1822.] 
GEORGE SAVILLE CAREY. 
This amiable man told me, that his 
affecting song, “‘ When my ‘money 
was gone, &c.” was suggested by the 
real story of a sailor, who came to 
beg money, while Carey was break- 
fasting with an open window at the 
beautiful inn at Stony Cross, in the 
New Forest. 
He also declared that his father, 
Henry Carey, wrote the song of “‘ God 
save the King” in the house in Hatton 
~ Garden, which has a stone bracket, a 
few doors from the Police-oftice. 
ORIGINAL LETTER FROM A TRAVELLER 
OF DISTINCTION CONCERNING GENE- 
"RAL WASHINGTON. 
On my arrival at Alexandria, I was 
exceedingly desirous to visit Mount 
Vernon, a seat belonging to General 
Washington, at ten miles distance. 
After having traversed several exten- 
sive woods, and surmounted two hills, 
I discovered a house builtin a style of 
elegant simplicity, and appearing in 
every respect agreeable. In front of 
it were meadows, kept in excellent 
order; on one side were stables and 
offices, and on the other a green-house 
and several buildings, in which ne- 
groes were at work; a court-yard 
adjoining was full of turkies, ducks, 
geese, and other fowl. This house, 
which commands a charming pros- 
pect of the Potowmac, has a large and 
elegant portico on the side towards 
the river ; the apartments are admira- 
bly adapted to the building, and the 
outside is covered with a kind of var- 
nish, that renders it impenetrable to 
the rain. 
The General, who did not arrive 
until the evening, when he came home 
exceedingly fatigued, had been visit- 
ing a distant part of his property, 
where he intended to construct a new 
road. You have often heard him 
compared to Cincinnatus ; the compa- 
rison is exact. This celebrated ge- 
neral is no more at present than an 
honest planter, unceasingly occupied 
about the cares of his farm, as he him- 
self terms it. He showed me a barn 
which he had just finished: it is an 
immense building, about 100 feet in 
length, and of a breadth in proportion. 
It is destined to contain his corn, his 
potatoes, his turnips, &c. Around it 
he has constructed stables for his cat- 
tle, his horses, and his asses, of which 
he ‘has multiplied a breed hitherto un- 
known in that country. The different 
2 
Stephensiana, No. VILLI. 
427 
parts of this building are so skilfully 
distributed, that one man may fill the 
racks with potatoes, hay, &c. ina very 
shert time, and without any difficulty; 
the General informed me that it was 
built after a plan transmitted him by 
the celebrated Arthur Y oung, but that 
he had made several alterations in it. 
This barn, which is of bricks, made 
upon the spot, did not cost above 3001.; 
in England the expenses would have 
amounted to 1,000/. He has planted 
700 bushels of potatoes this year. All 
this seems very surprising in Virginia, 
where they neither erect barns, nor 
raise provender for their cattle. 
His asses, his horses, his mules, were 
feeding in the neighbouring fields. 
He informed me that it was his inten- 
tion to introduce the use of artificial 
meadows, which are so uncommon, 
and yet so necessary in that province, 
for the cattle often want provisions in 
winter. His mules thrive uncommonly 
well; and he has a noble stallion, 
which will support the race of fine 
horses to be found in this part of 
America. He also possesses two su- 
perb asses, one of which came from 
Malta, and the other from Spain. He 
has 300 negroes, which are distributed 
in log-houses, scattered over different 
parts of his property,—which in this 
neighbourhood alone amounts to 
10,000 acres; and Colonel Humphry, 
his secretary, assured me that, in dif- 
ferent parts of America, he has more 
than 200,000. 
The General sent to England for a 
farmer, well skilled in the agriculture 
of that country, and this person pre- 
sides over the cultivation of his lands. 
Everything in his house bespeaks sim- 
plicity ; his table is served plentifuily, 
but without any pomp; and every part 
of his domestic economy evinces un- 
common regularity. Mrs. Washington 
superintends every thing, and joins to 
the good qualities of a farmer’s wife, 
that dignified simplicity which ought 
to characterise a lady whose husband 
has acted such a conspicuous part. 
General Washington has nothing 
very characteristic in his countenance, 
and it is owing to this circumstance 
that his likeness is ‘so very difficult to 
be taken, and that so few painters 
have succeeded in his portrait. The 
goodness of his heart seems conspi- 
cuous in every look and every move- 
ment of his mind; his eyes possess but 
little of that brilliancy for which they 
were so conspicuous at the head of an 
army, 
