Monday 5th. Thermometer at [ ] in the Morning—58 at Noon & 58 at Night.
Lowering all day—with very little wind and that Northerly.
It being a good scenting morning I went out with the Hounds (carrying the two had from Colo. McCarty). Run at different two foxes but caught neither. My French Hounds performed better to day; and have afforded hopes of their performing well, when they come to be a little more used to Hunting, and understand more fully the kind of game they are intended to run.
When I returned home, wch. was not until past three Oclock found a Doctr. Baynham here—recommended to me by Colo. Fairfax of England.
George Washington and his Wife returned in the Evening from Abingdon.
My Overseer Fairfax also returned this Evening with Jack Ass, and his Keeper, a Spaniard from Boston.
William Baynham (1749–1814), from Caroline County, Va., was introduced by George W. Fairfax as “a young Gent. of a most worthy character, held in the highest Esteem by all that know him, in Scotland, where he lived many years, prosecuting his Studies in Surgery, also in London, where I understand he was in considerable practice sometime past” (Fairfax to GW, 23 June 1785, DLC:GW). Baynham was returning to his native country after 16 years abroad. He settled in Essex County, where he practiced surgery and medicine, enjoying a national reputation as one of the ablest surgeons in the United States.