at seven o'clock, occasionally reading aloud something that jjleased him, or asking Mr. Lear to do so, liis hoarseness some- times depi-i\ing him of his voice. Among other things, Mr. Lear read to him the report of debates in the Virginia Assem- bly, and Washington made comments, as well as his hoarseness would permit. About nine o'clock Mrs. Washington left the parlor, and went to the chamber of Mrs. Lewis, who was confined, and th:.' general and Mr. Lear continued the perusal of the pai)ers soaiii time afterward. When he retired, Mr. Lear suggested that he liad better take something for his cold, his hoarseness appear- ing to increase. "]^o," he answered, ''you know I never take any thing for a cold. Let it go as it came." Between two and three o'clock the next morning he awoke Mrs. Washingt(;n, tohl her that he was very ill, and had liad an ague, lie was so hoarse that he could scarcely speak, lie breathed with great difficulty, and Mrs. Washington proposed to get u]) and call a servant, Ijut the tender husband would not permit her to do so, lest she should take cold. At day- light tlieir chambermaid, Caroline, went into the room to make a fire, as usual, when Mrs. Washington sent her for Mr. Lear. That gentleman dressed himself quickly, and, on going to the general's room, found him breathing with great diffi- culty, and hardly able to utter a word intelligibly. 318 MOUNT YE RNOX Washington desired Mr. Lear to send immediately for Mr. Rawlins, one of the overseers, to come and bleed him, while another servant was dispatched to Alexandria for Dr. Craik, the sufierer's life-long friend and his family physician. Some mix- tures were prepared to give im- mediate relief, hut he could not swallow a drop. Tlawlins came soon after sun- rise. He was much agitated. Washington perceived it, and said, "Don't be afraid." A slight incision was made in the arm, for Mrs. Washington, doubtful whether bleeding was proper in the case, begged that not much blood might be taken. Tlie blood ran pretty freely, but the general lis} large enough ;" and when Mr. Lear was about to loosen the bandage to stop the bleeding, at the request of Mrs. Washing- ton, he put his hand up to prevent it, and said, " More, more." About half a pint of blood was taken from him, and external applications were made, but nothing seemed to relieve the sufferer. At eight o'clock Washington expressed a desire to get up. His clothes were put on, and he was led to a chair by the fire. But he found no relief in that position, and at ten o'clock he lay down again. Mrs. Washington had become much alarmed, and before Dr. DR. JAMES CRAIK. whispered, "The orifice is not AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 319 Craik arrived, she desired Mr. Lear to send for Dr. Brown, of Port Tobacco, whom Craik liad recommended to be called if any alarming sickness should occur during his absence. At about nine o'clock Dr. Craik arrived. lie at once took more blood from the general, put a blister on his throat, prepared a gargle of vinegar and sage tea, and ordered som^ vinegar and hot water for him to inhale the steam of. The gargle almost suffocated him. A little phlegm was brought up with it, and he attempted to cough, but was unable to do so. At eleven o'clock Dr. Craik requested Dr. Dick, with whom he often consulted, to be sent for, as Dr. Brown might not come in time. Tie then bled the general again, but no effect was produced by it. His inability to swallow any thing con- tinued. At three o'clock Dr. Dick arrived, and after consulta- tion with him, Dr. Craik again bled the sufferer. The blood was thick, and flowed very sluggishly. Dr. Brown arrived soon afterward, and after the three physicians had held a brief consultation, Dr. Craik administered calomel and tartar emetic, which the general managed to swallow. But this too was without effect. "About half-past four o'clock," says Mr. Lear, in a narra- tive which he wrote at the time, "he desired me to call Mrs. Washington to his bedside, when he requested her to go down into his room, and take from his desk two wills which she would find there, and bring them to him, which she did. Upon looking at them he gave her one, which he observed was useless, as being superseded by the other, and desired her to burn it, which she did, and took the other and put it into her closet. "After this was done, I returned to his bedside and took his 320 M U N T V E R X N hand. He said to me : ' I find I am going. My brcatli can- not last' long. I believed from the first that the disorder wonld prove fatal. Do you arrange and record all my late military letters and papers. Arrange my accounts and settle my books, as you know more about them than any one else, and let Mr. liawlins finish recording my other letters which he has begun.' I told him this should be done. He then asked if I recollected any thing which it was essential for him to do, as he had but a very short time to continue with us. I told him that I could recollect nothing, but that I hoped he was not so near his end. lie observed, smUing, that he certainly M'as, and that, as it was a debt we nnist all ]>ay, he looked to the event M'itli perfect resignation. '' In the course of the afternoon he appeared to be in great pain and distress from the dilficulty of breathing, and fre- quently changed his posture in the bed. On these occasions I lay upon the bed and endeavored to raise him, and turn him with as much ease as possible. He appeared penetrated with gratitude for my attentions, and often said, 'I am afraid I shall fatigue you too much ;' and upon my assuring him that I could feel nothing but a wish to give him ease, he replied, ' Well, it is a debt we must pay to each other, and I hope when you want aid of this kind you will find it.' " Washington then inqnired when Mr. Lewis and Washington Custis, who were in New Kent, would return; and being told-, he remained silent awhile, and then desired his servant, Chris- topher, who had been in the room all day, to sit down, fur he had been standing most of the time. He did so. A few minutes afterward Dr. Craik came into the room, and as he approached the bedside, Washington said to him: "Doctor,! AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 321 die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I believed, from my firet attack, that I should not survive it. My breath cannot last long." The doctor, overcome with emotion, pressed his hand, but could not utter a word. He left the bedside, and, in deep grief, sat by the fire for some time, while all was silent in the room, except the heavy breathing of the sufferer. Doctors Dick and Brown came into the room between five and six o'clock, when they and Dr. Craik went to the bedside and asked Washington if he could sit up in bed. lie held out his hand and Mr. Lear raised him wp. " I feel myself going," he said ; " I thank you for your attentions ; but I pray you take no more trouble about me. Let me go oif quickly. I cannot last long." Then casting a look of gratitude toward Mr. Lear, he lay down, and all left the bedside except Dr. Craik. Mr. Lear now wrote to Mr. Law and Mr. Peter, gentlemen who had married two granddaughters of Mrs. Washington (sisters of ISTelly Custis), requesting them to come immediately, with their wives, to Mount Vernon. x\t about eight o'clock the physicians tried other outward applications to relieve the sufferer, but in vain, and they left the room without any hope. At about ten o'clock Washington attempted to speak to Mr. Lear, but failed several times. At length he murmured : " I am just going. Have me decently buried ; and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead," Mr. Lear could not speak, but bowed his assent. Washington whispered, " Do you understand ?" Lear replied, "Yes." "'Tis well," he said; and these were the last words he ever spoke — " 'TVs ivelir^ "About ten minutes before he expired," says Mr. Lear (" which was between ten and eleven o'clock), his breathing 323 MOUNT VERXON became easier. He lay quietly ; he witlidrew his hand from mine and felt his own pulse. I saw his countenance change. I spoke to Dr. Craik, who sat hy the fire, lie came to tlie bedside. The general's hand fell from his wrist. I took it in mine and pressed it to my bosom. Dr. Craik put his hands over his eyes, and he expired without a struggle or a sigh. " While we were fixed in silent grief, Mrs. Washington, who was sitting at the foot of the bed, asked, with a firm and col- lected voice, 'Is he gone?' I could not speak, but held up my hand as a signal that he was no more. ' 'Tis well,' said she, in the same voice, ' all is now over ; I shall soon follow him ; I have no more trials to pass through.' " " It may be asked," says Mr. Custis, " why was the ministry of religion wanting to shed its peaceful and benign lustre upon the last hours of Washington? Why was he, to whom the observances of sacred things were ever primary duties through life, without their consolations in his last moments? We an- swer, circumstances did not permit. It was but for a little while that the disease assumed so threatening a character as to forbid the encouragement of hope ; yet, to stay that summons which none may refuse, to give still farther length of days to him whose time-honored life was so dear to mankind, prayers were not wanting to the throne of grace. Close to the couch of the sufferer, resting her head upon that ancient book, with which she had been wont to hold pious communion a portion of every day for more than half a century, was the venerable consort, absorbed in silent prayer, and from wliich she only arose when the mourning gronp prepared to lead her from the chamber of the dead." That chamber, ever held sacred by the Washington family, AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 323 and concealed from the eyes of the curious visitor, appears now, in form and feature, precisely as -when the spirit of tlie Father of his Country took its departure from it. Not a vestige of the furniture that was there at the time of Washing- ton's death, remains. The bed and bedstead on wliich he died are at Arlington House, where they, too, are kept as not only precious but sacred mementos of the great and good Wash- inij:ton. WHICH wAsmsoTON died Tlie bedstead i.-; made of nuihogany, and was manufactured in Xew York in 1780. It is remarkable for its size, being six feet sipiare. It was in constant use in the bed-chamber of General and Mrs. "Washington, from the time of its manufac- ture until his death. Tlie bed and bedding remain in i)recisely 324 MOUNT VERNON the same condition as when Washington was borne from his chamber to his tomb. The room in wliich "Washington died has seldom been seen by visitors at Mount Yernon. While enjoying the hospitali- ties of the late proprietor for two or three days, I was permit- ted to enter and sketch it. It Avas used as a private chamber by the heads of the family. Empty, it presents the same appearance it did at Washington's death, and so I delineated it. Two doors open from it into other chambers, and one to stairs that lead to the garret. KOOM IN WHICH WASHINGTON PIF.D. As I stood alone in that death-chamber of the illustrious Washington, fancy seemed to fill it with those who occupied it on Saturday night, the 14tli of December, 1799, mentioned in a memorandum by Mr. Lear. On the bed lay the great nuin at the sublime moment of his death. Kear the bed stood Mr Lear and Dr. Craik. " Mrs. Washington was sitting near the foot of the bed. Christoi)her was standing near the bedside^ Caroline, Molly, and Charlotte (house-servants) M-ere in the room, standing near the door. Mrs. Forbes, the housekeeper, AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 325 was in the room likewise." And as I stood there, delineatins the simple outlines of that cluimher, the words of Wallace came \ividly to my memory : '•There is an awful stillness in the sky When, after wondrous deeds and light supremo, A star goes out in golden prophecy. There is an awful stillness in the world. When, after wondrous deeds and light supreme, A hero dies with all the future clear Before him, and his voice made jubilant , By coming glories, and his nation hush'd As though they heard the farewell of a god — A great man is to earth as God to heaven." No one, except Mrs. Washington, mourned more sincerely at the deathbed of the great patriot than Dr. Craik, a gen- erous, warm-hearted Scotchman, and excellent physician, who settled in Virginia in early life, was with Washington in the campaigns of the French and Indian war, and of the Revolu- tion, and was his friend and medical adviser for more than forty years. Twice he accompanied Washington to the Ohio countr}', the first time in 1770, and the second time in 1785. He continued to reside in Alexandria until old age caused him to relincpiish his profession, when he retired with a competent fortune to Yaiicluse, a part of the Ravensworths' estate, where he died in 1S14, at the age of eighty -four years. lie was exceedingly vigorous, in mind and body, until the last. His grandson, the Reverend James Craik, of Louisville, Kentucky, to whom I am indebted for the silhouette likeness of Dr. Craik, printed on page 318, says, in a recent letter to me: " He was a stout, tln'ckset man, perfectly erect, no stoop of the shoulders, and no appearance of debility in his carriage. 326 MOUNT VEllNON Not long before his death he ran a race with me (theu about eight years old) in the front yard of the house at Yaucluse, before the assembled family." At midnight the body of General Washington was brought down from the chamber of death, and laid out in the large drawing-room, in front of the superb Italian chimney-piece, delineated on page 172 — a work of art which the master had fe'ared, "by the number of cases" which contained it, would be. "too elegant and costly" for his " room, and republican style of living;" and on the following day (Sunday) a plain tiiahogany cotHn was procured from Alexandria, and mourning ordered for the family, the overseers, and the domestics. On the same day several of the relatives who had been sent for arrived, among whom was Mrs. Stuart, tlie mother of Mrs. Washington's grandchildren. At the head of the coffin was placed an ornament inscribed Surge ad judicum. At about the middle were the words Gloria Deo ; and upon a silver plate was the record : GENERAL GICORGE WASHINGTON DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE lifH DECEMnER, 1799, JST. 6S. The coffin was lined with lead, and upon a cover of the same material, to be put on after the coffin was laid in the ' vault, was a silver shield, nearly three inches in length, in scribed : GEORGE WASHINGTON, BORN FEB. 22, 1732, DIED DECEMBER 11, 1799. LVER SHIELD OX WASHING- TON'S COl'FIN. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS 327 The time for tlie funeral was fixed at twelve o'clock on Wednesday, the 18th, and the Reverend !^^r. Davis, of Alex- andria, M-as invited to perform the burial ^ service, according to the beautiful ritu; of the Protestant Episco])rtl Cliurch. TT . • t\. . . .1 IGEOEGEWASIIINGTON llavmg received mtormation trom Alex- 1 * _ 1 U(«NrKE;^2.i7r.2 ^; andria that the military and Freemasons % ^^ip.p dec 14- 1799 i were desirous of showing their respect for their chief and brother, by iollowing his body to the grave, Mr. Lear ordered pro- g, visions to be prepared for a large number of people, as some refreshment would be expected bv them. And Mr. Eobert Hamilton, of Alexandria, wrote to Mr. Lear, that a schooner of his would anchor off Mount Vernon to fire minute guns, while the body M'as passing fron^. the nuinsion to the tomb. The arrangements for the procession at tlie funeral were made by Colonels Little, Simms, and Deneale, and Dr. Dick. The old family vault was opened and cleaned, and Mr. Lear ordered an entrance door to be made for it, that it might not be again closed with brick. Mr. Stewart, adjutant of the Alexandria regiment, of which "Washington had once been colonel, went down to Mount Yernon to view the ground for the procession. The people began to collect at Mount Vernon on Wednes- day, at eleven o'clock, but owing to a delay of the military, the time for the procession was postponed until three o'clock. The coffined body of the illustrious patriot lay, meanwhile, beneath the grand piazza of the mansion, where he had so often walked and mused. 328 MOUNT VERXON Between three and four o'clock the procession moved, and, at the same time, minute guns were fired from the schooner anchored in the Potomac. The pall-hearers were Colonels Little, Simms, Payne, Gilpin, Eamsaj, and Marsteler. Colonel Blackburn preceded the corpse. Colonel Deneale marched with the military. The procession moved out through the gate at the left wing of the house, and proceeded round in front of the lawn, and down to the vault on the right wing of the house. The following was the composition and order of the procession : The troops, horse and foot, with arms reversed. Music, The clergy, namely, the Rev. Messrs. Davis, Muir, Moffat, and Addison. Tlie general's horse, with his saddle, holsters, and pistols, led by two grooms (Cyrus, and Wilson), in black. The body, borne by the Masons and officers. Principal mourners, namely, Mrs. Stuart and Mrs. Law, Misses Nancy and Sally Stuart, Miss Fairfax and Miss Dennison, Mr. Law and Mr. Peter, Mr. Lear and Dr. Craik, Lord Fairfax and Ferdinando Fairfax, Lodge No. 23. Corporation of Alexandria. All other persons, preceded by Mr. Anderson and the overseers. AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 329 Wlien tlie body arrived near the vault, at tlie bottom of tlie lawn, on the high bank of the Potomac, the cavalry halted ; the infantry moved forward and formed the in-lining; the Masonic brethren and citizens descended to the vault, and the funeral services of the church were read by the Reverend Mr. Davis. He also pronounced a short discourse. The Masons then performed their peculiar ceremonies, and the body M'as deposited in the vault. Three general discharges of arms were then given by the infantry and the cavalry ; and eleven pieces of artillery, which were ranged back of the vault and simulta- neously discharged, "paid the last tribute to the entombed commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States." Tlie sun was now setting, and mournfully that funeral assemblv de2:)arted for their respective homes. The bier upon which "Wash- ington was conveyed from the mansion to the tomb, is pre- washixgton's birr. served in the museum at Alexandria. It is oak, six feet in length, and painted a lead color. Tlie handles, whicli are hinged to the bier, have leather pads on the under side, fast- ened with brass nails. The vault in which the remains of "Washington were laid. had abeady become dilapidated by the action of the growing roots of the trees around it, and, as we have seen, "Washington, in contemplation of the immediate construction of a new one, had chosen a ])lace for it. In his will he left the folloM-ing directions : "Tlie family vault at Mount "\"ernon requiring repairs, and being impr<)})erly situated besides, 1 desire that a new one, of 330 MOUNT Y I'] R N O N brick, iuid iipcm a larger scale, may Le l)uilt at the foot of what is called the Vineyard Enclosure, on the ground which is marked out, in whicli my remains, and those of my deceased relatives (now in the old vault), and sucli otliers of my family as may choose to be entombed there, may be deposited."' E OLD VAULT IN 1858, For thirty years the remains of AVashington lay -undisturbed in the old vault, when the tomb was entered and an attempt was made to carry away the bones of the illustrious dead. Others were taken by mistake, and the robber being detected, thev were recovered. A new vault was soon afterward erected AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 331 upon the spot desio;iiate(l l>y W:is]iiii:^ton, and tlie old one is now a gaping ruin. Congress was in session at Pliiladelphia, when information of tlie death of AVashington reached them on the day of liis funeral. On the following day the announcement of it -was formally made on the floor of the House of Representatives, by the' Honorable John Marshall, of Virginia (afterward chief- justice of the United States), and after some appropriate action, the House adjourned. On Monday, the 23d of December, the Congress adopted joint resolutions— ^'/'^-^, that a marble monument should be erected at the capitol ; second, that there should be " a funeral procession from Congress Hall to the German Luthei-an Church, in memory of General George Washington, on Thursday, the 2Gth instant," and that an oration be prepared at the rerpiest of Congress, to be delivered before both Houses that day ; and that the president cf the Senate, and the speaker of the House of Representatives, be desired to request one of the members of Congress to prepare and deliver the same; third, that the people of the United Srates should be recommended to wear crape on their left arm as mourning for thirty days ; /bf^/'/A, that the president of the United States should direct a copy of the resolutions to be transmitted to Mrs. "Washington, Avith Avords of condolence, and a request that her husband's remains might be interred at the capitol of the republic. On the 30th of December Congress further resolved, that it should be recommended to the people of the Union to assem- ble on the succeeding 22d of February, " to testily their grief by suitable eulogies, orations, and discourses, or by public prayers." 332 MOUNT VERNON GENlfiKAL HENRY LEE. In accordance with one of the fore_ii;oing resohitions, General Henry Lee, of Yirginia, then a member of Congress, was in- vited to pronounce an oration on the 26th. He consented, and the Lutheran Church in Fourth street, above Arch, in Phila- delphia, the largest in the city, was crowded on that occasion. No man in the Congress could have been chosen better fitted for the service than General Lee. He had served his country nobly as an officer of cavalry during the war for independence, and from boyhood had been a special favorite of Washington. He was a son of that "Lowland Beauty" who won the heart of young Washington, and drew sentimental verses from his pen. Throughout the war he was beloved by his chief for his manly and soldierly qualities, and he was an ever welcome guest at AND ITS ASSOCIATIO^'S. 333 Mount Vernon, wliere he was on terms of the greatest intimacy Avith Washington and his family. Mr. Irving gives tlie follow- ing example of Lee's perfect familiarity with his chief, when on a visit at Monnt Yernon after the war : " Washington one day at table mentioned his being in want of cari'iage-hoi-ses, and asked Lee if he knew where he could get a pair. " ' I have a fine pair, General,' replied Lee, ' but you cannot get them." "'Why not?' "'Because you will never pay more than half price for any thing ; and I must have full price for my horses.' "The bantering reply set Mrs. Washington laughing, and her parrot, perched beside her, joined in the laugh. The general took this familiar assault upon his dignity, in good j)ai t. ' Ah, Lee, you are a funny fellow,' he said — ' see, that bird is laughing at you.' " Lee's oration on the death of Washington, though hastily prepared, was an admirable production : and in it he pro- nounced those remarkable words of eulogy, so often quoted : " FIEST m WAK, FIEST IN PEACE, FIKST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN." On that occasion, the McPliersoii' s Blues^ a military corps 5 I'AGE Craik, Dr. James, mentioned in Washington's will 214 " called to attend Washington in his last illness 319 " portrait of 313 " short biographical sketch of 323 Craik, Rev. James, owns the secretary that belonged to Washington 214 Crayon profile of Washington 296 " of Mrs. Washington 297 Crest of Washington engraved upon his family plate 251 Cunningham, Miss Anna Pamela, regent of Mount Vernon 358 Cashing, wife of Judge, extract from a letter of, describing her visit at Mount Vern f, in relation to Washington's English coach 235 Mercer, Dr. Hugh, at Mount Vernon 93 Mifflin, Governor, meets Washington on the frontiers of I'ennsylvania 197 Military clothes of Washington, i)icture of 119 Miniature of Washington, by Mrs. Sharpless s 296 Miniature p,ortr.ait of Mrs. Washington, painted by Itobertson in 1T92 2()0 Mirror of Wasliingtou still at Mount Vernon S4S " picture of. 317 Monuments of several members of the W'ashington family on the east side of the tomb of the General S44 "Morning" and '"Evening" — landscapes painted for Washington, by Winstanley, now at Arlington House ,300 Morris, George P., his ode on Washington's sword and Franklin's staff 121 Morris, Gouverneur, stands to Houdon for the figure of Washington 165 " sends wine-coolers to Washington 249 Morris, Mrs., accompanies Mrs. Washington to New York 209 Morris, Robert, builds a studio for Pine the portrait painter 166 " house of, in Philadelphia, rented for Washington's residence 236 Morris, Roger, marries Mary Phillipse 45 " picture of his residence 46 " proscribed, as an " enemy to his country" 46 Mortar, bronze, that belonged to Cimon Washington in 1664, picture of 16 Mossom, Rev. David, unites Washington and Mrs. Custis in marriage 51 Mother of Washington, visited by him for the last time 194 Motier, a family name of Lafayette, assumed by his son in 1T95 290 Motto of the Washington family 16 Mount Vernon, the mansion at, built by Lawrence Washington 28 " style of living at, before the Revolution 61 " picture of present landing at 69 " changes in and around 92 little children at 110 " sorrow at, in 1781 112 " mansion at, and its«urroundings described 136 " mansion and other buildings at, found by the General much in want of repair, after his eight years' absence 299 '• hospitalities at, continued after the death of the General 336 " passes into the possession of Bushrod W.ashington, nephew of the General, on the death of Mrs. Washington 336 " becomes the property of John Augustine Washington in 1829 340 Mrs. Jane Washington mistress of, in 1 832 840 " few articles of the personal property of Washington remaining at 344 " articles that belonged to Washington, remaining at, in 1S57 346 " engravings that belonged to Washington still remaining at 349 " successive owners of, for one hundred and si.xteen years 355 " inconsiderate conduct of visitors at 355 " for many years falling into decay 355 " proposition to m'uke it a national possession 356 •' high price offered by speculators for, rejected 356 " the iiio\>crty ottho. Ladies' Jfotint Vernon Association 857 " the work of renovation and restoration commenced at 857 " moral associations connected with the name 85S Moustier, Count de, French minister, at Mount Vernon 184 Mural candelabra, used in Washington's dining-room at Philadelphia, plctnre of 301 372 INDEX. K, PAGE Necker, M., (lisinissed from his post as minister of finance, in France 219 " bust of, presontod to Washington 22'!' " inscriptions on bust of, presented to Washington 228 " picture of bust of Neclver, presented to Washington 229 Newport, Rhode Island, Washington malces a voyage to, for the benefit of his health 214 North, Lord, emotions of, on hearing of the defeat of Cornwallis llt> O. Oath of office administered to Washington in 1T93, by Judge Gushing 269 Occoquan Falls, mills at, destroyed by Lord Dunmore 105 Ode to Washington sung at Trenton 199 Ogden, Charles S., original study of Peale's first portrait of Washington, in possession of fc3 Olmutz, dungeon at, the prison of Lafayette for three years 289 Ora ion pronounced by General Henry Lee, on the occasion of the funeral of Washington. . 332 Otis, Mr., holds the Bible at Washington's inauguraiion 201 V. Packsaddle used by Washington on his expedition to the Ohio country in 1763, picture of. . . 89 Paine, Thomas, letter of to Washington respecting tlie key of the Baslile 222 " letter of to Washington respecting the success of " The Rights of Man" 262 " Washington shamefully abused by, in a published letter 2fi3 Patrick Henry's ojiinion of Washington 91 Patrick Henry, Washington heard the burning words of, in the Virginia Assembly 9" Peace, desire for in England 116 •' Washington's letter to Clinton on the subject of IIG Peale, Angelica, crowns Washington at Gray's Ferry in 1TS9 198 Peale, Charles W' illson, beginning of artist life of 80 paints Washington at Mount Vernon in 17T2 80 " portrait of 81 " fac-simile of his receipt for ten guineas for painting miniature of Mrs. Washington, 83 " ordered by Gov. Harrison to paint a portrait of Washington to make a statue from, 161 " emblematic paintings by, on the occasion of Washington's retirement from office.. 282 Peale, Kembrandt, his history of the Pitcher Portrait and the eulogy on the back of it 349 Pendleton, Ednmnd, at Mount Vernon on his way to the first Congress 88 Peters, Judge, meets Washington on the frontiers of Pennsylvania 197 Philadelphia the federal city for ten years 244 Phillipse, Mary, Washington in love with 45 " marries Koger Morris 45 " portrait of 5 Plnckney, Gov. Charles Cotesworth, receives Washington at the wharf in Charleston, in 1791, 255 " reply of, to the insulting proposition of the French Directory 307 " appointed second major-general of the Provisional Army 309 Pine, Robert Edge, an English painter, at Mount Vernon 165 " his portrait of Washington in Montreal 168 Pistols, Washington's, description and picture of 226 Pitcher Portrait, and eulogy of Washington on the back of it 849-354 Plan of the grounds at Mount Vernon 141,142 Plaster cast taken of the face of Washington 158 Plate, Washington's, picture of pieces of, at Arlington House 252 Pohick Church, Washington attends 73 rebuilding of, 73 " Washington's drawing of 73 " author's visit to 77 " picture of 78 " present condition of 79 " picture of pulpit 9 Precedents established for the President of the United States 205 Presence of Washington, remarkable sense of awe caused by 271 INDEX. 373 PAGE Presidential mansion at Philadcli)hia, picturo of 253 Profile portrait of Washington 29S Profile portrait of Mrs. Wiwliington 297 Protestant Episcopal Church, burial service of Washington according to the ritual of 327 Provisional Army, Washington ai)pointed commander-in-chief of, in view of the iiiiiHiiding war with France 303 " major-generals and other officers appointed by Washington ,.309 Punch-bowl, tea-table, and sideboard, picture of 8ll3 Putnam, Life of, written at Mount Vernon by Humphreys 1S2 Uandolph, Peyton, chosen president of first Congress Oil Uanney, letter of Washington to, in relation to his sending flag-stones. &c., from Kngland. . . 139 llawlins, Mr., one of Washington's overseers, sent for to bleed Washington in his last illness, 31S Reading of Washington at his second inauguration 272 Keceptions of Mrs. Washington 210 Receptions of Washington at New York and at Philadelphia 211, 212 Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, interesting corresjiondence of Wash- ington to be found in 812 Remains of Washington, account of the re-entombment of, in 1837 340-343 Resolution, important, passed by the first Congress 90 Retirement from office of Washington, extract from a newsiwper of the day, describing a public entertainment on the occasion of 2S2 Revolution, flames of, kindling, in 1773 S6 Revolution, involuntary tribute by ladies to the memory of . . i.'iS Revolution, French, bre.iking out of 2IS Ripon, Earl of, present owner of the English seat of the AVashington family I(i Rochambeau. Count dc, at Mount Vernon in 1781 106 " portrait of 107 Room in which Washington died, picture of. 324 Roosevelt, Mr., funeral of the wife of 205 Rush, Dr., remarks of, in relation to the seat of government 243 Rush, the late vener.able Richard, incident related by, illustrating the feelings of Washington toward Lafayette in misfortune 267 Sago palm at Mount Vernon 145 St. John's Lodge, in New York, in possession of the Bible used at Washington's inauguration, 203 Sarcophagi of Washington afld his wife, description of 342 Seal, impression of Washington's, attached to a death-warrant 17 Seal, impression of Washngton's last watch, picture of 2i 7 Seal-ring, picture of Washington's IT Seals, Washington's watch, lost on Braddock's field and in Virginia, and afterward found 17 •' pictures of 17 Secretary, Washington's, willed to Dr. Craik 214 '• picture of 215 Sharpless, James, his profile portraits of Washington and Mrs. Washington said to be the hest likenesses extant 29.t Sharpless, Mrs., beautiful miniature of Washington by 29r> Shield, silver, on Washinston's coftin, picture of 327 Sideboard, black walnut, that belonged to Lawrence Washington, now at Arlington House. 302 Silver candlestick. Washington's, picture of 308 Silver inkstand of Washington, description of .• 299 Sotomayer, Duke of, a n.ative of Philadelphia 276 Southern States, tour of Washington through, in 1791 2.M Spaniards, depredations of, on British commerce in the West Indies 'At Spy-glass, Washington's anecdote in connection with 224 " picture of .224 374 INDEX. TAI.E statuary, orders of Washinston for, from London 5S Statue, bronze, of Washington, ordered by Congress 157 '' to be made by the best sculptor in Europe |5S Statue of Washington, ordered by the legislature of Virginia 159 Steuben, Baron, at Washington's inauguration 202 Stockton, Anuis, assistance of, in honoring Washington at Trenton 199 Strickland, Mr., his description of the personal appearance of Major Lewis in 1887 341 Struthors, Mr. John, marble sarcophagi presented by, for the re-entombing of the remains of Washington and his wife, in 1837. . . " 340 Stuart, David, Washington wills his telescope and shaving apparatus to 35, 65 " marries the widow of John Parke Oustis 35 Stuart, Gilbert, painter of Eleanor Parke Custis 115 Style, old and new, how it originated 20 Summer-house at Mount Vernon, picture of 14S Sword and staff, Washington's and Franklin's, picture of, and ode by George P. Morris 121 Sword, Washington's, picture of 211 " will concerning 212 T. Table, particular description by Rev. Ashbel Greene of Washington's habits at 2S3 Tea-table, Washington's, now at Arlington house, description of. 302 Telescope, Washington's, in the possession of the -wile of Eev. A. B. Atkinson 35 " picture of 36 Telescope, Washington's pocket, presented to General Jackson 225 The Entry, a satire, published in I7S9 201 Thomson, Charles, secretary of Congress, carries to Washington at Mount Vei-non, a notice of his election to the presidency 192 " portrait of 193 Thornton, Dr., his plan for the capitol approved of by Washington 257 Threshing-machine, letter of Washington to General Henry Lee respecting one 273 Tomb of Washington broken into thirty years after his death 330 " description of 342-344 " picture of 343 Travelling writing-case, Washington's, picture of 125 Tray, Washington's silver, anecdote respecting 252 Trenton, triumphal arch at, in honor of Washington 199 Trunk, Washington's travelling, described 121 " picture of 122 Truro Parish, Washington a vestryman of 72 V. Van Braam, teaches Washington the art of fencing 86 Vases, porcelain, that belonged to Washington, picture of 174 Vaughan Samuel, presents a marble chimney-piece to Washington 171 Vault, the Washington family, site of a proposed new one Indicated to Major Lewis by Washington, a few days before his death 315 V.au'.t, the Washington family, directions left in the General's will concerning 329 Vault, old, of the Washington family, picture of 380 Vernon, Admiral, commander-in-chief of the English navy in the West Indies 25 " portrait of 26 " medal in commemoration of his capture of Porto Bello, preserved .at Mount Vernon 27 Virginia, address of legislature of, to Washington 160 " legislature of, vote a statue of Washington 159 Von Berckel, copy of an allegorical picture painted by the wife of 186 Vulcan, a French hound, anecdote of 171 W. W.alker, Colonel, aide to Baron Steuben, takes a letter to Gov. Clinton from Mount Vernon, 118 Wallace, words of, brought to memory of the author, while occupied in sketching the death- chamber of Washington 326 IXDEX. 375 PACE Warvillo, Brissot mnnH) ill II iiiii 1 1 'i III III il n III f 1 1 1 il 111 il ill ill IIIII lilliil 1 i 1 00118391123 ^1 i 1 1 1 1 1 ■ ■ ■ 'samimnmum iiiiiir ill intti,f\tLnttitiMm M^.