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. 57.] LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 449
however, he was seized with a violent malady, which
reduced him very low, and which for a few days was
-thought to endanger his life. He was confined six
weeks to his bed, and it was more than twelve before
his strength was restored. A constitution naturally
strong, and the attendance of Dr. Bard, a physician
equally eminent for the excellence of his character and
skill in his profession, enabled him to rise from an illness
the most painful and trying that he had ever endured.
From the effects of it he never entirely recovered.
He had hardly gained strength to go abroad, when
he heard of the death of his mother, who died in
August, at the age of eighty-two. Writing to his sister on this occasion he said; "Awful and affecting
as the death of a parent is, there is consolation in
knowing, that Heaven has spared ours to an age beyond which few attain, and favored her with the full
enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily
strength as usually falls to the lot of fourscore. Under
these considerations, and a hope that she is translated
to a happier place, it is the duty of her relatives to
yield due submission to the decrees of the Creator."
A short time before he left Mount Vernon for New
York, he made a visit to his mother at Fredericksburg,
the place of her residence. She was then sinking
under a disease, which he foresaw would prove fatal;
and he took an affecting and final leave of her, convinced he should never see her again. She had been
a widow forty-six years. Through life she was remarkable for vigor of mind and body, simplicity of
manners, and uprightness of character. She must have
felt a -mother's joy at the success and renown of her
son, but they caused no'change in her deportment or
style of living. Whenever he visited her at her dwelling, even in the height of his greatness, he literally
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