ington_, _George Lewis_,
_George Steptoe Washington_, _Bushrod Washington_, and _Samuel
Washington_, I give one of the swords, or couteaux, of which I may die
possessed; and they are to choose in the order they are named. These
swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the
purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defence, or in defence
of their country and its rights: and, in the latter case, to keep them
unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the
relinquishment thereof.

And now, having gone through these specific devises, with explanations
for the more correct understanding of the meaning and design of them, I
proceed to the distribution of the more important parts of my estate, in
manner following;

FIRST.--To my nephew, _Bushrod Washington_, and his heirs (partly in
consideration of an intimation to his deceased father, while we were
bachelors, and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my estate during
my military services in the former war between Great Britain and France,
that, if I should fall therein, Mount Vernon, then less extensive in
domain than at present, should become his property), I give and bequeath
all that part thereof, which is comprehended within the following
limits, viz. Beginning at the ford of Dogue Run, near my Mill, and
extending along the road, and bounded thereby, as it now goes, and ever
has gone, since my recollection of it, to the ford of Little Hunting
Creek, at the Gum Spring, until it comes to a knoll opposite to an old
road, which formerly passed through the lower field of Muddy-Hole Farm;
at which, on the north side of the said road, are three red or Spanish
oaks, marked as a corner, and a stone placed; thence by a line of trees,
to be marked rectangular, to the back line or outer boundary of the
tract between _Thompson Mason_ and myself: thence with that line
easterly (now double ditching, with a post-and-rail fence thereon) to
the run of Little Hunting Creek; thence with that run, which is the
boundary between the lands of the late _Humphrey Peake_ and me, to the
tide water of the said creek; thence by that water to Potomac River;
thence with the river to the mouth of Dogue Creek; and thence with the
said Dogue Creek to the place of beginning at the aforesaid ford;
containing upwards of four thousand acres, be the same more or less,
together with the mansion-house, and all other buildings and
improvements thereon.

SECOND