ington's Will. I do, for these reasons, acquit them and the said Mr. Washestate from the payment thereof, my intention being, that all accounts between them and me, and their father's estate and me, shall stand balanced. Item.-The balance due to me from the estate of Bartholomew Dandridge, deceased, (my wife's brother), and which amounted on the 1st day of October 1795, to 425l. (as will appear by an account rendered by his deceased son, John Dandridge, who was the acting executor of his father's will), I release and acquit from the payment thereof and the negroes (then thirty-three in number) formerly belonging to the said estate, who were taken in execution, sold, and purchased in on my account, in the year [blank] and ever since have remained in the possession and to the use of Mary, widow of the said Bartholomew Dandridge, with their increase, it is my will and desire, shall continue to be in her possession, without paying hire or making compensation for the same for the time past or to come, during her natural life; at the expiration of which, I direct that all of them who are forty years old and upwards, shall receive their freedom; all under that age, and above sixteen, shall serve seven years, and no longer; and all under sixteen years shall serve until they are twenty-five years of Exonerates of his bro the estate ther-in-law from the a sum of payment of money; clares the thereon free and de negroes at a certain age. Mr. Wash ington's Will. Bequest to William. Washing ton. in this relation shall be final, and record thereof made, which may be adduced as evidence at any time thereafter, if disputes should arise concerning the same and I farther direct, that the heirs of the said Bartholomew Dandridge shall equally share the benefits arising from the service of the said negroes, according to the tenor of this devise, upon the decease of their mother. Item.-If Charles Carter, who intermarried with my niece Betty Lewis, is not sufficiently secured in the title to the lots he had of ine in the town of Fredericksburg, it is my will and desire, that my executors shall make such conveyance of them as the law requires to render it perfect. Item. To my nephew, William Augustine Augustine Washington (if he should conceive them to be objects worth prosecuting), and to his heirs, a lot in the town of Manchester, opposite to Richmond, No. 265, drawn on my sole account; and also the tenth of one or two hundred acre lots, and two or three half acre lots, in the city and vicinity of Richmond, drawn in partnership with nine others, all in the lottery of the deceased William Byrd, are given; as is also a lot which I purchased of John Hood, conveyed by William Willie and Samuel Gordon, trustees of the said John Hood, numbered 139, in the town of Edinburgh, in the county of Prince George, state of Virginia. His papers and books. --- Item. To my nephew, Bushrod Washington, I give and bequeath all the papers in my possession, which relate to my civil and military ad ministration ington's Will. ministration of the affairs of this country; I leave Mr. Wash to him also such of my private papers as are worth preserving; and, at the decease of my wife, and before, if she is not inclined to retain them, I give and bequeath my library of books and pamphlets of every kind. Item.-To the earl of Buchan I recommit "the box made of the oak that sheltered the great sir William Wallace, after the battle of Falkirk;" presented to me by his lordship in terms too flattering for me to repeat, with a request, "to pass it, on the event of my decease, to the man in my country who should appear to merit it best, upon the same conditions that have induced him to send it to me." Whether it be easy or not to select the man who might comport with his lordship's opinion in this respect, is not for me to say; but conceiving that no disposition of this valuable curiosity can be more eligible than the recommitment of it to his own cabinet, agreeably to the original design of the Goldsmith's company of Edinburgh, who presented it to him, and at his request consented that it should be transferred to me; I do give and be-queath the same to his lordship; and, in case of his decease, to his heir, with my grateful thanks for the distinguished honour of presenting it to me, and more especially for the favourable sentiments with which he accompanied it. - Recommits to the earl of Buchana piece of antiquity. various Item. To my brother, Charles Washington, I Bequeaths give and bequeath the gold-headed cane, left me tokens of by Dr. Franklin in his will. I add nothing to brauce, remem ingtou's Will. Mr. Wash it, because of the ample provision I have made for his issue. To the acquaintances and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert Washington, of Chotanck, I give my other two gold-headed canes, having my arms engraved on them; and to each (as they will be useful where they live) I leave one of the spy glasses which constituted part of my equipage during the late war. To my compatriot in arms, and old intimate friend, Dr. Craik, I give my bureau ; or, as the cabinet-makers call it, tambour secretary, and the circular chair, an appendage to my study. To Dr. D, Stuart, I give my large shaving and dressing-table, and my telescope. To the reverend, now Bryan lord Fairfax, I give a Bible, in three large folio volumes, with notes, presented to me by the right reverend Thomas Wilson, bishop of Sodor and Man. To general de la Fayette, I give a pair of finely wrought steel pistols, taken from the enemy in the revolutionary war. To my sisters-in-law, Hannah Washington and Mildred Washington, to my friends Eleanor Stuart, Hannah Washington of Fairfield, and Elizabeth Washington of Hayfield, I give each a mourning ring, of the value of one hundred dollars. These bequests are not made for the intrinsic value of them, but as mementos of my esteem and regard. To Tobias Lear, I give the use of the farm which he now holds in virtue of a lease from me to him and his deceased wife (for and during their natural lives), free from rent during his life; at the expiration of which, it is to ington's Will. to be disposed of as is hereinafter directed. To Mr. Wash Sally B. Haym, a distant relation of mine, I give and bequeath three hundred dollars. To Sarah Green, daughter of the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton, also deceased, I give each one hundred dollars, in consideration of the attachment of their fathers to me, each of whom having lived nearly forty years in my family. To each of my nephews, William Augustine Washington, George Lewis, George Steptoe Washington, Bushrod Washington, and Samuel Washington, I give one of the swords or coutteaux of which I may die possessed; and they are to choose in the order they are named. These swords are accompanied with an injunc tion, not to unsheath 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 part of my estate in manner following: 1st. 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 Devise of part of the Vernon estate. |