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.

422 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [AvPErvNDx.
of William Fairfax, and a relative of Lord Fairfax, he changed his
mind, and resolved to abandon the army. Meantime his father died,
April 12th, 1743, leaving him, as the eldest son then living, in charge
of his estate and family. He had already obtained the post of adjutant, a colonial appointment of some consideration, from which he
derived the rank of major, and the more substantial remuneration of
one hundred and fifty pounds a year. When the officers of his regiment obtained a grant of half-pay in England, he declined receiving
it, on the ground that he could not conscientiously take the oath required, while he held the adjutancy in Virginia. He inherited an
estate on the banks of the Potomac, which he called Mount Vernon,
in hondr of Admiral Vernon, and here he resided during the remainder of his life. His time was chiefly devoted to his private affairs, as the duties of his adjutancy were only occasional and at stated
periods. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and
likewise a principal agent in forming the Ohio Company.
Naturally of a delicate constitution, his health began to decline
soon after his return from the military expedition to the West Indies,
till at length it was assailed by a consumption, which made rapid
and fatal ravages. By the advice of his physicians he went to England, hoping to derive benefit from the voyage, but he returned in
a few months without essential relief. For the same object he passed
a summer, but with little advantage, at the Bath Springs, in Virginia,
then surrounded by a wilderness. A voyage to the West Indies
was the last remedy, and he sailed for Barbadoes on the 28th of September, 1751, and arrived there about the 3d of November. His
brother George, to whom he was much attached, accompanied him
on this voyage. A few weeks after his arrival in Barbadoes, he
wrote as follows to Lord Fairfax.
"This climate has not afforded the relief I expected from it, so
that I have almost determined to try the Bermudas on my return,
and, if it does not do, the dry air of Frederic. This is the finest
island of the West Indies, but I own no place can please me without
a change of seasons. We soon tire of the same prospect. Our
bodies are too much relaxed, and require a winter to brace them up.
However, some of the country gentlemen look well, and live to a reasonable age. We have no kind of bodily diversions but dancing,
which frequently produces yellow fever. I am obliged to ride out by
the firstt dawn of the day, for by the time the sun is half an hour
high, it is as hot as at any time of the day. The gentlemen are
very polite and hospitable."
Having spent the winter at Barbadoes, he went to Bermuda in