ago; in confequence whereof an annuity of fifty pounds has fince been paid towards the fupport of this inAtitution.

Item.-Whereas by a law of the commonwealth of Virginia, enacted in the year 1785, the Legislature thereof was pleafed, as an evidence of its approbation of the fervices I had rendered the public during the Revolution, and partly, I believe, in confideration of my having suggested the vaft advantages which the community would derive from the extenfion of its inland navigation, under Legislative patronage, to present me with one hundred shares, of one hundred dollars each, in the incorporated company established for the purpofe of extending the navigation of James River, from Tidewater to the mountains; and alfo with fifty fhares, of one hundred pounds fter ling each, in the corporation of another company, likewise established for the fimilar purpofe of opening the navigation of the River Potomac, from Tidewater to Fort Cumber land; the acceptance of which, tho' the offer was highly honourable and grateful to my feelings, was refufed, as inconfiftent with a principle which I had adopted, and never departed from, namely, not to receive pecupiary compenfation for any fervices I could render my country in its arduous ftruggle with Great Britain for its rights, and because I had evaded fimilar propofitions from other States in the Union. Adding to this refufal, however, an intimation, that, if it should be the pleasure of the Legislature to permit me to appropriate the faid fhares to public ufes, I would receive them on thofe terms with due fenfibility; and this it having confented to in flattering terms, as will appear by a fubfequent law, and fundry refolutions, in the moft ample and honourable manner; I proceed, after this recital, for the more correct understanding of the

cafe, to declare that it has always been a fource of ferious regret with me to fee the Youth of thefe United States fent to Foreign Countries for the purpofe of Education, often before their minds were formed, or they had imbibed any adequate ideas of the happiness of their own, contracting too frequently not only ha bits of diffipation and extravagance, but principles unfriendly to Republican Government, and to the true and genuine Liberties of Mankind, which thereafter are rarely overcome-For these reasons, it has been my ardent wish to fee a plan devised on a liberal scale, which would have a tendency to spread fyftematic ideas through all parts of this rifing Empire, thereby to do away local attachments and ftale prejudices as far as the nature of things would, or indeed ought, to admit from our National Councils. Looking anxiously forward to the accomplishment of so defirable an object as this is (in my eftimation,) my mind has not been able to contemplate any plan more likely to effect the measure than to establish a Univerfity in a central part of the United States, to which the youths of for tune and talents, from all parts thereof, might be fent for the completion of their Education in all the branches of polite Literature, in Arts and Sciences, in acquiring knowledge in the principles of Politics and good Government, and (as a matter of infinite importance in my judgement,) by affociating with each other, and forming friendship in juvenile years, be enabled to free themselves, in a proper degree from thofe local prejudices and habitual jealoufies which have juft been mentioned, and which, when carried to excefs, are never. failing fources of difquietude to the public mind, and pregnant with mifchievous confequences to this Country: under thefe impreffions fo fully dilated,

Item, I give and bequeath, in perpetuity,

petuity, the 50 fhares I hold in the Potomac Company (under the afore. faid acts of the Legislature of Virginia,) towards the endowment of an Univerfity to be established within the limits of the district of Columbia, under the aufpices of the General Government, if that Government fhould incline to extend a fostering hand towards it; and until fuch feminary is established, and the funds arifing in thofe fhares fhall be required for its fupport, my further will and defire is, that the profit accruing therefrom fhall, whenever the dividends are made, be laid out in purchasing stock in the Bank of Columbia, or fome other Bank, at the difcretion of my Executors, or by the Treasurer of the United States for the time being, under the direction of Congress, provided that honourable body fhould patronife the measure; and the dividends proceed. ing from the purchase of such a stock are to be vefted in more flock, and fo on until a fum adequate to the accomplishment of the object is ob tained; of which I have not the smallest doubt before many years pafs away, even if no aid or encouragement be given by Legislative authority, or from any other fource,

Item.-The hundred fhares which I hold in James River Company, I have given, and now confirm in perpetuity to and for the use of Liberty Hall Academy, in the county of Rockbridge, in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Item.I release, exonerate, and discharge the eftate of my deceased brother Samuel Washington, from the payment of the money which is due to me for the land I fold to P. Pendleton, (lying in the county of Berkeley), who affigned the fame to him the faid Samuel, and his fon Thornton Washington: the latter became poffeffed of the aforefaid land without any conveyance having paffed from me, either to the faid Pendle

ton, the faid Samuel, or the faid Thornton, and without any confideration having been made, by which neglect neither the legal nor equitable title has been alienated it rests therefore with me to declare my intentions concerning the premises; and thefe are to give and bequeath the faid land to whomfoever the faid Thornton Washington (who is also dead) deviled the fame, or to his heirs for ever, if he died inteftate; exonerating the eftate of the faid Thornton, equally with that of the faid Samuel, from payment of the purchase money, which, with intereft, agreeably to the original contract with the faid P. Pendleton, would amount to more than a thoufand pounds. And whereas two other fons of my faid deceased brother Samuel, viz. George Steptoe Washington, and Lawrence Auguftine Washington, were, by the decease of thofe to whofe care they were committed, brought under my protection, and, in confequence, have occafioned advances on my part for their educa tion at college and other schools, for their board, cloathing, and other incidental expences, to the amount of near five thousand dollars, over and above the fums furnished by their eftate, which fum it may be inconvenient for them or their father's eftate to refund; I do, for thefe reafons, acquit them and the faid estate from the payment thereof, my intention being, that all accounts between them and me, and their father's eftate and me, fhall stand balanced.

Item.-The balance due to me from the estate of Bartholomew Dandridge, deceased, (my wife's brother), and which amounted on the first day of October 1795, to four hundred and twenty-five pounds (as will appear by an account rendered by his deceafed fon, John Dandridge, who was the acting executor of his father's will), I releafe and acquit from the payment thereof; and the

negroes

negroes (then thirty-three in number) formerly belonging to the faid eftate, who were taken in execution, fold and purchafed in on my account, in the year (blank), and ever fince have remained in the poffeffion, and to the ufe of Mary, widow of the faid Bartholomew Dandridge, with their encrease, it is my will and defire, thall continue to be in her pof feffion, without paying hire, or making compenfation for the fame, for the time paft or to come, during her natural life, at the expiration of which, I direct that all of them, who are forty years old and upwards, fhall receive their freedom; all under that age, and above fixteen, fhall ferve feven years, and no longer; and all under fixteen years fhall ferve until they are twenty-five years of age, and then to be free; and to avoid difputes refpecting the ages of any of thofe negroes, they are to be taken into the Court of the county in which they refide, and the judgment thereof, in this relation, fhall be final, and recod thereof made, which may be adduced as evidence at any time thereafter, if disputes fhould arife concerning the fame; and I further direct that the heirs of the faid Bar tholomew Dandridge fhall equally share the benefits arising from the fervice of the faid negroes, according to the tenor of this devife, upon the deceafe of their mother.

Item.-If Charles Carter, who intermarried with my niece, Betty Lewis, is not fufficiently fecured in the title to the lots he had of me, in the town of Fredericksburg, it is my will and defire that my Executors fhall make fuch conveyance of them as the law requires, to render it perfett.

Item-To my nephew, William Auguftine Washington (if he should conceive them to be objects worth profecuting), and to his heirs, a lot in the town of Manchefter, oppofite to Richmond, No. 265, drawn on my

fole account, and also the tenth of one or two hundred acre lots, and two or three half acre lots, in the city and vicinity of Richmond, drawn in partnership with nine others, all in the lottery of the deceafed William Byrd, are given; as is also a lot which I purchased of John Hood, conveyed by William Willie and Samuel Gordon, trustees of the faid John Hood, numbered 139, in the town of Einburgh, in the county of Prince George, ftate of Virginia,

Item. To my nephew, Bushrod Washington, I give and bequeath all the papers in my poffeffion, which relate to my civil and military adminiftration of the affairs of this coun try-I leave to him alfo fuch of my private papers as are worth prefer ving; and at the decease of my wife, and before, if the is not inclined to retain them, I give and bequeath my library of books and pamphlets of every kind.

Item. To the Earl of Buchan I re-commit "the box made of the oak that sheltered the great Sir William Wallace, after the battle of Falkirk;" prefented to me by his Lordfhip, in terms too flattering for me to repeat, with a request, "to pass it, on the event of my decease, to the man in my country who should ap pear to merit it beft, upon the fame conditions that have induced him to fend it to me." Whether it be easy or not to felect the man who might comport with nis Lordship's opinion in this refpect, is not for me to fay; but conceiving that no difpofition of this valuable curiofity can be more eligible than the re-commitment of it to his own cabinet, agreeably to the original defign of the Goldsmiths' Company of Edinburgh, who prefented it to him; an i, at his requeft, confented that it fhout be transferred to me-I do give and be queath the fame to his Lord; and, in cafe of his decease, to is heir, with my grateful thanks for the

diftin

diftinguished honour of prefenting it to me, and more especially for the favourable fentiments with which he accompanied it.

Item.To my brother Charles Washington, I give and bequeath the gold-headed cane left me by Dr. Franklin, in his will. I add nothing to it, becaufe of the ample provifion I have made for his iffue. To the acquaintances and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert Washington, of Chotauck, I give my other two gold. headed canes, having my arms engraved on them; and to each (as they will be useful where they live) I leave one of the fpy glaffes, which conftituted part of my equipage dur ing the late war. To my compatriot in arms, and old intimate friend, Dr. Craik, I give my bureau; or, as the cabinet-makers call it, tambour fecretary, and the circular chair, an appendage to my ftudy. To Dr. D. Stuart, I give my large fhaving and dreffing-table, and my telefcope. To the Reverend, now Bryan Lord Fairfax, I give a bible, in three large folio volumes, with notes, prefented to me by the Right Reverend Thomas Wilfon, Bishop of Sodor and Man. To General de la Fayette, I give a pair of finely wrought fteel piftols, taken from the enemy in the revolutionary war. To my fifters-inlaw, Hannah Washington and Mildred Washington, to my friends Elea nor Stuart, Hannah Washington, of Fairfield, I give each, a mourning

ring, of the value of one hundred dollars. -Thefe bequefts are not made for the intrinfic value of them, but as mementos of my efteem and regard. To Tobias Lear, I give the ufe of the farm which he now holds, in virtue of a leafe from me to him and his deceased wife (for and during their natural lives), free from rent during his life; at the expiration of which, it is to be difpofed of as is herein after directed. To Sally B. Haym, a distant relation of mine, I give and bequeath three hundred dollars.

To Sarah Green daughter of the deceafed Thomas Bishop, and to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton, alfo deceafed, I give each one hundred dollars, in confideration of the attachment of their fathers to me, each of whom having lived nearly forty years in my family. To each of my nephews, William Auguftine Washington, George Lewis, George Steptoe Wafbington, Bushrod Wahington, and Samuel Washington, I give one of the fwords or cutfeaux, of which I may die poffeffed; and they are to choose in the order they are named. Thefe fwords are accompanied with an injunction not to unfheath them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defence, or in defence of their country and its rights; and, in the latter cafe, to keep them unfheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to, the relinquishment thereof.

(To be concluded in our next.)

August 30. } M2

R William Lyttel$ 1746. ton and Mr Thomfon, Author of the Seafons, found me reading a pamphlet in one of my

niches at the Leafowes. Mr Lyttelton introduced his friend by faying he had undertaken to fhew that gentleman all the beauties of the coun

try,

144.)

try, and thought he could not com. plete his promife without giving him a view of my fituation. Thomfon burft out in praise of it, and appeared particularly truck with the valley and brook by which he had paffed, as they came the foot-way from Hales Owen. After fome little stay in the houfe, we paffed into the green behind the house. Thomfon wifhed the garden to be extended, fo as to include the valley on the left hand; not confidering that I meant no regular garden, but to embellish my whole farm. The French, it appears, have their Harque ornèe; and why is not Perme ornée as good an expref. fion? He was much pleafed upon ob ferving how finely the back landskip was bounded. I took him to a feat near my upper pool, where he immediately mentioned Farmer's Hill as the principal beauty of the place. He feemed pleafed alfo with the ftudy on the bank of the water, fince removed. As we were returning, Mr L. told me, "that I might not perhaps know that gentleman, tho' he was affured I was perfectly well acquainted with him in his writings. That is was Mr Thomfon." My behaviour was a little awkward, and better calculated to exprefs the fatis faction I took in the honour he did me, than to give him any idea either of my understanding or politenefs. Neing limited in point of time, and

cious of an hare upon the fpit at Hagley, he could not tay to fee my

upper

pod: "You have nothing to do (fays he) but to drefs Nature. Her robe is ready made; you have only to cefs her; love her; kifs her; and the-descend into the vallev." Coming out into the court before the houfe, he mentioned Clent and Waw.ton Hill as the two bubbies of Nature: then Mr L. obferved the nipple, and then Thomfon the fringe of Uph more wood; till the double entendre was work'd up to a point, and produced a laugh. Thom

fon obferved the little stream running across my gate, and hinted that he fhould avail himself of that alfo. We now paffed into Virgil's Grove. What a delightful place, fays he, is this for a perfon of a poetical genius. I don't. wonder you're devotee to the Mufes.-This place, fays Mr L. will improve a poetical genius.-Aye, replied Mr T. and a poetical genius will improve this place. I fhould think of nothing farther. Your fituation detains us beyond the time appointed. How very valuable were this ftream at Hagley-I told him my then intention of building a model of Virgil's Tomb; which, with the Obelisk and a number of mottoes felected from Virgil, together with the penfive idea belonging to the place, might vindicate, or at least countenance, the appellation I had given it. Thomfon affented to my. notion of taste in gardening (that of contracting Nature's beauties, altho he fomewhat mifquoted me, and did not understand the drift of my expreffion. Collecting, or collecting into a fmaller compass, and then difpofing without crowding the several varieties of Nature, were perhaps a better account of it, than either was expreffed by his phrafe or mine.) He denominated my Virgil's Grove there Le Vallon occlus. Sombre, fays Mr L. No, not fombre occlus.

This mut evidently be the idea of Petrarch's Valclufa. He recommended a walk up that valley from Virgil's Grove. Mr Pitt (the Secretary) had done the fame before. He was withing at my Upper Pond to turn the water into a running ftream. I mentioned the inconvenience; to obviate which, he propofed a bridge. I went with him to Hale's Mills. Thomfon asked if I had feen many places laid out in the modern way?-No.-Afked if I had feen Chifwick?-Yes.--He mentioned it as a fublime thing in the true Venetian tafte. He fuppofed me to

come