Part 3 (1/2)

Do not then, in your contee state, look for perfect felicity before you consent to wed Nor conceive, from the fine tales the poets and lovers of old have told us of the transports of mutual love, that heaven has taken its abode on earth Nor do not deceive yourself in supposing that the only mean[s] by which these are to be obtained is to drink deep of the cup and revel in an ocean of love Love is a s, it is cloying And when the first transports of the passion begin to subside, which it assuredly will do and yield, oftentimes too late, to more sober reflections, it serves to evince that love is too dainty a food to live upon alone alone and ought not to be considered farther than as a necessary ingredient for that matrimonial happiness which results froreater importance than that the object on whoood dispositions, and the ht up and ought not to be considered farther than as a necessary ingredient for that matrimonial happiness which results froreater importance than that the object on whoood dispositions, and the ht up21 Washi+ngton could never have married a poor woman, but neither could he have tolerated a cold and loveless ton was noticeably attracted to women, but his steely willpower and stern discipline likely overitive iallantry with the ladies One British officer described hooht back in by Washi+ngton As he recalled, Washi+ngton introduced ”a round of ladies as soon as the cloth was rereat esteem for the ladies and therefore drank the oton frequently slipped into a breezily flirtatious tone When theAnnis Boudinot Stockton later sent hied her to produce more poetry: ”You see, madam, when once the woman has tempted us and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences ton frequently slipped into a breezily flirtatious tone When theAnnis Boudinot Stockton later sent hied her to produce more poetry: ”You see, madam, when once the woman has tempted us and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences ton never stood out for his humor, but he had a bawdy streak and relished hearty, an, Jr, destroyed so they were ”ston wrote about their couplings with dry, facetioussent him a male donkey nickna ton noted drolly that the donkey was at first indifferent to ”female allurements” and that when he finally responded, he proceeded with ”deliberation andanis with dry, facetioussent him a male donkey nickna ton noted drolly that the donkey was at first indifferent to ”female allurements” and that when he finally responded, he proceeded with ”deliberation and majestic solemnity to the work of procreation”25 At the same time he hoped Royal Gift would catch the democratic spirit in America and ”that when he becomes a little better acquainted with republican enjoyments, he will amend his manners and fall into a better andbusiness” At the same time he hoped Royal Gift would catch the democratic spirit in America and ”that when he becomes a little better acquainted with republican enjoyments, he will amend his manners and fall into a better andbusiness”26 Perhaps the earthiest coton ever e of forty-seven-year-old Colonel Joseph Ward He seee for lad to hear that my old acquaintance Colo Ward is yet under the influence of vigorous passions,” he told a correspondent He supposed that Ward, ”like a prudent general,” had ”reviewed his strength, strength, his arot involved in an action But if these have been neglectedlet ot involved in an action But if these have been neglectedlet me advise him to make the first first onset upon his fair del Tobosa [Dulcinea del Toboso, the country girl in onset upon his fair del Tobosa [Dulcinea del Toboso, the country girl in Don Quixote Don Quixote] with vigor that the i or frequently renewed”27 The e lacked children Many theories have been advanced to explain this barrenthe birth of Patsy, her final child,additional births ie's early bout of smallpox or soe Washi+ngton didn't think he was sterile, because, in writing once to a nephew, he stated that if Martha died and he remarried, he ”probably” wouldn't have children, but only because he wouldthat he could have children with a younger woe has obscured the fact that the Washi+ngtons, far fro lonely, were always surrounded by children In the early years at Mount Vernon, there were Jacky and Patsy Custis and then, in later years, two of Jacky's children, plus assorted other young relatives, perhaps nusters in all This childless couple ran a household teeh-spirited children, whicha perceived void The historic stress on the childless tons, far fro lonely, were always surrounded by children In the early years at Mount Vernon, there were Jacky and Patsy Custis and then, in later years, two of Jacky's children, plus assorted other young relatives, perhaps nusters in all This childless couple ran a household teeh-spirited children, whicha perceived void

Later on Washi+ngton's childless state helped him to assume the title of Father of His Country That he wasn't a biological father orical father of a nation It also retired any fears, when he was president, that the nation ht revert to a monarchy, because he could have no interest in a hereditary crown In a draft of his first inaugural address, Washi+ngton (or his ghost-writer David Humphreys) wrote that ”Divine Providence hath not seen fit that my blood should be transh so I have no child for whoreatness upon my country's ruins”29 Many contemporaries professed to discern heavenly influence in Washi+ngton's childless state-God's tacit way of protecting Ay for Washi+ngton, ”AMERICANS! he had no child BUT YOU and HE WAS ALL YOUR OWN” Many contemporaries professed to discern heavenly influence in Washi+ngton's childless state-God's tacit way of protecting Ay for Washi+ngton, ”AMERICANS! he had no child BUT YOU and HE WAS ALL YOUR OWN”30

IN MARRYING MARTHA CUSTIS , George Washi+ngton inherited the posh commercial connection that Daniel Parke Custis had formed with the top-drawer London firton sent an authenticated copy of his ent and advised that ”for the future please to address all your letters which relate to the affairs of the late Dan[ie]l Parke Custis Esqr to me”31 Like his previous London representative, Richard Washi+ngton, Robert Cary and Company were factors who received tobacco shi+pinia plantations, sold them at the best possible price, then used the proceeds to purchase wares from fashi+onable London purveyors The firm had also collected dividends for Martha froland Robert Cary was a larger andfurther proof of Washi+ngton's swift ascent Like his previous London representative, Richard Washi+ngton, Robert Cary and Company were factors who received tobacco shi+pinia plantations, sold them at the best possible price, then used the proceeds to purchase wares from fashi+onable London purveyors The firm had also collected dividends for Martha froland Robert Cary was a larger andfurther proof of Washi+ngton's swift ascent

Washi+ngton's relationshi+p with Robert Cary forate spender, he promptly placed an order with Cary for a new bedroom set, complete with a four-poster bed,curtains, a bedspread, and four chairs, all upholstered in ive the ”uniforenteel” effect he desired32 Fro couple planned to entertain in high style They ordered a ”fashi+onable set” of dessert glasses, special stands for sweetmeats and jellies, and silver knives and forks with ivory handles In this first lengthy order, there was also an oton, who ordered froate Hill six bottles of a special brew concocted to cleanse teeth and cure toothaches Fro couple planned to entertain in high style They ordered a ”fashi+onable set” of dessert glasses, special stands for sweetmeats and jellies, and silver knives and forks with ivory handles In this first lengthy order, there was also an oton, who ordered froate Hill six bottles of a special brew concocted to cleanse teeth and cure toothaches

In placing orders for goods froton often employed two adjectives that nicely sum up his taste: neat neat and and fashi+onable fashi+onable In the eighteenth century, the word neat neat differed subtly froe today According to The Oxford English Dictionary, neat The Oxford English Dictionary, neat then ance of forreeable but simple appearance; nicely ton preferred things that were stylish but subdued, denoting his worldly status without showily advertising it Although he never lived to see England (he told one correspondent in 1760 that he ”ardently desired” to go), this young provincial yearned to resemble the better class of London people then ance of forreeable but simple appearance; nicely ton preferred things that were stylish but subdued, denoting his worldly status without showily advertising it Although he never lived to see England (he told one correspondent in 1760 that he ”ardently desired” to go), this young provincial yearned to resemble the better class of London people 33 33 In a typical order to his London agents, he wrote, ”I have no doubt but you will choose a fashi+onable colored cloth as well as a good one and make it in the best taste” In a typical order to his London agents, he wrote, ”I have no doubt but you will choose a fashi+onable colored cloth as well as a good one and inia planter trusted blindly to the sartorial judgment of his London tailors When he ordered ”two pair of work[e]d ruffles at a guinea each pair,” he added that ”if work[e]d ruffles should be out of fashi+on, send such as are not” The Virginia planter trusted blindly to the sartorial judgment of his London tailors When he ordered ”two pair of work[e]d ruffles at a guinea each pair,” he added that ”if work[e]d ruffles should be out of fashi+on, send such as are not”35 After years of a rough soldierly life, Washi+ngton ordered breeches of black silk and criainst lace or eht stereotype hi orders stressed practicality When ordering a blue hooded greatcoat, he requested that it be ood shower of rain” After years of a rough soldierly life, Washi+ngton ordered breeches of black silk and criainst lace or eht stereotype hi orders stressed practicality When ordering a blue hooded greatcoat, he requested that it be ood shower of rain”36 Because he constantly sent his ton left many precise descriptions of his physique, but his somewhat oddly shaped body made hihs caused theclothes, he reproached the tailor in caustic terms: ”I desire you to make me a pair of breeches of the sa These breeches must be roomy in the seat, the buttons firmly sewn onThese breeches must be made exactly to these ine that they may stretch after a period of use”37 Like her husband, Martha Washi+ngton went on a buying binge after their e drafting the ites, white satin shoes, gold shoe buckles, beaver hats, and later on, purple kid gloves She must have been proud of her hair, for she dressed it with ”2 fine ivory coauze caps and ”2 pounds of fine perfuton show that she often ornamented her brown hair hite beads or pearls Indeed, portraits of Martha Washi+ngton show that she often ornamented her brown hair hite beads or pearls

As Colonel Washi+ngton evolved fros of envy as he watched a succession of British victories in the French and Indian War Seventeen fifty-nine was the year, in Horace Walpole's words, that British bells were ”worn threadbare with ringing of victories”39 For Washi+ngton, those bells tolled with a somewhat reatly in our favor and success is becoenerals,” he told Richard Washi+ngton, sounding a bit wistful For Washi+ngton, those bells tolled with a somewhat reatly in our favor and success is becoenerals,” he told Richard Washi+ngton, sounding a bit wistful40 That Washi+ngton still identified with the lory is evident in his ordering froures in history: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick II of Prussia, Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the Duke of Marlborough When his London agents couldn't fill the order, they came up with an alternate proposal to supply busts of writers ranging fro planter, these literary heroes didn't quite estion That Washi+ngton still identified with the lory is evident in his ordering froures in history: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick II of Prussia, Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the Duke of Marlborough When his London agents couldn't fill the order, they came up with an alternate proposal to supply busts of writers ranging fro planter, these literary heroes didn't quite estion

As titon's coan to rant about the shoddy, overpriced goods fobbed off on him The London factors had North American planters at theirthese consumers that, in the last analysis, they were powerless colonials Washi+ngton wasn't the only Virginian grandee to feel resentful toward arrogant Britishin London was a slow, tedious way to do business, hobbled by endless waits for deliveries When Washi+ngton ordered plows from Robert Cary, for exa and bemoaned that the parts already shi+pped were ”entirely useless and lie upon e”41 So river or arrived dainians were simply captive customers So river or arrived dainians were simply captive custoton experienced a keen sense of injustice He fretted that Robert Cary was padding his bills and charging exorbitant prices Of one early shi+prumbled that the ”woollens, linens, nails etc are mean in quality but not in price, for in this they excel indeed far above any I have ever had”42 By the second year of his e, his letters to London dripped with barefaced sarcasuise his belief that he was being fleeced, telling Robert Cary that ”you s good and fashi+onable in their several kind, we often have articles sent us that could only have been us[e]d by our forefathers in the days of yore 'Tis a customwith oods are bespoke for exportation, to paloods upon us, taking care at the same time to advance 10, 15, or 20 p[e]rc[en]t upon thee, his letters to London dripped with barefaced sarcasuise his belief that he was being fleeced, telling Robert Cary that ”you s good and fashi+onable in their several kind, we often have articles sent us that could only have been us[e]d by our forefathers in the days of yore 'Tis a customwith oods are bespoke for exportation, to paloods upon us, taking care at the same time to advance 10, 15, or 20 p[e]rc[en]t upon them”43 When the London factors blithely advised hiton scoffed that nobody could go a full year without the required articles His dealings with Robert Cary opened yet another chapter of disillusionment with the British whom he had once so admired When the London factors blithely advised hiton scoffed that nobody could go a full year without the required articles His dealings with Robert Cary opened yet another chapter of disillusionment with the British whom he had once so adton and other planters subents was that they offered easy credit unavailable in the colonies Like ton was land rich and cash poor and spent a lifeti for money Historians have often pondered the paradox of why rich Virginia planters later formed a hotbed of revolutionary fer, sullen dependence upon London factors Of four million pounds borrowed by colonists by the outset of the Aal fared on credit, their luxurious lives rested on a precarious foundation of debt Virginia borrowers regularly blamed their London factors for this indebtedness rather than exa up excessive debt, they repeated a vice then raorged on credit, their luxurious lives rested on a precarious foundation of debt Virginia borrowers regularly blamed their London factors for this indebtedness rather than exa up excessive debt, they repeated a vice then ra the spendthrift British upper class

Almire of debt that ensnared e, he owed a sizable two thousand pounds sterling to Robert Cary Eager to play the country squire to the hilt, he ordered goods from London with a free hand In a letter to one of his for hopelessly indebted to Robert Cary In his defense, he pleaded the disorganized state of Mount Vernon when he returned from the war, the need to buy e family: ”I had provisions of all kinds to buy for the first two or three years and my plantations to stock” Before he knew it, the s had ”sed upall the e, nay nay more”year Washi+ngton was congenitally prickly abouttoo quick to dun hiton reacted to a call for”mischances rather than misconduct” for the repeated failures of his tobacco crops He was outraged that Cary would pester hied on his payments ”I did not expect that a correspondent so steady and constant as I have provedwould be reminded in the instant it was discovered how necessary it was for him to be expeditious in his payments,” he coton was uneasy carrying sohis London creditor that ”it is but an irkso to a free mind to be any ways hampered in debt”46 In subsequent letters to London, Washi+ngton's fury fairly exploded off the page When he sent a large shi+phast at the poor prices that Robert Cary fetched for hiinia planters ”That the sales are pitifully low needs no words to demonstrate,” he wrote ”And that they are worse than ot in the outpostsis a truth equally as certain” Washi+ngton blustered that it e my correspondence unless I experience an alteration for the better” In subsequent letters to London, Washi+ngton's fury fairly exploded off the page When he sent a large shi+phast at the poor prices that Robert Cary fetched for hiinia planters ”That the sales are pitifully low needs no words to demonstrate,” he wrote ”And that they are worse than ot in the outpostsis a truth equally as certain” Washi+ngton blustered that it e my correspondence unless I experience an alteration for the better”47 For the rest of his life, Washi+ngton was vehement on the subject of debt and frequently lectured relatives about its dangers Even though he scapegoated creditors for his own debt, it is clear fro and hard on the subject Decades later he aderous than that of borrowing moneyfor when ht of in timeExertions to raise it by dint of industry ceases It coed in that would never be thought of, if to be purchased by the sweat of the brow In thelike a sobll in rolling”48 Washi+ngton spoke knowingly, as only a reforressions Washi+ngton spoke knowingly, as only a reforressions

CHAPTER TEN

A Certain Species of Property

FOR THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF MARRIAGE, as he devoted ton was a hostage to the fortunes of that fickle crop As noted, he had returned from his military adventures to discover Mount Vernon, under brother Jack's supervision, in a scandalous state of disrepair While off in the western hinterlands, he found it impossible to monitor business activities at ho for someone of his meticulous work habits As he worked to re new buildings, he ended up squandering part of Martha's fortune