1. See William Hunter, Jr., to GW, 11 May.

2. See Alexander Donald to GW, 22 May.

3. Thomas Henderson & Co. were merchants on Second Street in Philadelphia. GW placed this payment by the state of Virginia for his expenses in the hands of Robert Morris “to be drawn for occasionally” (see Contra, this date). At the end of his Philadelphia cash accounts GW himself inserted ’June 9—By Colo. Biddle pd him on acct 24.7.”

4. See GW to Thomas Smith, 16 Sept. 1787.

5. GW wrote George Clinton on 9 June that Robert Morris’s correspondent in New York would pay Clinton £325 to discharge GW’s debt to Clinton. See note 1 in GW’s letter to Clinton.

6. See Alexander Donald to GW, 20 June.

7. GW does not record receiving payment from the state of Virginia during July, but GW wrote this order, dated “Philadelphia 28th July 1787”: “Sir, Please to pay to Messrs Francis and John West on order, the sum of One hundred pounds Virginia Currency, and place it to acct of Yr most Obedt Hble Servt Go: Washington.” GW directed the order to “Beverley Randolph Lt Govr of Virginia.” Below GW’s signature is written “Philadelphia August 2. 1787. This bill will be paid on sight,” signed “Edm: Randolph” (ADS, owned in 1976 by Mr. W R. Coleman, San Bernardino, Calif.; ADS [photocopy], Virginia Cavalcade, Winter 1951, 43). GW left the place blank where someone, probably Edmund Randolph, inserted the names of John and Francis West.

8. On 16 Sept. GW signed a receipt: “Recd. from the Honble. John Blair One hundred and Eighty dollars [£67.10] on Acct of allowance by the State of Virga. to me as a delegate to the fœderal Convention” (photocopy in W. Edwin Hemphill, “Virginia to George Washington, Debtor,” Virginia Cavalcade, Winter 1951,43).

9. On 18 Sept. GW wrote Wakelin Welch from Philadelphia: “Sir’s, I have this day drawn upon you in favor of Robert Morris Esqr. for one hundred pounds Sterling payable at thirty days sight—which place to Account of Sir—Your most Obed. Servant G. Washington” (LB, DLC:GW).

10. The correct amount is £2.14.6.

11. Skerrett’s tavern was at the head of Bird River in Baltimore County. For GW’s itinerary to Philadelphia, 9–13 May, see Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:153–55.

12. Will (Billy; William Lee), GW’s mulatto body servant, had been with him since 1768.

13. On Friday, 18 May, GW “Dined at Greys ferry” on the Schuylkill (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:158).

14. See David Humphreys to GW, 16 Nov. 1786, and GW to Elizabeth Powel, 6 June 1787.

15. The Convention still not having been formed, on 23 May GW had breakfast at Thomas Mifflin’s, “after which in Company with him Mr. [James] Madison, Mr. [John] Rutledge and others” he “crossed the Schuylkill” to visit Richard Peters, John Penn, and William Hamilton (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:160).

16. On Tuesday, 29 May, GW accompanied his hostess, Mary White Morris, to a concert presented by James Juhan (ibid., 163–64).

17. See note 3.

18. On 12 June GW attended a concert at City Tavern presented by Alexander Reinagle (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:169). See GW to Elizabeth Powel, c.12 June.

19. GW had three servants with him in Philadelphia, his manservant Will (Billy), his groom Giles, and his postilion Paris. See note 24.

20. See note 5.

21. On Tuesday, 26 June, GW “made one of a party to drink Tea at Grays ferry” (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:171).

22. Washington Custis is Mrs. Washington’s grandson, George Washington Parke Custis.

23. GW attended the play, High Life below the Stairs, at the Southwark Theater on Tuesday, 10 July (ibid., 175).

24. Thomas Craig’s bill and the receipt for payment on 16 July of what was owed by GW for Craig’s boarding of GW’s “2 Servts @ 25s.” a week at his inn on Market Street is in ViMtvL. See note 19.

25. On 17 July GW made “an excursion with a party for Tea to Grays Ferry” (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:176).

26. On Saturday, 21 July, GW attended James Thomson’s tragedy Edward and Eleanora (ibid., 176).

27. On Sunday, 22 July, GW left the city before 5 o’clock in the morning and rode with others up to Spring Mill on the Schuylkill (ibid., 177).

28. Cooke & Co. were jewelers and goldsmiths on Second Street between Market and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia.

29. This may be John Conrad Waggener (Wagener, Wagner) who had a tailor shop on New Street and later on Front Street.

30. GW’s copy of of Samuel Butler’s Hudibras (London, 1775) was sold in 1876 (Griffin, Boston Athenæum Collection, description begins Appleton P. C. Griffin, comp. A Catalogue of the Washington Collection in the Boston Athenæum. Cambridge, Mass., 1897. description ends 482).

31. On 12 Aug. GW records paying 15 shillings for “Cutting a Cypher on my Seal.”

32. The Convention adjourned on 27 July until 6 August. One of the outings that GW took during the recess was with Robert Morris and his wife and Gouverneur Morris to Trenton “on another Fishing party” (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:180).

33. GW wrote Clement Biddle on 7 Aug. and asked him to secure a wimble bit for him and send to it to Mount Vernon for his mill.

34. After its publication in Paris in 1786 Chastellux presented GW with a copy of his two-volume Voyages de M. le Marquis de Chastellux dans l’Amérique Septentrionale Dans les Années 1780, 1781 & 1782 (ViMtvL). GW bought the translation Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782, published in London in 1787. Thomas Seddon’s bill for the two volumes is dated 4 Aug. (Birch’s catalog 663, item 81, p. 10).

35. A receipted bill dated 8 Aug. from John Stephens includes charges for “A pad to a Sadle—0.10.0[,] 2 girth straps & mending a bridle—0.1.10 [and] left unpaid of the New Sadle—0.5.0” (NjMoHP). In 1790 John Stephens, saddler, lived on the south side of Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.

36. In his letter to Clement Biddle of 7 Aug., GW refers to the shipping of the “Chair” to Mount Vernon, and Biddle notes its purchase for 32/6 on the cover of GW’s letter.

37. Thomas Billington was a merchant tailor at 96–97 High Street.

38. See GW to Joseph Rakestraw, 20 July.

39. In 1785 George Nelson, a protégé of Jacob Hiltzheimer, had a store on New Street between Second and Third. His partnership with John Weidman in a store at the corner of Fifth and Market Streets was dissolved on 11 September (Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser, 8 Nov.).

40. GW bought a coach dog on instructions from Mrs. Washington. See GW to George Augustine Washington, 12 August.

41. Thomas Palmer was a silk and stuff shoemaker on Chestnut Street between Second and Third.

42. In 1785 John Helm was a shopkeeper at 86 Sassafras Street.

43. On Sunday, 19 Aug., GW went with Samuel Powel out to Whitemarsh, northwest of Philadelphia, where he “Traversed my old Incampment, and contemplated on the dangers which threatned the American Army at that place” in November and December 1777 (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:181).

44. Mathew Carey (1760–1839) began publishing his magazine American Museum in 1786.

45. GW rode out to William Bartram’s botanical garden “and other places in the Country” on Sunday, 2 Sept. (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:183).

46. The four volumes of Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to His Son (New York,1775) were in GW’s library at his death.

47. This was James Beattie’s two-volume Evidences of the Christian Religion Briefly and Plainly Stated (London, 1786).

48. Albrecht von Haller’s Letters from Baron Haller to His Daughter on the Truth of the Christian Religion (London, 1783) was a translation from the German.

49. Jaconet was a cotton fabric made in India.

50. Thomas Smollet’s four-volume translation of Cervantes’ The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote (London, 1786) was at Mount Vernon at the time of GW’s death.

51. GW’s copy of The Life of John Buncle, Esq. (London, 1766) is in the Boston Athenaeum.

52. See GW to Samuel Powel, 25 July, n.1.

53. Jacob Hiltzheimer (d. 1798), a native of Mannheim, Germany, was a successful businessman in Philadelphia and at this time represented the city in the state assembly. His livery stable was on Seventh Street between Market and Chestnut.

54. Dr. John Jones (d. 1791) was practicing medicine in 1785 on Market Street between Second and Third.

55. GW left Philadelphia in his carriage on Tuesday, 18 Sept., after an early dinner, and spent his first night at Chester. For GW’s return journey to Mount Vernon, see Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:186–87.