[140] A picture of the room in which Washington died, and the bed on which he expired, may be seen in Lossing's Mount Vernon and its Associations.
[141] Custis's Recollections, &c., p. 477.
[142] At the head of the coffin was placed an ornament, inscribed Surge ad judicum. At about the middle were the words Gloria Deo; and upon a silver plate was the record—
GENERAL
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 14TH DECEMBER,
1799, ÆT. 68.
The coffin was lined with lead: and upon a cover of the same material, to be put on after the coffin was laid in the vault, was a silver shield, nearly three inches in length, inscribed—
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
BORN FEB. 22, 1732.
DIED DECEMBER 14, 1799.
[143] Mount Vernon and its Associations.
[144] These resolutions were drawn by General Henry Lee, who was not present at the time.
[145] The following is a copy of the senate's address, and the president's reply:—
To the President of the United States:
“The senate of the United States respectfully take leave, sir, to express to you their deep regret for the loss their country sustains in the death of General George Washington. This event, so distressing to all our fellow-citizens, must be peculiarly heavy to you, who have long been associated with him in deeds of patriotism. Permit us, sir, to mingle our tears with yours.
“On this occasion it is manly to weep. To lose such a man, at such a crisis, is no common calamity to the world. Our country mourns a father. The Almighty Disposer of human events has taken from us our greatest benefactor and ornament. It becomes us to submit with reverence to him 'who maketh darkness his pavilion.'