the 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 only the name of

NECKER.

Upon the upper plate on the pedestal are the words:

QUI NOBIS RESTITUIT REM.

Upon the second or lower plate is inscribed:

PRESENTED TO

GEORGE WASHINGTON,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

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, became 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 guillotine, on the 29th of April, 1793.

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 him, together with a number of prints of Necker and Lafayette.

Upon another bracket in the library at Mount Vernon, not far from the little head of Necker, is a full-size bust of Lafayette, a copy of the one in the capitol at Richmond made by Houdon, by order of the legislature of the state of Virginia, in 1786, which was executed under the direction of Mr. Jefferson, then American minister in Paris. The legisla

ture of Virginia also ordered a copy to be made and presented to the city of Paris. This fact was made known to the authorities there, by Mr. Jefferson, in the following words:

"The 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. This intention of erecting a monument to his virtues, and to the sentiments with which he has inspired them, in the country to which they are

indebted for his birth, 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 the

execution of this resolution, I have the honor to solicit the Prévot des Marchands and municipality of Paris to accept the bust of this brave officer, and give it a situation where it may continually awaken the admiration and witness the respect of the allies of France.

'Dated [at Paris] 17th September, 1786."

"THOS. JEFFERSON.

The Prévot soon received a letter from the Baron de Bre 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

city. The council accordingly assembled on the 28th of September, and Mr. Short, of Virginia, representing Mr. Jefferson (who was confined to his room by illness), went to the Hotel de Ville 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 Prévot des Marchands, 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 Cincinnatus, 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 Ville, 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 New York to assume the duties of the presidency, Washington imported a fine coach from England, 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 generally drawn by four, and sometimes by six fine bay horses. The first mention of a coach, in his diary, in which he evidently refers to this imported one, is under the date of December 12, 1789, where he records as follows:

"Exercised in the coach with Mrs. Washington and the two children (Master and Miss Custis) between breakfast and dinner-went the fourteen miles round."

Previous to this he

mentions exercising in "a coach" (probably a hired one), and in "the post-chaise"-the vehicle in which he travelled from Mount Vernon to New York.

This coach was one of the best of its kind, heavy and substantial. 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 part, as well as the front and rear, were furnished with neat green Venetian blinds, and the remainder was enclosed with black leather curtains. The latter might be raised so as to make the coach quite open in fine weather.