I saw his countenance change. I spoke to Dr. Craik, who sat by the fire. He came to the 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, December fourteenth, 1799, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, after an illness of twenty-four hours.

While we were fixed in silent grief, Mrs. Washington, who was sitting at the foot of the bed, asked with a firm and collected 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."

The disease of which Washington died was what is now technically called “acute laryngitis," a disease of very rare occur

rence.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, AS COLONEL.

About twelve o'clock, the body was carried down stairs, and laid out in the large drawing-room; the burial taking place the next Wednesday, December 18th, his mortal remains being deposited in the family vault at Mount Vernon. The sudden tidings of his death fell like a domestic sorrow upon the hearts of the people; lamentations and solemn obsequies filled the land, and, throughout the whole world, the event was heard with the deepest emotion.

Nearly forty years after Washington's

death and burial, his remains, together with those of his wife, were re-entombed, in order to their being placed in the marble coffins which had been generously offered for that purpose by a patriotic citizen of Philadelphia, to the legal representatives of the departed chieftain. This was in 1837. At the time of Washington's interment, December 18, 1799, hist body was placed in a mahogany coffin lined with lead, soldered at the joints, with a cover of lead to be soldered on after the body should be in the vault. The coffin was put into a case, lined and covered with black cloth.

On entering the tomb and examining the coffin, on the occasion in question, it was found that the lid had become displaced and broken, and the silver shield which had originally surmounted the lid had dropped down into the case. At the request of Major Lewis, who was one of the family group to witness the re-entombment, the fractured part of the lid was turned over on the lower part, exposing to view a head and breast of large dimensions, which appeared, by the dim light of the candles, to have suffered but little from the effects of time. The eye-sockets were large and deep, and the breadth across the temples, together with the forehead, appeared of unusual size. There was no appearance of grave-clothes; the chest was broad, the color was dark, and there was the appearance of dried flesh and skin adhering closely to the bones.

The ancient family vault, in which Washington's remains first reposed, was situated under the shade of a small grove of forest trees, a short distance from the family mansion of Mount Vernon, and near the brow of the precipitous bank of the Potomac. Diminutive and unadorned, this humble sepulchre stood in a most romantic and picturesque spot, and, on account of its prominent locality, could be distinctly seen by travelers, as they passed in steamboats up and down the river.

But the ashes of the father of his country were in course of time removed from that place, to a lot near the corner of a

beautiful enclosure, where the river is concealed from view. This site was selected by Washington himself, in the later years of his life, for a tomb.

It is scarcely necessary to cite the opinions held by the illustrious men of America concerning Washington. Those opinions, held and shared by all, from the highest to the humblest citizen, may all be summed up in that grand apotheosis of eulogy, namely, that he was "FIRST IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE, FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN." It will be of interest, however, in this place, to glance at the estimate of Washington held by some of the great historic characters of the old world,-kings, queens, nobles, and orators.

When Napoleon was about to embark for Egypt, some American gentlemen who happened to be at Toulon, being anxious for an interview with the mighty Corsican, obtained an introduction to him. Scarcely were the customary salutations. exchanged, when he eagerly asked

"How fares your countryman, the great Washington?"

"He was very well, general, when we left America," replied the travelers.

"Ah, gentlemen," rejoined the man of destiny, "Washington can never be other wise than well. The measure of his fame

GEORGE WASHINGTON, GENERAL U. S. A.

is full. Posterity will talk of him with reverence as the founder of a great empire, when my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolutions."

Marie Antoinette, queen of France, was

Mashington

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ス

gift in token of her appreciation of his great merits, she consulted Lafayette as to the form of presentation, citing the terms used on similar occasions, in addressing kings and other monarchs. Lafayette mildly objected to those terms, as being not altogether suitable in the present case, saying: "They, madam, were only kings. Washington is the General of a free nation," —a sentiment to which the gentlemannered queen at once yielded a most gracious assent, in deference to the acknowledged pre-eminence of Washington.

Lord Erskine, in writing to Washington from London, said: "I have taken the liberty to introduce your august and immortal name in a short sentence, which is to be found in a book I send you. I have a large acquaintance among the most valuable and exalted classes of men; but you are the only human being for whom I have ever felt an awful reverence. I sincerely pray God to grant you a long and serene evening to a life so gloriously devoted to the universal happiness of the world."

In the year 1780, Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, presented General Washington with a picture of his majesty taken to the life, and inscribed underneath with the words

"From the oldest general in Europe, to the greatest general on earth."

Charles James Fox, the renowned British premier, declared of Washington, in the presence of parliament: "How infinitely wiser must appear the spirit and principles manifested in his late addresses to congress than the policy of modern European courts! Illustrious man! deriving honor less from the splendor of his situa tion than from the dignity of his mind; before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance, and all the potentates. of Europe-excepting the members of our own royal family-become little and contemptible. I can not, indeed, help admiring the wisdom and fortune of this great. man. A character, of virtues so happily tempered by one another, and so wholly unalloyed by any vices, is hardly to be found on the pages of history. For him it has been reserved to run the race of glory, without experiencing the smallest interruption to the brilliancy of his career."

When the news of Washington's death reached France, Napoleon announced the event to his army, and ordered black crape to be suspended from all the flags and standards in the French service for ten days; and, on the eighth of February, 1800, M. DeFontanes, by direction of Napoleon, pronounced a funeral oration in honor of Washington, in the presence of Bonaparte and the great dignitaries of the realm, in which oration the illustrious deceased was declared to be "a character worthy the best days of antiquity."

Of Washington's personal appearance, little further need be remarked than that it comported entirely with the solid grandeur of his character. In respect to physique, no man could have been better formed for command. A stature somewhat exceeding six feet, a full but admirably-proportioned frame, calculated to sustain fatigue, without that heaviness

class the lips firm, and the under jaw seeming to grasp the upper with force, as if its muscles were in full action when he sat still. It was Washington's habit to fasten his eyes calmly and steadily upon those who were ushered into his presence, whether friend or foe, nor was it a slight ordeal thus to meet his penetrating gaze. His limbs were long, large, and sinewy, and his frame was of equal breadth from the shoulders to the hips; his joints were large, as were also his feet, and the great size of his hand never failed to attract attention. His gait and tread was that of a practiced soldier; his deportment invariably grave and reserved; his speech sparing and deliberate. At home he wore the usual dress of a citizen; on state occasions, he dressed in a full suit of the richest black velvet, with diamond kneebuckles, and square silver buckles set

upon shoes japanned with the most scrupulous neatness, black silk stockings, his shirt ruffled at the breast and wrists, a light dress sword, his hair profusely powdered, fully dressed, so as to project at the sides, and gathered behind in a silk bag,

ornamented with a large rose of black ribbon. In the prime of life, Washington stood six feet two inches, and weighed nearly two hundred and twenty pounds; he measured precisely six feet when attired for the grave.