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.

AiT. 67.] LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 529
In the night he had an ague, and before the dawn
of day the next morning, which was Saturday, the
14th, the soreness in his throat had become so severe,
that he breathed and spoke with difficulty. At his request he was bled by one of his overseers, and in the
mean time a messenger went for Dr. Craik, who lived
nine miles off, at Alexandria. As no relief was obtained
by bleeding, and the symptoms were such as to alarm
the family, another messenger was despatched for Dr.
Brown, who resided nearer Mount Vernon. These
physicians arrived in the morning, and Dr. Dick in the
course of the day. All the remedies, which their united
counsel could devise, were used without effect.
His suffering was acute and unabated through the
day, but he bore it with perfect composure and resignation. Towards evening he said to Dr. Craik; "I die
hard, but I am not afraid to die. I believed from my
first attack, that I should not survive it. My breath
cannot last long." From that time he said little, except
to thank the physicians for their kindness, and request
they would give themselves no more trouble, but let him
die quietly. Nothing farther was done, and -he sank
gradually till between ten and eleven o'clock at night,
when he expired, in the sixty-eighth year of his age,
and in the full possession of his mental faculties; exhibiting in this short and painful illness, and in his
death, the same example of patience, fortitude, and submission to the Divine will, which he had shown in all
the acts of his life. On Wednesday, the 18th of December, his remains were deposited in the family tomb
at Mount Vernon. *
Congress was at this time in session at Philadelphia,
and, when the news of the melancholy event arrived
~ A particular account of the last illness and death of Washington is
contained in the Appendix, No. II.
VOL. I. 67 S S