that pleasant home on the banks of the Potomac! It was a Christmas to be specially remembered by the retired soldier. It was a day long hoped for by him when engaged in the mighty labors of his official station. Rest, rest he 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 suspended. 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 determined 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, until 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 beginning to experience that ease and freedom from public cares, which, however desirable, takes some time to realize; for strange as it may scem, 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; ard of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things in

my mind, that I was no longer a public man, nor had 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-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling."

Never had a traveller more cause for serenity of mind and perfect gratitude, in the hour of calm retrospection, than 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 Vernon. 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 your home; for your own doors do not open to you with more

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. Te 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. The 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 the size of the pres ent building, and in the alteration, it was made to occupy the

central portion, the two ends having been built at the same time. The mansion, when completed by General Washington, (and as it now appears) was of the most substantial framework, 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 the centre of the roof is an observatory with a small spire. There 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. The 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 breakfast-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 their present appearance and uses we will consider elsewhere.

Near the mansion, a substantial kitchen on one side, and store-room and laundry on the other, were built, and these were connected with the dwelling by very neat open colonnades, each with roof and pavement; and, at a little distance from them, two other strong buildings were erected for house

servants' quarters. The mansion, the kitchen and store-house, with the connecting colonnades, and the servants' quarters, all remain, and exhibit the same external appearance which they bore when Washington left them. These may be best seen from the lawn that spreads out before the western front of the mansion, 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 Washington was his own architect, and drew every plan and specification for the workmen with his own hand. Every measurement