The blinds afforded shelter from the storm while allowing ventilation. The coach was lined with bright black leather; and the driver's seat was trimmed with the same.

were wood, and the curved

reaches iron.

Upon the door Washington's arms were handsomely emblazoned, having scroll ornaments issuing from the space between the shield and the crest; and below was a ribbon with his motto upon it.

EXITUS ACT

The axles

Upon each of the four panels of the coach was an allegorical picture, emblematic of one of the seasons. 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.

EMBLAZONING ON WASHINGTON'S COACH.

These were beautifully painted

Washington and his family travelled from Elizabethtown to Philadelphia in this coach when on their way from New York to Mount Vernon, in the early autumn of 1789. Dunn, his driver, appears to have been quite incompetent to manage the six horses with which 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

PICTURE ON A PANEL OF WASHINGTON'S COACH.

was employed. In a letter to Mr. Lear, written at a tavern 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."

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. Clarke built the coach in England, came over with it and another precisely like it (which was imported by Mrs. Powell, of Philadelphia), and settled in business in that city.

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 his 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 remain 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 effects of the general were sold, after Mrs. Washington's death; and it finally became the property of the Right Reverend William Meade, now Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia. Of this vehicle, the bishop thus writes:

"His old English coach, in which himself and Mrs. Washington not only rode in Fairfax county, but travelled through the entire length and breadth of the land, was so faithfully executed, that at the conclusion of that long journey, its builder, who came over with it, and settled in Alexandria, was

proud to be told by 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 my 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 who 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 snuffboxes. About two-thirds of one of the wheels thus produced 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 Vernon, during the recess, Washington wrote 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 south 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 Churches, Ministers, and Families in Virginia, II, 237.

small to accommodate his household as he could wish, even with an addition that was to be made. "There are good stables," he said, "but for twelve horses only, and a coachhouse which will hold all my carriages." There was a fine garden, well enclosed by a brick wall, attached to the mansion.

The state legislature, had, at about the same time, appropriated a fine building for his use on South Ninth street, on the grounds now covered by the University. But he declined accepting it, because he would not live in a house hired and furnished 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 support of his personal establishment. The question of the permanent 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. Washington 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 mansion 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 November his secretary was unsuccessful in his inquiries, though they were repeatedly made. Washington was unwilling to go into it, without first knowing what rent he had to pay. “Mr. Morris, has most assuredly," he said, "formed an idea