MAY 22nd
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“The noon-tide of life is now passed with Mrs. Washington and myself, and all we have to do is to spend the evening of our days in tranquillity, and glide gently down a stream which no human effort can ascend.”
To Marchionesse de Lafayette*
Mount Vernon, 10 May 1786
Madam,
Of all the correspondencies with which I am honored, none has given me more pleasure than yours, none which I am more desireous of continuing, or more ambitious to deserve. What then My Dr. Madam, must have been my mortification when, instead of receiving the letter you did me the honor to write to me on the 15th. of April last year, in due time, it was not ‘till sometime in the course of last month, that I received it at all, and the parcels with which you were pleased to accompany it. By mistake these parcels lay at Bordeaux a considerable time after they had arrived there, before it was discovered for whom they were intended, and then were sent by a Vessel which took a very circuitous voyage to this Country. I trouble you with this detail of matters by way of apology for what otherwise might appear a want of sensibility in me for your distinguished and valuable favors, than which nothing is, or can be more flattering and pleasing to my vanity.
Wiki
The tokens of regard with which Miss de la Fayette and my name-sake have honored the young folks of this family, will cement the friendship which seems to be rising in their tender breasts; and will encrease those flames of it which they have imbibed from their parents, to which nothing can add strength, but the endearments which flow from personal interviews, and the unreserved exchange of liberal sentiments. Will you not then Madam, afford them this opportunity? May we hope for it soon? If the assurances of the sincerest esteem and affection: if the varieties of uncultivated nature; the novelty of exchanging the gay and delightful scenes of Paris with which you are surrounded, for the rural amusements of a country in its infancy; if the warbling notes of the feathered songsters on our Lawns and Meads, can for a moment make you forget the melody of the Opera, and the pleasure of the Court, these, all invite you to give us this honour, and the opportunity of expressing to you personally, those sentiments of attachment and love with which you have inspired us.
The noon-tide of life is now passed with Mrs. Washington and myself, and all we have to do is to spend the evening of our days in tranquillity, and glide gently down a stream which no human effort can ascend. We must therefore, however reluctantly it is done, forego the pleasures of such a visit as you kindly invite us to make. But the case with you, is far otherwise, your days are in their meidian brightness. In the natural order of things you have many years to come, in which you may endulge yourself in all the amusements which variety can afford, and different countries produce; and in receiving those testimonies of respect, which every one in the United States would wish to render you.
My Mother will receive the compliments you honor her with, as a flattering mark of your attention; and I shall have great pleasure in delivering them myself. My best wishes and vows are offered for you, and for the fruits of your love, and with every sentiment of respect and attachment. I have the honorto be Madam, &c. &c
G:o Washington
