ts, while I am
spared--which, in the natural course of things, can not be long--will
now take the place of toil, responsibility, and the solicitude attending
the walks of public life; and with a desire for the peace, happiness,
and prosperity of a country, in whose service the prime of my life has
been spent, and with best wishes for the tranquillity of all nations and
all men, the scene to me will close--grateful to that Providence which
has directed my steps, and shielded me in the various changes and
chances through which I have passed from my youth to the present
moment."

And now, too, the associations of his earlier life, when he was a farmer
at Mount Vernon, brought pleasing pictures of the past to his memory,
and he seemed to yearn for a renewal of those social pleasures which had
been the delight of his young manhood. To Mrs. Fairfax, in England, who
had resided at ruined Belvoir, and had been a beloved member of the
society of that neighborhood, he wrote, in May, 1798:--

"Five-and-twenty years have nearly passed away since I have
considered myself as permanently residing at this place, or have
been in a situation to indulge myself in a familiar intercourse
with my friends by letter or otherwise. During this period, so many
important events have occurred, and such changes in men and things
have taken place, as the compass of a letter would give you but an
inadequate idea of; none of which events, however, nor all of them
together, have been able to eradicate from my mind the recollection
of those happy moments, the happiest of my life, which I have
enjoyed in your company.

"Worn out in a manner by the toils of my past labor, I am again
seated under my vine and fig-tree, and I wish I could add that
there are none to make us afraid; but those whom we have been
accustomed to call our friends and allies are endeavoring, if not
to make us afraid, yet to despoil us of our property, and are
provoking us to acts of self-defence which may lead to war. What
will be the result of such measures, time, that faithful expositor
of all things, must disclose. My wish is to spend the remainder of
my days, which can not be many, in rural amusements, free from the
cares from which public responsibility is never exempt.

"Before the war, and even while it existed, although I was eight
years from home at one stretch, e