Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-07

land, must have appeared to the child the
grea test man in the world.
But in the summer of 1146, when Lord
Fairfax again came from England to make
his home in Virginia, George Washington
was old enough to be reckoned with. In
July Mr.. Maryes school at Fredericksburg
was dismissed for vacation, and his hard
working pupil, George Was hington, sped to
enjoy his holiday at Mount Vernon and Bel
voir homes in sight of each other in which
he was always welcome. According to cred
IDLE tradition, Lord Fairfax at once took a
fancy to the boy. The old bachelor, shrewd
and philosophical, could hardly fail TO be
interested in the studious lad of fourteen
years. who had written out so carefully the
old French Rules of Civility and Decent
Behavior and steadily. practiced them.
Lord Fairfax was well acquainted, we
may feel sure, with all salient facts in the
history of the family whose twenty-firSt
traceable generation was represented by
himself, the sixth lord He could hardly
fail to remember nat he was meeting as
affectionate connections family which his
own had confronted in war a hundred years
before. For that year, 1746. was the CEN
tenary of the famous siege of Worcester, in
which that city had been defended by its
governor, Col. Henry Was hington. against the
great Gen. Fairfax. We imagine the
old lord sitting on the veranda at Belvoir
with George Washington, telling him the
story of how Sir Henry held out even after
the king was captive and the royal cause
was lost" I45IzS s9aH
x
There is a tradition that when the news
of the fighting at Lexington was brought to
Washington and Lord Fairfax they were at
dinner at Greenway Court, and that they
parted soon after with great emotion. Lord
Fairfax died in 1852 and was buried under
the communion table of a church he mad
built at Winchester Half a century after
his death the church was sold that a bust
ness building might be erected on its site
and thousand skeletons hauled away
and buried If heap. Among these skele-
tons that of Lord Fairfax.
William Fairfax, proprietor of Belvoir,
died there in 1857 aged siXty-five years
His son, George William Fairfax, the sec
ond and last Fairfax TO live al Belvoir, left
Virginia in 1Ii4 and died at Bath, England,
April 3. 1887 Many letters have been pre-
served which passed between George Wash
ington and George William Fairfax and be-
tween Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Fairfax
(who was Sarah Cary of Hampton-on-the-
James, after the removal of the Belvoir
FairfaXes from Virginia.
The Rev. Bryan Fairfax, from whom the
American FairfaXes have descended, went
to England in 1885, established his right to
the title of Lord Fairfax, took his seat in
the house of lords, and returned to his
home at Mount Eagle, near Alexandria
The Fairfaxes have related themselves by
marriage to the families Washington Cary
Lee, Aylett, Herbert, Griffith, Catiett'
Snowden, Mason, Hyde, Irwin Mcneil,
Jett Norris, Ragland and Tapscott
Before the departure of George William
Fairfax and his wife for England there was
auction at Belvoir on August 10, IVA.
Belvoir was thus advertised in the PhiladeI-
phia Gazette October 10, 1774:
ITO be rented from year to year for a
term of years, Belvoir. the beautiful seat of
the Honorable George William Fairfax,
Esqr., upon the Potomac River in Fairfax
county Va. The mansion is of brick, two
storeys high, with four convenient rooms
and central passage on the lower floor,
five rooms and a large passage on the sec
ond; servants hall and cellar below. Con-
venient to 1t are offices, stables and coach
house; adjacent is large and well-furnish-
ed garden stored with a great variety or
fruits all in good order. Appertaining to
the tract on which the house stands and
which contains 2,0C0 acres are several valu-
able fisheries and good deal of clear land.
The terms may be known of Col. Wash
ington who lives near the premises.
It was not long after the publication OF
this advertisement that the house in charge
of steward, was destroyed by fire.
George Washington, in writing to the
Fairfaxes years after the American revolu-
ton, said:
1T is matter of sore regret when I cast