Mount Vernon and its associations, historical, biographical and pictorial . eis now at Arlington House. It was first engraved for theAmerican Portrait Gallery, about the year 1833. In a letterto his wife, in July of that year, Mr. Custis wrote: I have been requested to wi-ite a sliort biography of mygrandmother, to be accompanied by a splendid engraving fromone of my originals, for Longmans work, called the NationalGallery of Portraits, and have consented to do it. Tlie biog-raphy was written, and the original chosen was Robertsonsminiature, from which our engraving was copied. In his letter o
Mount Vernon and its associations, historical, biographical and pictorial . eis now at Arlington House. It was first engraved for theAmerican Portrait Gallery, about the year 1833. In a letterto his wife, in July of that year, Mr. Custis wrote: I have been requested to wi-ite a sliort biography of mygrandmother, to be accompanied by a splendid engraving fromone of my originals, for Longmans work, called the NationalGallery of Portraits, and have consented to do it. Tlie biog-raphy was written, and the original chosen was Robertsonsminiature, from which our engraving was copied. In his letter of thanks to Buchan, Washington said : I will, however, ask, that you will exempt me from com-pliance with the request relating to its eventual an attempt to execute your wish in this particular, I shouldfeel embarrassment from a just comparison of relative preten-sions, and fear to risk injustice by so marked a preference. The box was taken to Mount Yernon at the close of thesession, where it remained until Washingtons death, when AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 261. MARTHA WASHINGTON. he recommitted it to the Earl by the following clause in hiswill: To the Earl of Buchan I recommit the box made of theoak that sheltered the great Sir William Wallace, after thebattle of Falkirk, presented to me by his lordship, in terms tooflattering for me to repeat, with a request to pass it, on theevent of my decease, to the man in my country who shouldappear to merit it best, upon the same conditions that haveinduced him to send it to me. Whether easy or not to selectthe man who might comport with his lordships opinion, inthis respect, is not for me to say ; but, conceiving that no dis-position of this valuable curiosity can be more eligible thanthe recommitment of it to his own cabinet, agreeably to theoriginal design of the Goldsmiths Company of Edinburgh,who presented it to him, and, at his request, consented that it 262 MOUNT VERNON should be transferred to me, I do give and bequeat
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlossingb, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1859
