Washington of Chotanck," the latter presumably the "dear Robin" of his
earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come to
know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom any
record exists. Contemporary with them was a "Dear Richard," whose letters
gave Washington "unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am still in the
memory of so worthy a friend,--a friendship I shall ever be proud of
increasing."

Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which
began with Washington's visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and
their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence Washington
had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was
taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as
surveyor of his great tract of land, "the northern neck," which he had
obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had
obtained it from the "Merrie Monarch" by means so disreputable that they
are best left unstated. From that time till his death Washington
corresponded with several of the family and was a constant visitor at
Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount Vernon.

[Illustration: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743]

In 1755 Washington told his brother that "to that family I am under many
obligations, particularly the old gentleman," but as time went on he more
than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William Fairfax, and
twelve years later his diary records, "Set off with Mrs. Washington and
Patsey,... in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax's third son, which I did
together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his lady." For one of the
family he obtained an army commission, and for another he undertook the
care of his property during a visit to England; a care which unexpectedly
lengthened, and was resigned only when Washington's time became public
property. Nor did that lessen his services or the Fairfaxes' need of them,
for in the Revolution that family were loyalists. Despite this, "the
friendship," Washington assured them, "which I ever professed and felt for
you, met no diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,"
and in 1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from
persecution at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his
lordship in the following wor