The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

AET. 52.] LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 413
States, and in November he arrived at Richmond in
Virginia. Washington met him at that place, where
they were both received with public honors by the
legislature then in session. They returned together
to Mount Vernon; and, when Lafayette's visit was concluded, Washington accompanied him on his way to
Annapolis. In a letter to Lafayette's wife he said;
"We restore the Marquis to you in good health, crowned with wreaths of love and respect from every part
of the Union." The parting of the two friends was
affecting, and showed the strength of the ties by
which they were united. As soon as he reached
home, Washington wrote to him as follows. "In the
moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect, and attachment for you, with which length of
years, close connexion, and your merits have inspired
me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated,
whether that was the last sight I ever should have of
you? And, though I wished to say No, my fears answered Yes. I called to mind the days of my youth,
and found they had long since fled to return no more;
that I was now descending the hill I had been fiftytwo years climbing, and that, though I was blest with
a good constitution, I was of a short-lived family, and
might soon expect to be entombed in the mansion of
my fathers. These thoughts darkened the shades, and
gave a gloom to the picture, and consequently to my
prospect of seeing you again." This melancholy presage was fulfilled. They never met afterwards. But
their attachment remained indissoluble, and Washington lived to sympathize in the misfortunes of his friend,
and to have the consolation of using all the means in
his power to rescue him from the sufferings he so
long endured in a cruel imprisonment.
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