evening; late as the hour was he sought and obtained an interview with Miss Polly.""

But whether he made the legendary journey or not, the result was all one. Washington once more lost the battle. On January 28th, 1758-which was Captain Morris' thirtyfirst birthday-Mary Philipse married the Englishman.

The story was long told by an old colored valet of the Philipse's that at the wedding-feast a lone Indian in a scarlet blanket appeared at the door of the banquet hall and prophesied: "Your possessions shall pass from you when the eagle shall despoil the lion of his name."

This warning referred of course to the confiscation by the Americans of the magnificent domain of the royalist Philipses after the Revolutionary War. It has the characteristics of most prophecies in that it was plainly written after the event and betrays itself by its anachronism. It is doubtful that even a lone Indian could have foreseen in 1758 that America would eventually choose the eagle as the national fowl, in spite of Ben Franklin's preference for the wild turkey.*

Captain Morris built for his bride a house in town (probably with her money). It was burned in September, 1776, in the great fire supposed to have been set by the ousted American army under Washington.

A month after his marriage, Captain Morris purchased a major's commission (probably with his wife's money) and fought the Indians in Nova Scotia, while Washington fought them in the south. Captain Morris was with Wolfe at the taking of Quebec (in which battle Mary's brother-in-law, Beverly Robinson, also served as a major), was promoted lieutenant-colonel and took part in the capture of Montreal, sold his commission in 1764, and was appointed to the Executive Council of New York Province.

A year later Morris bought a farm on Harlem Heights,

"the most desirable and commanding site on the island of Manhattan." There Morris built a fine home that still stands and is cherished as the most interesting historical building in New York, partly because it served for a while as Washington's headquarters, but more because it was the home of the famous or infamous Betty Jumel.

Mary Philipse Morris bore her husband two sons and two daughters; one of the sons became a vice-admiral in the British navy.

All the women who jilted Washington seem to have had many children.

XXII

HE LOSES HIS FIRST ELECTION

O the new wounds of Washington's disprized love was added the hot pepper of a crushing humiliation in politics. Even the voters jilted him.

He had long cherished an ambition to enter the House of Burgesses. He stood well with the church folk, though he was not a vestryman and it was practically necessary to hold that quasi-political office before one could hope to be a Burgess. Furthermore, the less reputable elements had equally to be enticed, and he was in poor standing with the politicians.

His letter to his brother Jack' written on his way back to Braddock's army in 1755 showed that he was already feeling out the chances of his election, for he had asked Jack to ferret the opinions of the Reverend Mr. Green, also of Captain West, "the present Burgess and our friend Jack West."

The result of his brother's canvass was the opinion that he had better not try to run in his home county.

This is the account as given in the only available sources, yet there exists a letter to Washington from Colonel Adam Stephen, written at Fort Cumberland December 23rd, 1755, which strongly indicates that Washington did, at the last moment, decide to run and was not only defeated but insulted. What else can be assumed from this letter:

"Dr Sir

"Such a Spirit of Revenge and Indignation prevaild here, upon hearing you were insulted at the Fairfax Election, that we all were

ready and violent to run and tear Your Enemies to pieces. As I imagine myself interested in all that Concerns you, I cannot forbear telling you that it would have been far better to have acquainted me with your Intention of Standing Candidate for Frederick, my acquaintance there is very general, and I would touchd on the tender part So gently, that with a Weeks Notice, I am perfectly Sure you would have gone Unanimously, in the mean time I think your Poll was not despicable, as the people were a stranger to your purpose, Untill the Election began.” 2

Three days later he writes again, giving an account of Christmas conditions at Fort Cumberland:

"The State of the Regiment is much the Same as at last Return. Capt Peachy is a good deal Better-M! Lowry pines after the Babby, and has been of no Service here, the gentlemen who are best acquainted with him, tell me they are of Opinion he is tired of ths Service and being a Malingeror here, I gave him Leave to Wait on you to inform how he stood affected.

"I had the honour to dine at the head of 24 fine Gentlemen yesterday-We had an extreamly Good dinner, and after drinking the Royal Healths in a Huff and a Huzza at every Health we pass'd an hour in Singing and taking a Cheerful glass. We then amus'd ourselves with acting part of a Play, and spending the Night in mirth, Jollity and Dancing, we parted very affectionately at 12 O'Clock, remembering all Absent Friends.

"I am with Respect, wishing you a happy Year, and that it may be remarkable for your Victorious Atchievments."

Washington evidently remembered Colonel Stephen's advice, but did not put himself up in Frederick County until 1757. Even this candidacy was forgotten or denied until the records were discovered in 1892. The result by no means confirmed Colonel Stephen's promise that he would have "gone Unanimously."

Captain West had several sons, including John West, Jr., and Hugh West, Jr. Hugh, Jr. was elected a Burgess for Frederick County in 1756, though he was a lawyer in Alexandria.

In the summer of 1757 Washington decided to run against him. Washington was not a resident of Frederick County, but neither was Hugh West, Jr. To represent a county, one had to have a sufficient number of "tithables" there. White tithables, or taxables, were adult males. Black tithables were slaves.

Dinwiddie in a report to the Lords of Trade in 1756 computed that there were then in Virginia, 43,329 White Tithables, and 60,078 Black Tithables, explaining, "the White Tithables are only the Males from 18 years and upw'ds. Women and those under the Age of 18, both Males and Females, are not tithed. . . . The Negroes or Blacks are Tithables from the Years of 16 and up upwards, both Males and Females."

From this he computed the total population of Virginia in 1756 as 173,316 whites, 120,156 slaves. In Frederick County there were 2,173 white tithables and 340 slaves.

Washington owned in 1757 at least thirty-three black tithables. He had inherited ten or twelve slaves from his father. He acquired eighteen more with Mount Vernon. In 1754 he had bought two "fellows" for forty or fifty pounds apiece and a woman named "Clio" (a black muse of history) for fifty pounds. In 1756 he had bought two men and a woman for eighty-six pounds and, from Governor Dinwiddie, a woman and child for sixty pounds."

A voter had to own fifty unimproved acres, or only twenty-five acres if there were a house on them. Bullskin Plantation was in Frederick County, and it had five hundred acres, to which he had added five hundred more in 1752.

In those days white freemen whose religious conformity and tax-paying importance were sufficient, could vote. In fact they must vote or pay a fine of two hundred pounds of tobacco.R