The death of her husband, so sudden and unexpected, weighed heavily upon the mind and heart of Mrs. Washington for a time, but her natural cheerfulness of disposition and habitual obedience to the will of God manifested in his dispensations, healed the wound and supported her burdened spirit. She received many letters and visits of condolence. The president of the United States and his wife (Mr. and Mrs. Adams) visited Mount Vernon for the purpose, and so also did many distinguished citizens. From every part of the land came testimonials of respect and veneration for the dead; and from beyond the Atlantic she received gratifying evidences of the profound esteem in which her beloved husband was held. On hearing of his death, Lord Bridport, who was in command of a British fleet of almost sixty sail, at Torbay, ordered every ship to lower her flag to half-mast; and Bonaparte, then First

Consul of France, announced his death to his army, and ordered black crape to be suspended from all the flags and standards in the French service for ten days.

The domestic establishment at Mount Vernon was kept up after the death of the General, upon the same liberal scale of hospitality that marked it during his lifetime; and scores of pilgrims to the tomb of the Hero, Patriot and Sage, were entertained by the widow. But her prediction at the death-bed of her husband-"I shall soon follow him"-did not remain long unfulfilled. Two years and a half afterward, her body was laid in a leaden coffin by his side, in the vault. She died of a bilious fever, on the 22d of May, 1802; and the estate of Mount Vernon passed into the possession of the General's nephew, pursuant to the following clause in his will :

"To my nephew, Bushrod Washington, and his heirs (partly in consideration of an intimation made to his deceased father, while we were bachelors, and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my estate during my military service in the former war between Great Britain and France, that if I should fall therein, Mount Vernon, then less extensive in domain than at present, should become his property), I give and bequeath all that part thereof which is comprehended within the following limits: [here the boundaries are specified] containing upward of four thousand acres, be the same more or less, together with the mansion house, and all other buildings and improvements thereon." He also bequeathed to Bushrod his "library of books and pamphlets," and all of his papers.

This principal heir of Washington (who had no children) was a son of the General's brother, George Augustine, and was at that time about forty years of age. Two years before

Washington's death, President Adams had appointed Bushrod to the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and he performed the duties of his exalted station with eminent ability until his death, thirty-two years afterward.

Judge Washington took possession of the Mount Vernon estate, immediately after the death of Mrs. Washington. Among the slaves that belonged to him, and who were taken to Mount Vernon at that time, only one is living. Although set free by never left the estate,

the will of his master in 1829, he has but remains a resident there, where he is regarded as a patriarch. I saw him when I last visited Mount Vernon, in the autumn of 1858, and received from his lips many interesting reminiscences of the place and its surroundings.

Just at evening, when returning from a stroll to the ancient entrance to Mount Vernon, I found WestFord (the name of the patriarch) engaged at the shop, near the conservatory, making a plough. He is a mulatto, very intelligent and communicative; and I enjoyed a pleasant and profitable half-hour's conversation with him. He came to Mount Vernon in August, 1802, and when I saw him he was in the seventy-second year of his age.

WestFord well knew Billy, Washington's favorite servant during the war for independence. Billy, with all of his fellow

slaves, was made free by his master's will; and he received a liberal pension and a residence for life at Mount Vernon. His means for luxurious living had a bad effect upon him, and Billy became a bon-vivant. Delirium tremens finally seized him, with its terrors. Occasionally WestFord sometimes relieved him of the paroxysms by bleeding. One morning, a little more than thirty years ago, he was sent for to bleed Billy. The blood would not flow. Billy was dead, and the last but one of Washington's favorite servants passed from earth forever. The other (a woman) died at Arlington House a few years ago, where I saw her one evening at family worship.

I left WestFord at his plough-making, with an engagement to meet him the next morning before breakfast, for the purpose of delineating a pencil sketch of his features. I found him prepared, having on a black satin vest, a silk cravat, and his curly gray hair arranged in the best manner, "For," he said, "the artists make colored folks look bad enough anyhow." When my sketch was finished, he wrote his name under it with my pencil.

While Judge Washington was living, Lafayette came to America as the guest of the nation, and after a lapse of fifty years, he again visited Mount Vernon, the home of his dear friend. For more than twenty-five years the mortal remains of that friend had been lying in the tomb, yet the memory of his love was as fresh in the heart of the marquis, as when, in November, 1784, they parted, to see each other on earth no

more.

On that occasion Lafayette was presented with a most touching memorial of the man whom he delighted to call "father." The adopted son of that father, the late Mr. Custis,