ia in a
manner unequalled before. A grand ball was given at the Amphitheatre, in
the evening, at which Washington and his lady were present. Mrs.
Washington held a "drawing-room" in the afternoon, at which there was a
crowd of people. "It was rendered affecting beyond all expression," said
an eye-witness, "by its being, in some degree, a parting scene. Mrs.
Washington was moved even to tears, with the mingled emotions of
gratitude for such strong proofs of public regard, and the new prospect
of the uninterrupted enjoyment of domestic life: she expressed herself
something to this effect. I never saw the president look better, or in
finer spirits, but his emotions were too powerful to be concealed. He
could sometimes scarcely speak. Three rooms of his house were almost
entirely full from twelve to three, and such a crowd at the door it was
difficult to get in.

"At the Amphitheatre, at night, it is supposed there were at least
twelve hundred persons. The show was a very brilliant one; but such
scrambling to go to supper that there was some danger of being squeezed
to death. The vice-president handed in Mrs. Washington, and the
president immediately followed. The applause with which they were
received is indescribable. The same was shown on their return from
supper. The music added greatly to the interest of the scene. The
president staid until between twelve and one; the vice-president till
near two. Both were serenaded with repeated huzzas long after they had
been in bed. The latter slept so soundly that he knew nothing of it till
next morning, though it is said 'Yankee Doodle' was one of the tunes
played."[113]

The eight years of Washington's administration of public affairs, as
chief-magistrate of the republic, were now drawing to a close. They had
been years of toil, anxiety, and vexation. They had been stormy years;
yet, like a rock in the ocean, or the mountain rising from the plain, he
had stood unshaken by the surges or the winds. With that serenity of
mind which arises from the consolations of a conscience void of offence
toward God and man, he took a retrospective view; and with the eagerness
of a prisoner about to be released from his cell, to breathe the free
air of heaven and repose in peace in the bosom of his home, he
approached the hour when he should bid adieu to the incessant labor and
turmoil of political life. To his long-tried and dearly-loved friend,
General Knox, he wrote as follows two days befo