About ten minutes before death his breathing became easier; he felt his
own pulse, and the expression of his face changed. One hand presently
fell from the wrist of the other. Lear took it in his and pressed it to
his bosom.

Mrs. Washington, who sat near the foot of the bed, asked in a firm
voice, "Is he gone?"

Lear was unable to speak, but made a sign that Washington was dead.

"Tis well," said she; "all is now over; I shall soon follow him; I have
no more trials to pass through."

Washington died on December 14, 1799, in his sixty-eighth year. All his
neighbors and relatives assembled to attend his funeral; the militia and
Freemasons of Alexandria were present; eleven pieces of artillery were
brought to Mount Vernon to do military honors, and a schooner which lay
in the Potomac fired minute guns. Washington's horse, with saddle,
holster, and pistols, was led before the coffin by two grooms dressed in
black. The body was deposited in the old family vault, after short and
simple ceremonies. Washington was deeply mourned all over the United
States, for never had a man been so beloved by his own countrymen.

Washington left all of his estates to his wife for life; after her death
they were to be divided between his nephews and nieces, and Mrs.
Washington's grandchildren. He made his nephew, Bushrod Washington, his
principal heir, leaving Mount Vernon to him. He said that he did this
partly because he had promised the young man's father, his brother, John
Augustine, when they were bachelors, to leave Mount Vernon to him in