37. GW, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796, WW, 35:214–38.
38. GW, Farewell, Nov. 2, 1783, ibid., 27:222–27; Felix Gilbert, To the Farewell Address: Ideas of Early American Foreign Policy (Princeton, N.J., 1961), 121–33.
39. Miller, Federalist Era, 198; Gilbert, To the Farewell Address, 132–33. See also Wood, Creation of the American Republic, 519–44.
40. Freeman, GW, 7:423.
41. Gardner W. Allen, Our Naval War with France (Boston, 1909), 1–23; De Conde, Entangling Alliance, 424–46.
42. De Conde, Entangling Alliance, 438.
43. Ibid., 439–40.
44. GW to Hamilton, Nov. 2, 3, and 21, 1796, WW, 35:251–55, 255–56, 287–89; GW to Congress, Jan. 19, 1797, ibid., 35:369–70; Hamilton to GW, Nov. 4 and 5, 1796, Syrett and Cooke, Papers of Hamilton, 20:372–73, 374–75.
45. Stephen G. Kurtz, The Presidency of John Adams: The Collapse of Federalism, 1795–1800 (Philadelphia, 1957), 127–32; Miller, Federalist Era, 199.
46. GW to Sir John Sinclair, Dec. 10, 1796, WW, 35:321–23; GW to Knox, Mar. 2, 1796, ibid., 35:408–10.
47. GW, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796, ibid., 35:215–16, 218; GW, Annual Address, Dec. 7, 1796, ibid., 35:311–18; GW to Humphreys, June 26, 1797, ibid., 35:481.
48. GW, Annual Messages, Dec. 3, 1793, Dec. 7, 1795, and Dec. 7, 1796, ibid., 33:165–66; 34:386–93; 35:317; Kohn, Eagle and Sword, 128–38.
49. GW, Annual Address, Dec. 7, 1796, WW, 35:313–18; GW, Farewell Address, Sept. 15, 1796, ibid., 35:230; Leonard Helderman, George Washington: Patron of Learning (New York, 1932), 28, 36, 38–39, 42–49. On GW’s initial will, prepared in the 1790s, see: WW, 34:59–60n.
50. GW to Stuart, Mar. 28 and June 15, 1790, WW, 31:30, 52; Thomas E. Drake, Quakers and Slavery in America (New Haven, Conn., 1950), 100–13; Robinson, Slavery in the Structure of American Politics, 285–88, 302–304.
51. GW to Lear, May 6, 1794, WW, 33:358.
52. GW to Lafayette, Apr. 5, 1783, and May 10, 1786, ibid., 26:300; 28:424; Flexner, GW, 4:112–25; Ford, True GW, 153–54.
53. Wall, “Housing and Family Life of the Mount Vernon Negro,” 7–8, MVL; Flexner, GW, 4:122, 124; GW to Wolcott, Sept. 1, 1796, ibid., 35:201–202; GW to Joseph Whipple, Nov. 28, 1796, ibid., 35:296–98; GW to Lewis, Nov. 13, 1797, ibid., 36:70; William W. Freehling, “The Founding Fathers and Slavery,” AHR, 77 (1972), 81–91; William Cohen, “Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Slavery,” JAH, 56 (1969), 503–26; Ketcham, Madison, 148–49; Robert McColley, Slavery and Jeffersonian Virginia (Urbana, 111., 1973), 114–32, 182–85.
54. GW to David Stuart, Dec. 11, 1787, Jan. 18 and 22, 1788, WW, 29:335, 387, 390; GW to Pendleton, Mar. 1, 1788, ibid., 29:429; GW to Ch. Lee, Apr. 4, 1788, ibid. 29:460–61; GW to John Lawson, Apr. 10, 1787, ibid., 29:199; GW to John Fowler, Feb. 2, 1788, ibid., 29:398; GW to Geo. Lewis, Nov. 13, 1797, ibid., 36:70; GW to Eliz. Lewis, Sept. 1, 1789, ibid., 30:400; GW, “Estimate of the Cost of . . . Negroes on Dogue Run . . . ,” [1790], ibid., 31:186–89; GW, Inventory, June, 1799, ibid., 37:256–68; DGW, 4:277–83; Affadavit, May 28, 1795, WPPV; Ford, True GW, 138–39.
55. Flexner, GW, 4:121; GW to R. Morris, Apr. 12, 1786, WW, 27:408; Richard Parkinson, George Washington: Statement of George Washington (Baltimore, 1909), 16; Richard Parkinson, A Tour of America, 2 vols., (London, 1805), 2:121–23; Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine and Fig Tree: Travels Through America, trans. by Metchie J.E. Budka (Elizabeth, N.J., 1965), 100–101.
56. GW to Whiting, Jan. 6 and Feb. 17, 1793, WW, 32:293, 348; GW to H. Lewis, Aug. 18, 1793, ibid., 33:53; GW to Anderson, Dec. 21, 1797, ibid., 36:114; GW to Spotswood, Sept. 14, 1798, ibid., 36:445; GW to Ch. Vancouver, Nov. 5, 1791, ibid., 31:410; GW to Pearce, Feb. 9, July 13 and 27, 1794, June 7, July 5, Oct. 25, 1795, and May 1, 1796, ibid., 33:267, 447; 34:212, 231, 343; 35:34; GW to Lear, June 19, 1791, ibid., 31:302; MW to Fanny Washington, May 24, 1795, MVL.
57. GW to Vancouver, Nov. 5, 1791, WW, 31:440; GW to Pearce, Feb. 22, Aug. 3, 1794, Feb. 1 and March 8, 1795, ibid., 33:275, 452; 34:12, 135; GW to Whiting, Oct. 14, 1792, ibid., 32:184; Ford, True GW, 145.
58. GW to Whiting, Nov. 4, Dec. 9, 1792, and Jan. 6, 1793, WW, 32:205, 256–57, 293, 295; GW, Memorandum, Nov. 5, 1796, ibid., 35:265; GW to Bloxham, Jan. 1, 1789, ibid., 30:175n.
59. GW to Pearce, Jan. 12, May 18, July 20, 1794, and May 22, 1795, ibid., 33:242, 369, 435; 34:153; GW, Inventory, June, 1799, ibid., 37:256; GW to Whiting, Oct. 14 and 28, 1792, ibid., 32:184, 197.
60. GW to Spotswood, Sept. 14, 1798, ibid., 36:445; GW to Pearce, Oct. 27 and Dec. 18, 1793, Jan. 19, 1794, Jan. 25, Mar. 1, May 10, and Dec. 13, 1795, ibid., 33:33, 142, 191, 243; 34:103, 128, 193, 393; GW to Whiting, Jan. 20, Feb. 23, Mar. 3, and May 19, 1793, ibid., 32:307, 358, 366, 465; GW, “To the Overseers at Mount Vernon,” July 14, 1793, ibid., 33:11.
61. Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine and Fig Tree, 100; Wall, “Housing and Family Life of the Mount Vernon Negro,” 23–24, MVL: GW to Young, Dec. 12, 1793, WW, 33:178.
62. GW to Whiting, Oct. 14, 1792, May 12 and 26, 1793, WW, 32:184, 458, 474–75; GW to Pearce, Dec. 22, 1793, ibid., 33:205; GW, “Estimate of the Cost . . . , “[1790?], ibid., 33:186–87; GW to Lear, Oct. 7, 1791, ibid., 31:385; “Washington’s Household Account Book,” PMHB, 30 (1905), 43, 321; 31 (1906), 67, 73.
63. Flexner, GW, 4:432–34.
64. GW to Young, Nov. 9, 1794, WW, 34:21; Flexner, GW, 4:432–34.
65. GW to Knox, Mar. 2, 1797, WW, 35:409; Louis M. Sears, George Washington (New York, 1932), 484.
66. GW to Duane, Apr. 10, 1785, WW, 38:124; GW to Henry, Oct. 9, 1795, ibid. 34:335. See also Morgan, Genius of GW, 20–25.
67. GW to Rush, Apr. 28, 1788, WW, 29:481; GW to Buchan, June 30, 1790, May 1, 1792, and Apr. 22, 1793, ibid., 31:63; 32:25, 429; Liston to Lord Grenville, Dec. 21, 1799, WPPV; Richard Parkinson, George Washington: Statement of Richard Parkinson (Baltimore, 1909), 27.
68. GW, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796, WW, 35:237.
69. GW, Proposed Inaugural Address, 1789, ibid., 30:297, 299, 303, 305, 307; GW, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796, ibid., 35:219, 224, 227; GW, Annual Address, Dec. 7, 1796, ibid., 35:315.
70. Baker, GW after the Revolution, 340–41, 343; Freeman, GW, 7:432–35; Mayo, Myths and Men, 35–36.
71. Freeman, GW, 7:436–37; Smith, Adams, 2:917–18; Withey, Dearest Friend, 247.
19
The Last Tears
1. Bellamy, Private Life of GW, 375–76.
2. Eliza Powel to GW, Feb. 6, 8, Mar. 6 and 11, 1791, MVL.
3. Eliza Powel to GW, Feb. 6 and 8, 1797, MVL; GW to Dandridge, Apr. 3, 1797, WW, 35:428–29; GW to Mary White Morris, May 1, 1797, ibid., 35:441–42; Freeman, GW, 7:438–44; GW, “Household Furniture” [Memorandum], Feb.[?], 1797, WPPV.
4. “GW’s Household Account Book,” PMHB, 31:34i–47; GW to Anderson, Feb. 5, 1797, WW, 35:385.
5. MW to Catherine Greene, Mar. 3, 1797, MVL; Freeman, GW, 7:236; GW to Citizens of Alexandria, Mar. 23, 1797, WW, 35:423.
6. GW to Pearce, Dec. 4 and 11, 1796, WW, 35:307, 332; GW to Anderson, Aug. 18, 1796, ibid., 35:182; GW to Dr. James Anderson, Apr. 7, 1797, ibid., 35:432; GW, Memorandum, Nov. 5, 1796, ibid., 35:256–58, 266; GW to Sir Edward Newenham, Aug. 6, 1797, ibid., 36:4; Thane, Potomac Squire, 359.
7. GW, Memorandum, Nov. 5, 1796, WW, 35:266; GW to Pearce, Nov. 20, 1796, ibid., 35:286; GW to Lear, Mar. 25, 1797, ibid., 35:424–25; GW to Lewis, Apr. 9, 1797, ibid., 35:434–35; GW to McHenry, Apr. 3, 1797, ibid., 35:431. On the contents of GW’s art collection, see Flexner, GW, 4:356–70.
8. GW to Anderson, Jan. 8, 29, Feb. 5, Apr. 7, 1797, and Feb. 6, 1798, WW, 35:352–53, 377–78, 384; 36:154; GW to Lewis, Jan. 26, 1798, ibid., 36:141; GW to Wm. Augustine Washington, Feb. 27, 1798, ibid., 36:172–73; Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine, 100.
9. GW to Fitzhugh, May 30, 1798, WW, 36:278; Parkinson, GW: Statement of Parkinson, 16, 18, 24.
10. GW to Anderson, Feb. 6, 1798, Oct. 1 and Dec. 13, 1799, WW, 36:153–55; 37:38
2–85, 473–74; GW to Lawrence Lewis, Sept. 28, 1799, ibid., 37:376–77.
11. Parkinson, GW, 18; Flexner, GW, 4:451; GW, River Farm [Plans], Dec. 10, 1799, WW, 37:463–72; GW to Lewis, Sept. 20, 1799, ibid., 37:369; GW to Wm. A. Washington, Oct. 29, 1799, ibid., 37:415.
12. GW to Ebenezer Tucker, Jan. 24, 1790, WW, 31:2; GW, Land Memorandum, May 25, 1794, ibid., 33:376–80.
13. GW to Wolcott, June 7, July 3, 1797, ibid., 35:461, 486; GW to Israel Shreve, Sept. 1, 1797, June 10, 1799, ibid., 36:23–25; 37:85–87; GW to Judge A. Addison, Nov. 24, 1799, ibid., 37:439; Sturdevant, “Quest for Eden,” 293–328.
14. GW to Lewis, Aug. 18, 1799, WW, 37:339; Sturdevant, “Quest for Eden,” 345–60; Roy Bird Cook, Washington’s Western Lands (Strasburg, Va., 1930), 75, 80, 88.
15. GW to John Mason, Jan. 2, 1798, WW, 36:116; Sturdevant, “Quest for Eden,” 264–83.
16. GW to Biddle, May 28, 1798, WW, 36:276; GW, Last Will and Testament, [1799?], WW, 37:301; GW to Wm. Berkeley, Aug. 11, 1799, ibid., 37:330; GW to J. Mason, Dec. 8, 1799, ibid., 37:457; Sturdevant, “Quest for Eden,” 372–79.
17. Eliza Powel to MW, Jan. 7, 1798, MVL; MW to Eliza Powel, Dec. 17, MVL; Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine, 84, 311, 104.
18. GW to Greenwood, Dec. 7 and 12, 1798, WW, 37:27–28; GW to Bushrod Washington, Aug. 27, 1798, ibid., 36:419–20; GW to David Stuart, Sept. 10, 1798, ibid., 31:435; GW to Spotswood, Sept. 14, 1798, ibid., 36:444; GW to Carter, Oct. 5, 1798, ibid., 36:484.
19. GW to Th. Erskine, July 7, 1797, ibid., 36:489–90; GW to Lewis, Apr. 9, 1797, ibid., 35:434–35; Flexner, GW, 4:341.
20. Flexner, GW, 4:346; Freeman, GW, 7:480; GW to McHenry, Apr. 3, 1797, WW, 35:430; GW to G.W.P. Custis, Aug. 29, 1797, ibid., 36:22; GW to Stuart, Feb. 26, 1798, ibid., 36:171; Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine, 85, 103.
21. GW to Lewis, Aug. 4, 1797, WW, 36:2–3.
22. Baker, GW after the Revolution, 277, 349–50; Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine, 97; Flexner, GW, 4:196; GW to G.W.R Custis, Apr. 15, 1798, WW, 36:246; DGW, 6:288n.
23. GW to John McDowell, Sept. 16, 1798, WW, 36:449; GW to Stuart, Jan. 22, 1798, ibid., 36:136; GW to G.W.P Custis, Aug. 29, 1797, Mar. 10, May 10, June 13, and July 24, 1798, ibid., 36:21, 187, 259, 288, 363; DGW, 4:284; Bourne, First Family, 181–83.
24. DGW, 6:261, 271, 287, 252n, 272n, 287n; GW to Rawlins, Jan. 31 and Feb. 12, 1798, WW, 36:150–51, 165–66; GW to Wm. A. Washington, Feb. 27, 1798, ibid., 36:171–72.
25. GW to McHenry, May 29, 1797, WW, 35:455; DGW, 6:258, 264–65, 268, 285, 297–98, 312, 327; Freeman, GW, 7:469; Flexner, GW, 4:346.
26. GW to William Vans Murray, Dec. 3, 1797, WW, 36:88; GW to Strickland, July 15, 1797, ibid., 35:409; GW to Sally Fairfax, May 16, 1798, ibid., 36:262–64; PGW, 1:xvii–xviii.
27. GW to McHenry, Apr. 3, 1797, WW, 35:430; GW to C.C. Pinckney, June 24, 1797, ibid., 35:471; GW to Wolcott, May 15 and 29, 1797, ibid., 35:447, 457.
28. Ammon, Monroe, 165–67.
29. GW, “Remarks on Monroe’s View . . . ,” [Mar. 1798], WW, 36:194–237; GW to McHenry, Aug. 14, 1797, ibid., 36:8.
30. GW to Pickering, Aug. 29, 1797, ibid., 36:18–19; Alexander DeConde, The Quasi–War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1797–1801 (New York, 1966), 3–29; Ferling, “‘Oh that I was a Soldier,’“ American Quarterly, 36:271–75.
31. DeConde, Quasi–War, 36–54.
32. Ferling, “‘Oh that I was a Soldier,’ “272–73; DeConde, Quasi–War, 90–92, 96.
33. GW to James Lloyd, Apr. 15, 1798, WW, 36:246; GW to Pickering, Aug. 29, 1797, ibid., 36:19; GW to Sally Fairfax, May 16, 1798, ibid., 36:263; GW to Pres. Adams, July 13, 1798, ibid., 36:328; GW to Spotswood, Nov. 22, 1798, ibid., 37:23.
34. Hamilton to GW, May 19, 1798, Syrett and Cooke, Papers of Hamilton, 21:467; GW to Hamilton, May 27, 1798, WW, 36:271–73.
35. GW to McHenry, July 4, 1798, WW, 36:305; Freeman, GW, 7:516–17, 519.
36. Hamilton to GW, July 8, 1798, Syrett and Cooke, Papers of Hamilton, 21:534–35.
37. WW, 36:326n; GW to Pickering, July 11, 1798, ibid., 36:323–27; GW to Pres. Adams, July 13, 1798, ibid., 36:327–29; GW to Hamilton, July 14, 1798, ibid., 36:331; GW to Knox, July 16, 1798, ibid., 36:344; Adams to McHenry, July 6, 1798, Adams, Works, 7:574.
38. GW to Hamilton, July 14, 1798, WW, 36:332; GW to Pickering, July 11, 1798, ibid., 36:323–24; Pickering to GW, July 2, 1798, ibid., 36:324n; GW to McHenry, July 4, 1798, ibid., 36:304–12; GW to Pres. Adams, July 4, 1798, ibid., 36:312–15; Hamilton to GW, June 2, 1798, Syrett and Cooke, Papers of Hamilton, 21:479.
39. Kohn, Eagle and Sword, 227.
40. Ferling, “‘Oh that I was a Soldier,’ “273.
41. Smith, Adams, 2:972, 974.
42. Knox to GW, July 29, 1798, Sparks, Writings of GW, 11:534–37; GW to Knox, Aug. 9, 1798, WW, 36:396–401; Freeman, GW, 7:531.
43. GW to Pres. Adams, Sept. 25, 1798, WW, 36:453–62; Adams to GW, Oct. 9, 1798, Adams, Works, 8:600–601.
44. GW to Lear, Aug. 2, 1798, WW, 36:381; GW to Pickering, Sept. 9, 1798, ibid., 36:434; GW to McHenry, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, 16, and Oct. 23, 1798, ibid., 36:402, 441–42, 463, 514.
45. DGW, 6:322–23; Freeman, GW, 7:549–50.
46. DGW, 6:323–26; Eliza Powel to GW, Dec. 3, 1798, MVL; Freeman, GW, 7:554n; GW to Eliza Powel, Nov. 17, 1798, WPPV.
47. GW to McHenry, Dec. 13 and 16, 1798, WW, 37:32–38, 60–62.
48. GW to McHenry, Oct. 27 and Nov. 5, 1799, ibid., 37:413, 419.
49. GW to McHenry, Jan. 27, Feb. 10, Mar. 25, May 13, and July 7, 1799, ibid., 37:110–12, 127–29, 157; 209, 271; GW to James McAlpin, May 12, 1799, ibid., 37:206–207.
50. DeConde, Quasi–War, 174; GW to Pres. Adams, Feb. 1, 1799, WW, 37:119–20; Ferling, “‘Oh that I was a Soldier,’“142–43, 418.
51. DeConde, Quasi–War, 174–79; GW to Pickering, Mar. 3 and Nov. 3, 1799, WW, 37:142–43,418.
52. DGW, 6:327; GW to Lafayette, Dec. 25, 1798, WW, 37:64–72.
53. GW to Stuart, Dec. 30, 1798, WW, 37:77–78; GW to Lewis, Jan. 23, 1799, ibid., 37:105–106.
54. GW to Dandridge, Jan. 25, 1799, ibid., 37:108.
55. DGW, 6:335.
56. Ibid., 6:350; GW to McHenry, Jan. 6, 1799, WW, 37:84–85; Freeman, GW, 7:56m.
57. GW, Inventory, June, 1799, WW, 37:256–68; GW, Last Will and Testament, ibid., 37:276–77.
58. GW, Last Will and Testament, ibid., 37:275, 278–307. See also, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Last Will and Testament of George Washington and Schedule of his Property (Mount Vernon, Va., 1939).
59. DGW, 6:359; GW to Gov. Trumbull, July 21, 1799, WW, 37:314.
60. DGW, 6:363, 363–64n; GW to Th. Peter, Sept. 7, 1799, WW, 37:353; GW to Samuel Washington, Sept. 22, 1799, ibid., 37:374; GW to Wm. A. Washington, Oct. 29, 1799, ibid., 37:415.
61. DGW, 6:358.
62. Freeman, GW, 7:606; GW to Lewis, Aug. 18 and 23, 1799, WW, 37:339, 341; GW to Peter, Dec. 3, 1799, ibid., 37:452; GW to Murray, Oct. 26, 1799, ibid., 37:400; GW to Hamilton, Oct. 27, 1799, ibid., 37:409–10; GW to Ball, Sept. 22, 1799, ibid., 37:372.
63. GW to Fairfax, Nov. 30, 1799, WW, 37:447; 447; Freeman, GW, 7:608; DGW, 6:374, 377; ibid., 4:250n.
64. GW to Wm. Thornton, Dec. 1, 1799, WW, 37:448; GW to Biddle, Dec. 8, 1799, ibid., 37:458; GW to Anderson, Dec. 10, 1799, ibid., 37:459, 462; GW [Plans, 1799], ibid., 37:463–72; GW to Hamilton, Dec. 12, 1799, ibid., 37:473.
65. DGW, VI, 378–79; Lear, Letters and Recollections, 129.
66. DGW, 6:379n; Freeman, GW, 7:619.
67. Lear, Letters, 130–36; “Statement of Attending Physicians,” Alexandria Times, Dec. 19, 1799, reprinted in Freeman, GW, 7:640–41. On Washington’s death, see also, “A Comparative Critique of Washington’s Last Illness,” Freeman, GW, 7:637–47; Creighton Barker, “A Case Report,” Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 9 (1936–37), 185–87; Wyndham Bolling Blanton, Medicine in Virginia in the Eighteenth Century (Richmond, Va., 1931), 305–12; Fielding O. Lewis, “Washing
ton’s Last Illness,” Annals of Medical History, 4 (1932), 245–48; Rudolph Marx, “A Medical Profile of George Washington,” American Heritage, 6 (1955), 43–47, 106–107; Walter A. Wells, “The Last Illness and Death of George Washington,” Virginia Medical Monthly, 53 (1926–27), 629–42.
Afterword
1. Eliza Powel to MW, Dec. 24, 1799, MVL.
2. Lear, Letters, 139; Freeman, GW, 7:626–29.
3. Lear, Letters, 135; MW to Abigail Adams, Jan. 5, 1800, MVL.
4. Prussing, Estate of GW, 98; Charles W. Akers, Abigail Adams: An American Woman (Boston, 1980), 173–74.
5. Th. Law to John Law, May 23, 1802, Mount Vernon Ladies Association Annual Report, 1981 (Mount Vernon, Va., 1981), 15.
6. Prussing, Estate of GW, 159, 137, 410–47, 204; Public Sales [Ledger] . . . , Mar. 5, 1800–June 5, 1803, WPPV.
7. Prussing, Estate of GW, 204.
8. Ibid., 205–206.
9. Billy J. Harbin, “Letters from John Parke Custis to George and Martha Washington, 1778–1781,” WMQ, 3d ser., 43 (1986), 267.
10. Dennis Clark, “Philadelphia 1876: Celebration and Illusion,” in Dennis Clark, ed., Philadelphia 1776–2076: A Three Hundred Year View (Port Washington, N.Y., 1975), 41–63.
Select Bibliography
From the moment George Washington became an officer in the Virginia Regiment he understood that he was a public figure, and that historians and concerned citizens who were his contemporaries, as well as those from generations yet unborn, would scrutinize his activities. In 1754 he not only began to make copies of his letters but apparently commenced the practice of preserving the correspondence that he received. By the time of his death forty-five years later, his accumulated papers were massive, testing even spacious Mount Vernon’s capacity for housing the materials.
The work of sorting and classifying Washington’s papers began in 1781. Even before the Battle of Yorktown, Congress appointed Lt. Col. Richard Varick to superintend the arrangement of the commander’s papers and, in addition, to make copies of this vast array of documents (GW to PC, Apr. 4, 1781, WW, 211411–12. See also GWP, ser. 1, i:xiii–xix; ser. 2, i:xvii–xxi). Although Washington looked upon these materials as public property, he brought them with him to Mount Vernon in 1783.
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