Thursday 6th. Thermometer at 63 in the Morning—73 at Noon and 72 at Night. Clear, calm, warm and exceeding pleasant.
About Nine Oclock the Minister of France, the Marchioness de Brehan & their Suit, left this on their return for New York. I accompanied them as far as Alexandria & returned home to dinner. The Minister proceeded to George Town after having received an address from the Citizens of the Corporation.
In the Afternoon Mr. Ferdinand Fairfax came in and stayed all Night.
Moustier and Madame de Bréhan originally planned to make a more extensive tour of Virginia including stops at Richmond, the Natural Bridge, and Monticello, home of their friend Thomas Jefferson. They cut short their visit to the state because, in their opinion, “the season was too far advanced” and they already “had so much suffer’d from the cold” on their travels. Nevertheless, they were greatly pleased with GW and Mount Vernon. “Every thing there,” they wrote Jefferson, “is enchanting” (29 Dec. 1788, , 14:399–400).
Ferdinando Fairfax, a godson of GW, had inherited most of the estate of his uncle George William Fairfax during the past year (GW to Warner Washington, 9 Nov. 1787, NHi: George and Martha Washington Papers).