For Robert Edge Pine’s visit to Mount Vernon to paint this portrait, see entry for 28 April 1785.

Charles Willson Peale, now living in Philadelphia, wrote GW of the “great desire I have to make a good mezzotinto print” of him assuring GW he would “make the business as convenient to you as possible . . . by bringing my Pallette and Pensils to Mr. Morris’s that you might sett at your leisure” (29 May 1787, May–June, 1787, PPAmP: Charles Willson Peale Papers; see also SELLERS description begins Charles Coleman Sellers. Charles Willson Peale. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1947. description ends , 1:257–58; EISEN description begins Gustavus A. Eisen. Portraits of Washington. 3 vols. New York, 1932. description ends , 2:378).

On this day a local diarist recorded: “Before breakfast went with my daughter Hannah to the meadow. . . . On returning we met his Excellency General Washington taking a ride on horseback, only his coachman Giles with him” (HILTZHEIMER description begins Jacob Cox Parsons, ed. Extracts from the Diary of Jacob Hiltzheimer, of Philadelphia. 1765–1798. Philadelphia, 1893. description ends , 128).

The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, founded in Feb. 1785 to promote agriculture in the United States, consisted of active (resident) members living in or near Philadelphia and honorary (later corresponding) members. GW became one of the latter in 1785. Samuel Powel was president from 1785 to 1794. The regular monthly meetings, drawing between 10 and 20 members, were held in Carpenters’ Hall, on Chestnut Street near Third Street. Built in 1770 by the Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia, the hall had been the meeting place of the First Continental Congress (1774), to which GW had been a delegate (see GAMBRILL description begins Olive Moore Gambrill, “John Beale Bordley and the Early Years of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 66 (1942): 410–39. description ends , 410–39).

doctr. shovats anatomical figures: The surgeon and anatomist Abraham Chovet (1704–1790) was born in England, studied in France, practiced in England and the West Indies, and in 1774 opened his “Anatomical Museum” of wax human figures on Vidal’s Alley off Second Street in Philadelphia. Chastellux, impressed with Chovet’s work, was even more impressed with Chovet: “a real eccentric: his chief characteristic is contrary-mindedness; when the English were at Philadelphia he was a Whig, and since they left he has become a Tory” (CHASTELLUX description begins Marquis de Chastellux. Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782. Translated and edited by Howard C. Rice, Jr. 2 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1963. description ends , 1:146, 311). Chovet remained in Philadelphia, where he practiced medicine, taught anatomy, and helped found the College of Physicians (1787).

cincinnati: “Gen. Washington presents his Complts. to The honle. The Vice Presidt. of the Pensa. State Society of Cincinnati and will do himself the honor of dining with the society on the 4th of July agreeable to Invitation” (GW to Thomas McKean, 29 June [1787], PHi: McKean Papers). epplees tavern: Henry Epple (d. 1809) kept The Sign of the Rainbow, a popular tavern on the north side of Sassafras (Race) Street, above Third. Epple, who ran the tavern until 1794, had served as an officer in the army during the Revolution.

Dr. George Logan (1753–1821), a strict Quaker and an active pacifist, took his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1779 and returned to Pennsylvania to settle at his family home, Stenton, near Germantown, Pa., where he pursued experimental agriculture, and where GW is visiting this day.

On 8 July Charles Willson Peale wrote GW: “the Drapery and background of your Portrait is painted and if it is convenient to your Excellency to favor me with a sitting tomorrow morning, I will have my pallit sett with fresh ground Colours” (PPAmP: Charles Willson Peale Papers).

Although there were several Dr. Redmans in Philadelphia at this time GW is probably visiting Dr. John Redman (1722–1808), who was trained in Edinburgh and Leyden and practiced in Paris and London before returning home to Philadelphia. Here he specialized in obstetrics and trained many local physicians, including George Logan and Benjamin Rush. From 1786 to 1804 Redman served as first president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

The play was performed at the Southwark Theater, located just south of the city boundary. Because of a state law (1779) prohibiting theatrical performances, the building was called an opera house by the American Company, which played there from 25 June to 4 Aug. To skirt this same law the plays presented were billed under false titles that could still be recognizable by the theater-going public. Hence, in this evening’s “concert” James Townley’s High Life below the Stairs was billed as an “entertainment” called “the Servants Hall in an Uproar,” while the farce Love in a Camp, or Patrick in Prussia was advertised as a “Comic Opera” (SCHARF [1] description begins J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott. History of Philadelphia. 1609–1884. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1884. description ends , 2:965–67; SEILHAMER description begins George O. Seilhamer. History of the American Theatre. 3 vols. 1888–91. Reprint. New York, 1968. description ends , 2:217–21).

The play was Shakespeare’s The Tempest, adapted by John Dryden (SEILHAMER description begins George O. Seilhamer. History of the American Theatre. 3 vols. 1888–91. Reprint. New York, 1968. description ends , 2:219).

On this day Jacob Hiltzheimer went “in the afternoon . . . to Mr. Gray’s ferry, where we saw the great improvements made in the garden, summer houses, and walks in the woods. General Washington and a number of other gentlemen of the present Convention came down to spend the afternoon” (HILTZHEIMER description begins Jacob Cox Parsons, ed. Extracts from the Diary of Jacob Hiltzheimer, of Philadelphia. 1765–1798. Philadelphia, 1893. description ends , 128).

In 1790 James Milligan (d. 1818) lived on south Second Street (HEADS OF FAMILIES, PA. description begins Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Pennsylvania. 1908. Reprint. Baltimore, 1970. description ends , 237). As auditor and then as comptroller general of the treasury under the Articles of Confederation he had audited many of GW’s Revolutionary accounts.

John Penn (1760–1834), son of Thomas Penn, grandson of William Penn, and a first cousin of John Penn of Lansdowne, returned from England to Philadelphia in 1784 and built a home, The Solitude, on the west bank of the Schuylkill, later incorporated into Fairmount Park. Penn probably also had a house in town. He returned to England in 1788, where he promoted philanthropic causes, including the Outinian Society to promote matrimony, although Penn himself died a bachelor (see SNYDER description begins Martin P. Snyder. City of Independence: Views of Philadelphia before 1800. New York, 1975. description ends , 131–32).

The play was the tragedy Edward and Eleanora, by the Scots poet James Thomson (SEILHAMER description begins George O. Seilhamer. History of the American Theatre. 3 vols. 1888–91. Reprint. New York, 1968. description ends , 2:221).

spring mills: Spring Mill was an old grist mill on the east side of the Schuylkill River, about two miles below Conshohocken in Montgomery County, Pa. It was powered by the combined waters from several springs in a small area. The diary of Peter Legaux, a French immigrant who lived near Spring Mill, has the following entry for this date: “This day Gen. Washington, Gen. Mifflin and four others of the Convention did us the honor of paying us a visit in order to see our vineyard and bee houses. In this they found great delight, asked a number of questions, and testified their highest approbation with my manner of managing bees” (BAKER [2] description begins William Spohn Baker. Washington after the Revolution: MDCCLXXXIV - MDCCXCIX. Philadelphia, 1898. description ends , 84n).

On this day GW wrote Elizabeth Powel that he would “do himself the honor of calling upon her at, or before 5. oclock (in his Carriage) in hopes [of] the pleasure of conducting her to Lansdown this Evening” (ViMtvL).

Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745–1813), republican and reformer, and an earnest supporter of the American cause, developed the practice and teaching of medicine in Philadelphia, where he was a center of medical controversy. He campaigned for the ratification of the Federal Constitution and in the early years of the new nation worked for reforms in the fields of prisons, insane asylums, poverty, education, and public medical care and campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

Here GW was relying too much upon his memory, for his Philadelphia diary (see entry for 8 May 1787) had no notation of the date of adjournment, which was actually 26 July (FARRAND description begins Max Farrand, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Rev. ed. 4 vols. New Haven, 1966. description ends , 2:118, 128).

Before setting off on this fishing expedition GW, in a note to Mrs. Elizabeth Powel dated “Monday Morning,” wrote: “Genl. Washington presents his respectful compliments to Mrs. Powell, and would, with great pleasure, have made one of a party for the School for Scandal this evening; had not everything been arranged, & Mr. Govr. Morris and himself on the point of stepping into the Carriage for a fishing expedition at Jenny Moores; at Which place Mr. & Mrs. Robt. Morris are to be tomorrow, to partake of the successes, of Mr. Govr. Morris & himself this day. The Genl. can but regret that matters have turned out so unluckily, after waiting so long to receive a lesson in the School for Scandal” ([30 July 1787], ViMtvL). Mrs. Jane Moore’s Montgomery County farm bordered on Trout Creek and was within the old Valley Forge encampment (FREEMAN description begins Douglas Southall Freeman. George Washington: A Biography. 7 vols. New York, 1948–57. description ends , 6:102).