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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18cdccf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67788 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67788) diff --git a/old/67788-0.txt b/old/67788-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d7b15e2..0000000 --- a/old/67788-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5448 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Through Colonial Doorways, by Anne -Hollingsworth Wharton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Through Colonial Doorways - -Author: Anne Hollingsworth Wharton - -Release Date: April 6, 2022 [eBook #67788] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading - Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from - images generously made available by The Internet - Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH COLONIAL -DOORWAYS *** - - - - - - THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS - - SEVENTEENTH EDITION - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: - - THROUGH - COLONIAL - DOORWAYS - - - BY - ANNE HOLLINGSWORTH - WHARTON - - [Illustration] - - - PHILADELPHIA - J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - MDCCCC] - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1893, - BY - J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. - - - PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA - - - - - TO THE MEMORY OF - - MARGARET N. CARTER, - - WHOSE LIVING AND LOVING PRESENCE WAS AN INSPIRATION - DURING THE PREPARATION OF THESE - CHAPTERS, AND WHOSE SKETCHES ARE - AMONG THOSE THAT ADORN ITS PAGES, - - THIS LITTLE VOLUME - - IS - - Dedicated. - - - - -[Illustration: PREFACE] - - -The revival of interest in Colonial and Revolutionary times has become -a marked feature of the life of to-day. Its manifestations are to be -found in the literature which has grown up around these periods, and -in the painstaking individual research being made among documents and -records of the past with genealogical and historical intent. - -Not only has a desire been shown to learn more of the great events of -the last century, but with it has come an altogether natural curiosity -to gain some insight into the social and domestic life of Colonial -days. To read of councils, congresses, and battles is not enough: men -and women wish to know something more intimate and personal of the -life of the past, of how their ancestors lived and loved as well of how -they wrought, suffered, and died. - -With some thought of gratifying this desire, by sounding the heavy -brass knocker, and inviting the reader to enter with us through the -broad doorways of some Colonial homes into the hospitable life within, -have these pages been written. - -For original material placed at my disposal, in the form of letters and -manuscripts, I am indebted to numerous friends, among these to Mrs. -Oliver Hopkinson, the Misses Sharples, Miss Anna E. Peale, Miss F. -A. Logan, Mrs. Edward Wetherill, Mr. C. R. Hildeburn, and Mr. Edward -Shippen. - -To the Editors of the _Atlantic Monthly_, the _Lippincott’s Magazine_, -and the _Philadelphia Ledger_ and _Times_, I wish to express my -appreciation of their courtesy in allowing me to use in some of these -chapters material to which they first gave place in their columns. - - A. H. W. - - PHILADELPHIA, March, 1893. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS 7 - - THE MESCHIANZA 23 - - NEW YORK BALLS AND RECEPTIONS 65 - - THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 97 - - THE WISTAR PARTIES 147 - - A BUNDLE OF OLD LOVE LETTERS 177 - - THE PHILADELPHIA DANCING ASSEMBLIES 197 - - - - -[Illustration: THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS] - - -The historian of the past has, as a rule, been pleased to treat with -dignified silence the lighter side of Colonial life, allowing the -procession of noble men and fair women to sweep on, grand, stately, -and imposing, but lacking the softer touches that belong to social and -domestic life. So much has been written and said of the stern virtues -of the fathers and mothers of the Republic, and of their sacrifices, -privations, and heroism, that we of this generation would be in danger -of regarding them as types of excellence to be placed upon pedestals, -rather than as men and women to be loved with human affection, were -it not for some old letter, or diary, or anecdote that floats down to -us from the past, revealing the touch of nature that makes them our -kinsfolk by the bond of sympathy and interest, of taste and habit, as -well as by that of blood. - -The dignified Washington becomes to us a more approachable personality -when, in a letter written by Mrs. John M. Bowers, we read that when -she was a child of six he dandled her on his knee and sang to her -about “the old, old man and the old, old woman who lived in the -vinegar-bottle together,” or when we come across a facetious letter -of his own in which the general tells how his cook was “sometimes -minded to cut a figure,” notably, when ladies were entertained at camp, -and would, on such occasions, add to the ordinary roast and greens a -beefsteak pie or a dish of crabs, which left only six feet of space -between the different dishes instead of twelve; or again, when General -Greene writes from Middlebrook, “We had a little dance at my quarters. -His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards of three hours without -once sitting down. Upon the whole we had a pretty little frisk.” - -We are not accustomed to associate minuets and “pretty frisks” with the -stern realities of Revolutionary days, yet as brief mention of them -comes down to us, they serve to light up the background of that rugged -picture, as when Miss Sally Wister tells, in her sprightly journal, of -the tricks played by herself and a bevy of gay girls upon the young -officers quartered in the old Foulke mansion, at Penllyn, soon after -the battle of Brandywine. Miss Wister’s confidences are addressed to -Miss Deborah Norris, afterwards the learned Mrs. George Logan, and -the principal actors in the century-old drama are the lively Miss -Sally, who dubs herself “Thy smart journalizer,” and Major Stoddert -from Maryland, who in the first scenes plays a _rôle_ somewhat similar -to that of Young Marlow, but later develops attractions of mind and -character that Miss Sally finds simply irresistible. She considers him -both “good natur’d and good humor’d,” and evinces a fine discrimination -in defining the application of these terms, which shows that a Quaker -maiden in love may still retain a modicum of the clear-headedness which -is one of the distinguishing characteristics of her sect. The cousinly -allusions to “chicken-hearted Liddy”--Miss Liddy Foulke, later known -as Mrs. John Spencer--and her numerous admirers are very interesting. -When Miss Sally, who is evidently reducing the heart of the gallant -major to “ashes of Sodom,” naively remarks, _à propos_ of Liddy’s -conquests, “When will Sally’s admirers appear? Ah! that, indeed. Why, -Sally has not charms sufficient to pierce the heart of a soldier. But -still I won’t despair. Who knows what mischief I yet may do?” we feel -that maidens’ hearts in 1777 were made on much the same plan that they -are nowadays, and that even to so rare a _confidante_ as Miss Deborah -Norris the whole was not revealed. - -Through such old chroniclers or letter-writers we sometimes meet the -great ladies of the past at ball or dinner, or, better still, in the -informal intercourse of their own homes, and catch glimpses of their -husbands and lovers, the warriors, statesmen, and philosophers of the -time, at some social club, like the Hasty Pudding of Cambridge, the -State in Schuylkill or the Wistar Parties of Philadelphia, or the -Tuesday Club and the Delphian in Baltimore. Meeting them thus, enjoying -witticisms and good cheer in one another’s excellent company, we feel -a closer bond between their life and our own than if they were always -presented to us in public ceremonial or with pen and folio in hand. -When we read of Judge Peters crying out good-humoredly, as he pushed -his way between a fat and a slim man who blocked up a doorway, “Here -I go through thick and thin;” or when we think of the signers of the -Declaration, gathered together in the old State House on that memorable -July day of 1776, illuminating the solemnity of the occasion by jokes, -even as grim ones as those of Hancock and Franklin and Gerry, we are -conscious of a sense of comradeship inspired more by the mirth and -_bonhomie_ than by the heroism of these men, who labored yesterday that -we might laugh to-day. The great John Adams, who with all his greatness -was not a universal favorite among his contemporaries, comes down to -us irradiated with a nimbus of amiability, in a picture that his wife -draws of him, submitting to be driven about the room with a willow -stick by one of his small grandchildren; and when Mrs. Bache begs her -“dear papa” not to reprimand her so severely for desiring a little -finery, in which to appear at the Ambassador’s and when she “goes -abroad with the Washingtons,” because he is the last person to wish to -see her “dressed with singularity, or in a way that will not do credit -to her father and her husband,” we can fancy Dr. Franklin’s grave -features relaxing in a smile over the daughter’s diplomacy, inherited -from no stranger. The wedding of President Madison to the pretty Widow -Todd seems more real to us when we learn from eye-witnesses of the -various festivities that illuminated the occasion, and of how the -girls vied with one another in obtaining mementos of the evening, -cutting in bits the Mechlin lace that adorned the groom’s delicate -shirt-ruffles, and showering the happy pair with rice when they drove -off to Montpelier, old Mr. Madison’s estate in Virginia. Through it -all, we can hear Mrs. Washington’s earnest voice assuring “Dolly” that -she and General Washington approve of the match, and that even if Mr. -Madison is twenty years older than herself, he will still make her a -good husband. That this sensible advice from the stately matron should -have made the girl-widow blush and run away does not surprise us, for, -while acknowledging to an immense respect for Mrs. Washington, in -consequence not only of her position, but of the dignity and serenity -of her character, we are always conscious of a feeling of restraint in -her presence, which she makes no effort to overcome by word or smile. -We cannot imagine ourselves spending a pleasant evening with her, -discussing events of the day, or the last engagement or ball, as we -can with Mrs. John Adams, Mrs. John Jay, or sprightly Mrs. Bache. We -confess to the same emotions with regard to Mrs. Robert Morris, whose -character stands out, like that of her intimate friend Mrs. Washington, -surrounded by a halo of excellence. Is this the fault of these worthy -ladies, or is it that of their biographers, who, in presenting them -to the world with all the lofty virtues of Roman matrons, have added -no lighter touches to their pictures? In vain we search for some -shred of gayety, or mirth, or enthusiasm, on their part, and in sheer -desperation back out of their presence with a stately courtesy, and -take refuge with Rebecca Franks, or Sally Wister, or Eliza Southgate, -with whom we are always sure of passing a merry half-hour. Nor is it -frivolity and merry-making that we look for in the records of the -past: it is life, with its high hopes and homely cares, its simple -pleasures and small gayeties, that served to relieve the tension of -earnest endeavor needed to accomplish a great and difficult task. Mrs. -Adams’s letters about her children, her household economies, and her -experiments in farming are almost as interesting as those written from -abroad, because she approaches all subjects, even the most commonplace, -with a buoyant spirit and playful fancy. To her husband, during one -of his long absences from home, she writes, “I am a mortal enemy to -anything but a cheerful countenance and a merry heart, which, Solomon -tells us, does good like medicine.” And again, “I could give you a long -list of domestic affairs, but they would only serve to embarrass you -and in noways relieve me. All domestic pleasures are absorbed in the -great and important duty you owe your country, ‘for our country is, as -it were, a secondary god, and the first and greatest parent. It is to -be preferred to parents, wives, children, friends, and all things,--the -gods only excepted.’” It is not strange that to such a wife John Adams -should have written, “By the accounts in your last letter, it seems -the women in Boston begin to think themselves able to serve their -country. What a pity it is that our generals in the northern districts -had not Aspasias to their wives! I believe the two Howes have not very -great women for wives. If they had, we should suffer more from their -exertions than we do. This is our good fortune. A woman of sense would -not let her husband spend five weeks at sea in such a season of the -year. A smart wife would have put Howe in possession of Philadelphia -a long time ago.” It is evident that Mr. Adams did not need to be won -over to any modern theories with regard to the higher education of -women, and, as a relief to the sterner side of the picture, we find the -wife who penned such wise and inspiriting words to her husband entering -on other occasions with the delight of a _mondaine_ into a court or -republican function, describing the gowns of the women, their faces -and their manners, with the minuteness and accuracy of a Parisian. Was -there ever anything written more spirited than Mrs. Adams’s description -of Madame Helvetius at Passy, throwing her arms about the neck of -_ce cher Franklin_? or her picture of Queen Charlotte and the royal -princesses, for whom her admiration was of the scantest? With far -different touches was it her pleasure to describe some of the American -beauties abroad, for Mrs. Adams was always a true daughter of New -England, and we can read between the lines when she writes of Madame -Helvetius’s singular manners, “I should have been greatly astonished at -this conduct if the good Doctor [Franklin] had not told me that in this -lady I should see a genuine Frenchwoman, wholly free from affectation -or stiffness of behavior.”[1] - -Pleasant it is, and not wholly unprofitable to the student of life and -manners, to look into the family room of some Colonial mansion, to hear -girlish laughter and raillery about balls and beaux in one corner, -while in another the father of the family writes of his aspirations -for the nation in which his hopes for his children are bound up, and -the mother, looking over his shoulder, sympathizes with his patriotic -and fatherly ambitions, while she turns over in her brain, for the -hundredth time, the important question of how she and Nancy are to make -a respectable appearance at the next Assembly ball, when silks, laces, -and feathers are so very dear,--worth their weight in gold, as Mrs. -Bache tells us. It is such touches of life as these that we find in the -diaries of Sarah Eve, who was living in Philadelphia in 1772, of Eliza -Southgate of Scarborough, and of Elizabeth Drinker; in Mrs. Grant’s -pictures of New York and Albany life, in which Madame Philip Schuyler -is the central figure; or in such letters as those of Thomas Jefferson -to his family, of Mrs. Bache, Miss Franks, Lady Cathcart, and Mrs. John -Morgan. The latter gives us charming glimpses of Cambridge society in -1776, and tells of dinners, tea-drinking, and reviews in company with -the Mifflins, Roberdeaus, and others, of handsome officers and pretty -girls. Of one of the latter she speaks, in a letter to her mother, in a -manner which reveals her own loveliness of character quite as clearly -as it does the external charms of the beauty whom all the world and -her own husband admire. “The one that drew every one’s attention,” -she writes, “was the famous Jersey beauty, Miss Keyes, who is now on -a visit to Mr. Roberdeau. She may justly be said to be fairest where -thousands are fair. I have had an opportunity of seeing her, and think -her a most beautiful creature, and what makes her still more engaging -is her not betraying the least consciousness of her own perfections. -I am, it seems, a most violent favorite with her; she is to dine here -to-morrow. You will wonder, perhaps, how this great intimacy took -place, but you must know she has been indisposed since her coming to -town, and Dr. Morgan had the honor of attending her,--you know what an -admirer of beauty he is; the rest followed, of course.” - -In a different vein, but no less piquant, are Lady Cathcart’s remarks -on London personages and functions, in the midst of which her thoughts -fly back to her relatives and friends in America. One moment she is -describing the “Queen’s Birthnight Ball,” and the next is sending Mrs. -Jauncey a picture of her son with “Six Curles of a Side,” or commenting -upon Betty Shipton’s marriage to Major Giles, adding, “I am sure I -never believed her, last winter, when she used to talk so much about -him.” - -There being many old letters and diaries still unread and unpublished, -it seems a task not unworthy of the later historian to gather -together such records, in order to present to this generation more -characteristic pictures of their grandfathers and grandmothers, drawn -with a freer hand and touched with the familiar light of every-day -intercourse. One young girl of the present time was strongly attracted -towards her own great-grandmother by reading a letter written by her to -her mother in Newport, asking her to send her from thence “a sprigged -muslin petticoat, and the making of an apron such as all the girls -are wearing.” A rather more modest request, this, than that of Miss -Eliza Southgate, who begged her mother for five dollars with which -to purchase a wig for the next Assembly, because Eleanor Coffin had -one, and it was quite impossible “to dress her hair stylish without -it.” Placed thus in touch with her great-grandmother’s longings and -aspirations, which flowed in the same frivolous channel as her own, -this young descendant suddenly realized that they two were of one -flesh and blood, and gathering and piecing together all that could -be learned from older members of the family of this lady of the last -century, she has become the heroine of romance so thrilling and so -sweet, that the girl of to-day may be said to entertain for her unknown -ancestress a more than ordinary affection. - -The records that have come down to us are, after all, only a few out -of the great mass written. Many, perhaps equally interesting, have -in some garret fallen a prey to mould, decay, and the book-lizard; -or have found their way to the fireplace, impelled thither by some -family iconoclast possessed with a rage for clearing up; or, still -more ignoble fate, have been torn up for curl-papers! A narrator of -veracity tells how a bevy of gay young girls, gathered together in the -roomy old Hopkinson house in Bordentown, appropriated some letters -found in the garret to this purpose, and lighting on some interesting -passages, amused themselves by reading them aloud at what Macaulay -names the “curling hour.” Reports of these nocturnal revels being -carried down-stairs, a member of the family interested herself in the -preservation of the letters, which proved an historical treasure-trove. -Such treasure-troves will be less likely to be discovered as the years -go on, and those who would find love-letters like Esther Wynn’s, under -the cellar stairs, had better set about looking for them before mould -and dampness have utterly obliterated the characters traced in the -long-ago. - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Letters of Mrs. John Adams, p. 253. - - - - -[Illustration: _The Meschianza_] - - “_Mars, conquest plumed, the Cyprian queen disarms: - And victors, vanquished, yield to Beauty’s charms. - Here then the laurel, here the palm we yield, - And all the trophies of the tilted field; - Here Whites and Blacks, with blended homage, pay - To each device the honors of the day. - Hard were the task and impious to decide, - Where all are fairest, which the fairer side. - Enough for us if by such sports we strove - To grace this feast of military love - And, joining in the wish of every heart, - Honor’d the friend and leader ere we part._” - - _From the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1778._ - - -If we could by any means turn back, for a moment, to certain May -days more than a hundred years ago, and enter one of the stately old -Philadelphia mansions in the eastern portion of our city, then the -court end of the town, what a gay scene would meet our eyes! Fair -ladies gathered in the spacious rooms, in their quaint but becoming -old-time dress, bending over brocades, laces, and ribbons, busied -in consulting upon and improvising ravishing costumes, in which to -grace the splendid _fête_ to be given to General Sir William Howe, -by the officers of the British army, previous to his departure for -England. This army then held possession of Penn’s “faire greene -country towne,” and had been busy during the past winter, in lieu of -more warlike employment, in introducing among its inhabitants many of -the amusements, follies, and vices of Old World courts. The Quaker -City had, at the pleasure of her conqueror, doffed her sober drab and -appeared in festal array; for, like the Babylonian victors of old, they -that wasted her required of her mirth. The best that the city afforded -was at the disposal of the enemy, who seem to have spent their days in -feasting and merry-making, while Washington and his army endured all -the hardships of the severe winter of 1777-78 upon the bleak hillsides -of Valley Forge. Dancing assemblies, theatrical entertainments, and -various gayeties marked the advent of the British in Philadelphia, -all of which formed a fitting prelude to the full-blown glories of -the Meschianza, which burst upon the admiring inhabitants on that -last-century May day. - -It must be remembered, in looking back upon these times, that most -of our aristocratic citizens were descended from old English stock, -and, with an inherent loyalty to the monarchy under which they had -prospered, were still content to avow themselves subjects of King -George, or, as Graydon puts it, “stuck to their ease and Madeira,” -declaring themselves neutral, which rendered the lessons taught by -these gay, pleasure-loving British officers easy ones, learned with -few grimaces. Thus, although there were many sober Friends who cast -indignant side-glances at the elaborate preparations in progress for -this brilliant _fête_, and many hearts which beat in sympathy with the -patriot cause and could ill brook the thought of such frivolity in the -midst of the stern realities of war, there was still a large class -which entered with spirit into a festivity which was openly denounced -by British journals of the day as ill-timed and absurd, given, as it -was, in honor of a commander whose errors had well-nigh cost him his -cause, and who was severely censured for these months of inactivity -and trifling which his officers now proceeded to commemorate. Howe -was, notwithstanding his faults and failures, sincerely beloved by -his officers, who resolved to give him this entertainment that, as -they phrased it, their “sentiments might be more universally and -unequivocally known.” - -Major André, who took a leading part in the preparations for the -Meschianza, composed some verses in Sir William’s praise, to be -repeated during the pageant; but, with a modesty that has not always -been attributed to him, he set them aside. The last stanza of this -strain proves to us how readily this child of monarchy, poet though he -was, had learned to cry, “The King is dead. Long live the King!” Howe -being at this very time superseded by Clinton, André writes: - - “On Hudson’s banks the sure presage we read,-- - Of other triumphs to our arms decreed: - Nor fear but equal honors shall repay - Each hardy deed where Clinton leads the way.” - -André indulged in some bold flights of fancy in these verses, such as -the following: - - “Veterans appeared who never knew to yield - When Howe and glory led them to the field.” - -Which are in sharp contrast with the effusions of a Jerseyman of the -time, who, with more truth and less sentiment, wrote: - - “Threat’ning to drive us from the hill, - Sir William marched to attack our men, - But finding that we all stood still, - Sir William he--marched back again.” - -The day appointed for the Meschianza was the 18th of May. Cards of -invitation were sent out and tickets of admission given. The latter are -thus described by a Whig lady: “On the top is the crest of the Howe -arms, with _vive vale_ (live and farewell). To the sun setting in the -sea the other motto refers, and bears this translation: ‘He shines -as he sets, but shall rise again more luminous.’ General Howe being -recalled is the setting sun; while ploughing the ocean he is obscured, -but shall, on his return, and giving an account of his heroic deeds, -rise again with redoubled lustre. The wreath of laurel encompassing the -whole, encircling the arms, completes, I think, the burlesque.” - -The names by which this _fête_ is known, Meschianza and Mischianza, are -derived from two Italian words,--_mescere_, to mix, and _mischiare_, -to mingle. Thus the entertainment, so varied in its nature, has been -named a mixture and a medley with equal propriety. We have adopted the -spelling of the original invitations, one of which lies before us, and -reads thus: - - The Favor of your meeting the Subscribers to the Meschianza at - Knight’s Wharf, near Pool’s Bridge, to-morrow, at half-past three, is - Desired. - - [Signed] HENRY CALDER. - - Sunday, 17th May. - MISS CLIFTON. - - -Knight’s wharf was at the edge of Green Street, in the Northern -Liberties; Poole’s bridge crossed Pegg’s Run at Front Street, and was -named after one Poole, a Friend, whose mansion lay quite near. - -It is curious to notice that this invitation to Miss Eleanor Clifton, -whose portrait proclaims her one of the beauties of the period, is -dated but one day in advance of the _fête_, which would lead us -to fear that this lady was tempted to commit the sin of sewing at -her ball-dress on a Sunday, like that unfortunate damsel of Queen -Elizabeth’s time whom Mrs. Jarley holds up as a waxen warning to -all Sabbath-breakers, had we not good reason to infer that a verbal -invitation had been given long before. - -The preparations for this magnificent entertainment, the erection of -the numerous and vast pavilions around the old Wharton mansion, and -their decoration by André, Delancey, and all the other gallant officers -who took part in the affair, were doubtless the talk of the town for -weeks. Yards and yards of painting must have been executed by the -indefatigable André, as the ceilings, sides, and decorations of the -long pavilions, designed for the supper- and ball-rooms, were to a -great extent the work of his hands. Here he used unsparingly the pencil -that had made its virgin essay on the features of lovely, unrequiting -Honora Sneyd, lingering, with true artistic fervor, over festoons of -roses and bouquets of drooping flowers. - -The owner of this property was dubbed by his contemporaries “Duke -Wharton,” in consequence of the extreme haughtiness of his bearing and, -it is said, from the following circumstance: “One winter’s day, when -the sidewalks were rendered dangerously slippery from the accumulated -ice upon them, Mr. Wharton, while attempting to make his usual -dignified progress over the uncertain footing, was suddenly tripped up, -and would have measured his length upon the pavement, had not a jovial -Hibernian, passing at the moment, stretched forth a friendly hand to -his aid, crying out, ‘God save my Lord the Duke!’” Another amusing -passage of compliments, this time with Sir William Draper, is related -by Graydon: “Sir William, observing that Mr. Wharton entered the -room hat in hand, and remained uncovered, begged, as it was contrary -to the custom of his Society to do so, that the Quaker gentleman -would dispense with this unnecessary mark of respect. But the ‘Duke,’ -feeling his pride piqued at the supposition that he would uncover -to Sir William or any other man, replied, with entire _sang-froid_, -that he had uncovered for his own comfort, the day being warm, and -that whenever he found it convenient he would resume his hat.” These -and other stories, all indicating a pride that seems to have been -considered commendable in those days, repeated with embellishments, -doubtless added to the merriment of many convivial after-dinner -gatherings, and passing from mouth to mouth, served to establish the -reputation and title of this old Quaker gentleman, whose death occurred -more than a year previous to the British occupation of Philadelphia.[2] -The fact that Walnut Grove was a country-seat, and in all probability -used by the Wharton family only during the summer months, may account -for the British officers having entire possession of the premises in -the spring of ’78, while its size and situation made it an appropriate -place in which to hold their revels. Surrounded by broad lawns and -lofty trees, situated at some distance west of the Delaware River, at -what is now Fifth Street near Washington Avenue, Walnut Grove was then -considered quite a rural residence. It has long since disappeared, the -encroaching streets of a busy city having rendered almost traditional -the theatre of this gay and brilliant scene, although there were those -still living, on the anniversary of the festival in 1878, who recalled -the old brick house as it stood in Colonial times, and one who slid -down the balusters of the stairway in boyish frolic, with never a -thought of all the gay and gallant throng which once passed over the -stairs and down the broad hall to the sound of music, merry jests, -courtly compliments, and rippling laughter. - -It is said that there were not many ladies with the British officers -in Philadelphia, most of them having left their wives in New York; -so, there being few authorities to consult about the prevailing -fashions at the court of the beautiful Austrian or the less beautiful -Queen Charlotte, our young ladies were forced to rely upon their own -ingenuity in the arrangement of their toilets. Those chosen to be -knights’ ladies were assisted by the taste and skill of André, whose -water-color design for the costume of the ladies of the Blended Rose -is still preserved, representing a curious combination of Oriental -and Parisian styles, its flowing tunic over full Turkish trousers -being topped by the high _coiffure_ of the day. Miss Peggy Shippen’s -portrait[3] represents her in this head-dress, and in a letter written -to her in August, 1779, André playfully alludes to his millinery -experience gained during preparations for the _fête_: - - “You know the Mesquianza made me a complete milliner. Should you - not have received supplies for your fullest equipment from that - department, I shall be glad to enter into the whole details of - cap-wire, needles, gauze, &c., and, to the best of my abilities, - render you in these trifles services from which I hope you would infer - a zeal to be further employed.” - -A rash offer, it seems to us, for what knight, be he never so bold, -would be willing to enter into all the intricacies and mysteries of a -modern feminine toilet? And those of the days of powder, patch, and -high befeathered _coiffure_ were certainly not less bewildering to the -minds of the uninitiated. - -Although from various sources we learn that André took an active part -in the preparations for the Meschianza, out of doors as well as among -laces and silks in fair ladies’ boudoirs, Mr. Sargent tells us that -Burgoyne[4] was the conductor of the elegant affair, which was on -the plan of a _fête champêtre_ given by Lord Derby, June, 1774, on -the occasion of Lord Stanley’s marriage with the Duke of Hamilton’s -daughter. Only about fifty young Philadelphia ladies were present at -the Meschianza; but if we are to credit history and the gossip of the -day, the destruction wrought by their charms upon the hearts of the -British officers must have been equal to that to have been expected -from twice their number, for all authorities unite in telling us that -the ladies of this city were justly celebrated for their beauty, of a -certain grand and noble type. Watson says that most of the American -gentlemen who took part in the Meschianza were “aged non-combatants,” -the young men of the city being Whigs, and generally, be it said to -their credit, with Washington’s army at Valley Forge. - -There seems to be no doubt that a number of Whig ladies graced this -entertainment, and one of them, herself, describes the affair in -glowing colors. What shall we say for the erring fair ones? That they -were young, beautiful, anxious to see and perhaps to be seen. Shall -we, standing amid the lights and shadows of another century, be severe -in our judgment upon these fair, curious Eves of a hundred years ago? -They had read of grand doings among court ladies and gentlemen in -the exaggerated and stilted romances of the day, until their foolish -hearts were in an eager flutter of anticipation and delight. The whole -town was talking about the projected _fête_; the young officers were -constantly passing to and fro busied with the arrangements; so grand -a sight might never again dawn upon the Philadelphia world. Thus -reasoning, and dropping the while a tear for the braves at Valley -Forge, these inconsistent Whig ladies yielded. - -From the windows of some dwellings belonging to Friends--opposed in -principle to such scenes of gayety and dissipation--eyes as eager -as any looked forth upon the busy scene of preparation, like doves -from behind imprisoning bars. Sweet young Quakeresses, gentle-eyed -as the dove and gentle-voiced, that gay land of enchantment down the -river--a seeming Elysium--is not for you! How they must have longed to -go--sitting by the fireside, like so many Cinderellas, watching their -happy sisters start off bravely attired to the ball! To them, alas! -came no fairy godmother, so they reluctantly folded their soft wings -and stayed at home. - -In a little, old, commonplace-book found in a house in Southwark, and -now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, among -extracts from various authors--some in English, some in Latin, proving -the unknown writer to have been a person of taste and culture--is -a description of the Meschianza penned by an eyewitness. With the -exception of the well-known account of the _fête_ given by Major André -in a letter to a friend in England, this is the most detailed recital -that we have encountered. Opening the yellowed pages, we read: - - “Agreeable to an invitation of the managers of the Meschianza, Dr. M., - Mr. F., and myself went up about four o’clock in the afternoon, in - Mr. F.’s Coach, to Knight’s wharf, where we found most of the company - in the Boats. Some of these were on the water in the galley with Lord - Howe, among them Mrs. Chew, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Worrell, Mrs. Coxe, - Miss Chew, Miss Auchmuty, Miss Redman, Miss Franks, &c., General Howe, - Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Rawdon, &c.; and General Knyphausen and his - attendants were in another Galley. We continued waiting on the water - for the rest of the company near half an Hour, when, a Signal being - given from the ‘Vigilant,’ we began to move in three divisions, a - Galley and ten flatboats in each division. In the first was General - Knyphausen, &c., in the third British and German officers, and in the - middle, Lord General Howe, &c.--with three Barges, in each of which - were bands of music playing.” - -A lady in Philadelphia at this time who attended the Meschianza, -although she declares herself a noted Whig, thus describes this -portion of the entertainment in a letter addressed to Mrs. Colonel -Theodorick Bland, in Virginia: - - “On the back of the ticket, you observe, we are to attend at Knight’s - wharf (you remember Pool’s bridge near Kensington). Thither we - accordingly repaired in carriages at the appointed hour of three, - where we found a vast number of boats, barges, and galleys to receive - us, all adorned with small colors or jacks of different colors. On a - signal from the ‘Vigilant’ we all embarked, forming lines, with all - the music belonging to the army in the centre. The ladies interspersed - in the different boats (the seats of which were covered with green - cloth) with the red coats, colors flying, music playing, etc., you may - easily suppose formed a very gay and grand appearance; nor were the - shore and houses, lined with spectators, any bad object to those in - the regatta (the water party so called). We were obliged to row gently - on account of the galley sailing slow. - - “The armed ship--the ‘Fanny’--was drawn into the stream and decorated - in the most beautiful manner with the colors of every Court or State - streaming; amidst the number, the thirteen stripes waved with as much - elegance, and as gracefully sported with the gentle zephyrs, as any - of the number. After passing the above ship we reached the ‘Roebuck,’ - whose men were all fixed on her yards and gave us three cheers as we - passed, and as soon as we had got to a distance not to be incommoded - by the smoke she fired a salute and was answered by several other - vessels in the harbor. At length we reached the place of destination - (after lying awhile on our oars) opposite the ‘Roebuck,’ the music - playing ‘God Save the King.’” - -The regatta which headed the programme of the Meschianza was suggested -by a similar pageant on the Thames, June 23, 1775, and, being a -novelty even in old England, it is not strange that it should have set -provincial Philadelphia astir, nor that six barges were needed to keep -at a distance the numerous boats, filled with eager spectators, that -crowded the Delaware on the day of the entertainment, when: - - “There in the broad, clear afternoon, - With myriad oars, and all in tune, - A swarm of barges moved away - In all their grand regatta pride.” - -We doubt whether those who disapproved of the whole affair--the -Quakers, Whigs, and many sensible Tories--could forbear casting furtive -glances toward that fairy procession, which, Read says,-- - - “Like tropic isles of flowery light, - Unmoored by some enchanter’s might, - O’erflowed with music, floated down - Before the wharf-assembled town.” - -Thus this gay and brilliant fleet proceeded down the river with flying -colors, while the band played stirring English airs, amid the soft -breezes and under the perfect skies of an old-time May day, until they -arrived opposite the scene of the festivity, where everything was in -readiness for joust and revelry. Salutes were fired by the “Roebuck” -as soon as General Howe stepped on shore, which were echoed by the -“Vigilant” and several smaller vessels up and down the river. - -“The fleet at the wharves,” says our journalist, “consisting of -about three hundred sail, adorned with colors, and together with the -procession, exhibited a very grand and pleasing appearance.” Very -grand it must have been to see those knights, ladies, and officers, in -their rich costumes, leaving behind them the gay scene on the river, -and walking between two files of grenadiers up the avenue toward the -house! The bravest display of the kind that the New World could afford, -for Philadelphia then excelled all the other Colonial cities in size, -culture, and importance; and here, beside the flower of the English -army, were met some of the most beautiful women of the day. - -Passing up this avenue, the company entered a lawn, four hundred -yards on every side, where all was prepared for the exhibition of a -tournament according to the laws of ancient chivalry. Here were two -pavilions, with rows of benches rising one above the other; on the -front row of each were placed seven of the principal young ladies -of the county, arrayed in white Poland dresses of Mantua with long -sleeves, a gauze turban spangled, and sashes round the waist. Seven -of them wore pink sashes with silver spangles, and the others white -with gold spangles. All bore in their turbans favors destined for -their respective knights. Those who wore pink and white were called -the Ladies of the Blended Rose, and were Miss Auchmuty, Miss Peggy -Chew, Miss Janet Craig, Miss Nancy Redman, Miss Nancy White, Miss -Williamina Bond, and Miss Shippen. Lord Cathcart, who led the Knights -of the Blended Rose in Miss Auchmuty’s honor, appeared upon a superb -charger. Two young black slaves, with sashes of blue and white silk, -wearing large silver clasps round their necks and arms, their breasts -and shoulders bare, held his stirrups. On his right hand walked Captain -Hazard, and on his left Captain Brownlow, his two esquires, the one -bearing his lance, the other his shield. His device was Cupid riding on -a Lion; the motto, “Surmounted by Love.” - -The Ladies of the Burning Mountain, whose dress was white and gold, -and whose chief was Captain Watson, superbly mounted, and arrayed in a -magnificent suit of black and orange silk, were Miss Rebecca Franks, in -whose honor Captain Watson appeared, with the motto “Love and Glory,” -Miss Sarah Shippen, Miss P. Shippen, Miss Becky Bond, Miss Becky -Redman, Miss Sally Chew, and Miss Williamina Smith. - -In all descriptions of the Meschianza related by eye-witnesses, the -Shippen sisters are spoken of as having taken a prominent part in the -entertainment. Only within a few years has a letter from a member of -the family controverted this statement, in the following terms: - - “The young ladies [the daughters of Chief Justice Edward Shippen] - had been invited and had arranged to go [to the Meschianza]; their - names were upon the programmes, and their dresses actually prepared; - but at the last moment their father was visited by some of his - friends, prominent members of the Society of Friends, who persuaded - him that it would be by no means seemly that his daughters should - appear in public in the Turkish dresses designed for the occasion. - Consequently, although they are said to have been in a _dancing_ fury, - they were obliged to stay away. This same story has, I know, come down - independently through several branches of the family, and was told to - me repeatedly, the last time not more than two years ago, by an old - lady of the family, who was a niece of Mrs. Arnold and her sisters, - and who has since died.”[5] - -Major André includes the Shippens in his description of the -entertainment printed in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ in August, 1778. -The discrepancy between his statement and the family letters can -be accounted for only upon the supposition that, like the modern -reporter, André sent off his copy before the ball had taken place; or -perhaps the “dancing fury” of his daughters had such an effect upon the -Chief Justice that, at the last moment, the girls were allowed to go. - -Beautiful, brilliant, and fascinating, full of spirit and gayety, the -toast of the British officers, Miss Peggy Shippen seems so much a part -of the Meschianza that we incline to the latter theory, being almost -as unwilling to spare her and her sisters from the ranks of beauty as -were the gallant young officers who were prepared to do battle in their -honor. - -As soon as the fair ladies were seated upon the benches prepared for -them, the crowd on the left gave way, and the Knights of the Blended -Rose appeared mounted on white steeds elegantly caparisoned and covered -with white satin ornamented with pink roses. “These knights,” says -our journalist, “were dressed in white and pink satin, with hats of -pink silk, the brims of which were covered with white feathers. Each -knight had his squire on foot, dressed also in white and pink, with -the addition of a cloak of white silk. Every squire carried a spear and -shield, each of which had a different device and motto.” - -The knights, having all ridden around the lists and saluted the ladies, -sent their herald, with two trumpeters, to the Dulcineas with this -message: “The Knights of the Blended Rose, by me their herald, proclaim -and assert that the ladies of the Blended Rose excel in wit, beauty, -and every other accomplishment all other ladies in the world, and if -any knight or knights shall be so hardy as to deny this, they are -determined to support their assertion by deeds of arms, agreeable to -the laws of ancient chivalry.” - -The trumpets then sounded, and the herald returned to the knights, who -rode by, saluted the Dulcineas, and took their places on the left hand, -about one hundred yards distant. - -The crowd opening on the other side, a herald in orange and black, with -a picture of a burning mountain on his back, rode forward to assure -the fair ones of the Burning Mountain that their claims to wit, beauty, -and all other charms, _par excellence_, should be vindicated by the -knights whose colors they wore, “against the false and vainglorious -assertions of the Knights of the Blended Rose.” - -The field marshal, Major Gwynne, now gave the signal, upon which a -glove was thrown down by the chief of the White Knights, which was -picked up by the esquire of the chief of the Black Knights; the trumpet -sounded, and the fight was on, under the fire of many bright eyes from -the pavilions where the Queens of Beauty were seated. - -Lances were shivered, pistols fired, and finally, in the midst of -an engagement with broadswords, Major Gwynne rode in between the -combatants, declaring that the ladies were abundantly satisfied with -the proofs of valor and devotion displayed by their respective knights. -These fell back, and, joining their companies, passed on, the White -Knights to the left, the Black to the right, saluting their ladies -when they reached the pavilions, after which they passed through the -triumphal arch, in honor of Lord Howe, and ranged themselves on either -side. This arch was elegantly painted with naval ornaments. At the top -was a figure representing Neptune, with his trident and a ship. In the -interior were the attributes of that god. On each side of the arch was -placed a sailor, with his sword drawn. Lord Howe being an admiral in -the service, these emblems were most appropriate. - -The knights’ ladies passed under the arch after the knights, who -dismounted and joined them, all proceeding together along a broad -avenue, brilliantly decorated, to another arch of the same size and -elegance as the first, this in honor of Sir William Howe. “Upon passing -this second arch,” our journalist tells us, “we entered a beautiful -Flower-Garden and up a Gravel Court, ascended a flight of Steps which -conducted us into the House, at the door of which we were received by -the Managers of the Meschianza,--namely, Sir John Wrottesley, Sir -Henry Calder, Colonel O’Hara, and Colonel Montrésor.” André mentions -the same, except that he substitutes Major Gardiner for Sir Henry -Calder. - -Two folding-doors were opened, and the company was ushered into a large -hall, brilliantly lighted, where tea, coffee, and cakes were served, -and where the knights upon bended knee received the favors due them -from their respective ladies. This scene must have been one of the most -graceful and charming of the whole pageant, and had it not been for -the remembrance of that dear Honora whose miniature he always wore, -André certainly could not have remained insensible to the manifold -attractions of Miss Peggy Chew, who now rewarded him for having -“perilled life and limb” in her service, and whose praises are thus -sung by Mr. Joseph Shippen: - - “With either Chew such beauties dwell, - Such charms by each are shared, - No critic’s judging eye can tell - Which merits most regard. - - “’Tis far beyond the painter’s skill - To set their charms to view; - As far beyond the poet’s quill - To give the praise that’s due.” - -Amid blushes, soft whisperings, and compliments such as the gentlemen -of that time were skilled in paying, the fair ones bestowed their -gracious favors; after which the company entered another hall, -elaborately decorated and hung with eighty-five mirrors, decked with -rose-pink silk ribbons and artificial flowers. In this ball-room, -whose walls were pale blue and rose-pink, with panels on which were -dropping festoons of flowers, “when the company was come up,” says our -authority, quaintly, “the Dulcineas danced first with the knights, and -then with the squires, and after them the rest of the company danced.” - -At half-past ten o’clock the windows were thrown open to enable the -guests to enjoy the magnificent fireworks on the lawn, when the -triumphal arch near the house appeared brilliantly illuminated, -Fame blowing from her trumpet these words: “_Tes Lauriers sont -immortels_,”--meaning Sir William’s. - -About this time Captain Allan McLane, with a company of infantry and -Clow’s dragoons, was endeavoring to win for himself immortal laurels by -firing the abatis at the north of the city, which connected the line -of the British redoubts. When the flames reddened the sky the ladies, -doubtless, clapped their hands with delight, wondering at the beauty of -the illumination, which illusion was encouraged by the officers; and -later, when the roll-call was sounded along the line and the guns of -the redoubts fired, the guests were assured that this was all a part -of the celebration, and the dancing continued. Although McLane did not -succeed in breaking up the party, as he had hoped, he gave the British -officers a fright, which must have considerably marred the enjoyment of -the evening for them. The dragoons sent in pursuit of the incendiaries -did not succeed in overtaking them, as they found a refuge among the -hills of the Wissahickon. - -“After the fireworks the company returned, some to dancing and others -to a Faro-bank, which was opened by three German officers in one of -the Parlours. The Company continued dancing and playing until twelve -o’clock, when we were called to Supper, and two folding-doors at the -end of the hall being thrown open, we entered a room two hundred feet -long by forty wide. The Floor was covered with painted Canvas, and the -roof and sides adorned with paintings and ornamented with fifty large -mirrors. From the roof hung twelve Lustres, with twenty Spermaceti -candles in each. In this room were two Tables, reaching from one end -to the other. On the two tables were fifty large, elegant pyramids, -with Jellies, Syllabub, Cakes, and Sweetmeats.” Beside this there were -various substantials, soup being mentioned as the only viand served hot. - -Major André, after describing the decorations of this supper-room, -says that “there were four hundred and thirty covers, twelve hundred -dishes, and twenty-four black slaves in Oriental dresses, with silver -collars and bracelets, ranged in two lines, and bending to the ground -as the general and admiral approached the saloon; all these, forming -together the most brilliant assemblage of gay objects, and appearing at -once as we entered by an easy descent, exhibited a _coup-d’œil_ beyond -description magnificent.” - -Toward the end of supper, the herald of the Blended Rose, in his -habit of ceremony, attended by his trumpeters, entered the saloon -and proclaimed the King’s health, the Queen’s, and that of the royal -family. After the toast to the King, all the company rose and sang “God -Save the King,” which must have been a very trying moment to those Whig -ladies present, who through all the enjoyment of the day were doubtless -considerably pricked in their consciences. More loyal toasts followed, -to the army and navy, their commanders, and finally to the ladies and -their knights, the ladies’ toast being: “The Founder of the Feast.” - -We are pained to read that some of the gentlemen, among them one of -the same party as our quaint journalist, were so ungallant as to -remain at table, declaring their intention of devoting the night to -Bacchus,--alas for Venus! The guests did not disperse until dawn began -to redden the eastern sky, and some tarried until the sun was up. - -Here I cannot forbear transcribing some verses written by a lady--Miss -Hannah Griffitts--residing in Philadelphia at this time, in which, -though an ardent loyalist, she, as a member of the Society of Friends, -expressed her indignation against the whole affair. The poem is in -answer to the question, “What is it?” and the Quaker lady’s reply rings -forth with no uncertain sound. - - “A shameful scene of dissipation, - The death of sense and reputation; - A deep degeneracy of nature, - A frolic ‘for the lush of satire.’ - A feast of grandeur fit for kings, - Formed of the following empty things: - Ribbons and gewgaws, tints and tinsel, - To glow beneath the historic pencil; - (For what though reason now stands neuter, - How will it sparkle,--page the future?) - Heroes that will not bear inspection, - And glasses to affect reflection; - - “Triumphant arches raised in blunders, - And true Don Quixotes made of wonders. - Laurels, instead of weeping willows, - To crown the bacchanalian fellows; - The sound of victory complete, - Loudly re-echoed from defeat; - The fair of vanity profound, - A madman’s dance,--a lover’s round. - - “In short, it’s one clear contradiction - To every truth (except a fiction); - Condemned by wisdom’s silver rules, - The blush of sense and gaze of fools. - - “But recollection’s pained to know - That ladies joined the frantic show; - When female prudence thus can fail, - It’s time the sex should wear the veil.” - -So ended this afternoon and evening of brilliant and gorgeous -pageantry, resembling more nearly a chapter from one of the -richly-colored Eastern fairy-tales that delighted our childhood than -a story of Colonial days, which was speedily followed by the sober -realities of Sir William and Lord Howe’s return to England and by -Clinton’s evacuation of Philadelphia. - -It may be interesting to follow the fates of those gay beauties who -held their brief, brilliant court through that spring afternoon, -especially so to that much maligned class who study the science of love -and courtship, crudely called match-makers. - -Strange as it may seem, none of the queens of the Meschianza married -their respective knights. Miss Janet Craig, whose knight was Lieutenant -Bygrove, and who has described the whole scene as one of enchantment to -her young mind, was never married. - -The chief lady of the Knights of the Blended Rose, although spoken of -frequently as an English girl, was the daughter of the Rev. Samuel -Auchmuty, D.D., of Trinity Church, New York, a devoted loyalist. Miss -Auchmuty was with her brother-in-law, Captain Montrésor, chief engineer -of General Gage’s army at Boston, to whose skill the success of the -fireworks at the Meschianza was largely due. - -Williamina Smith, whose picture, with its bright eyes and tip-tilted -nose, lies before us, had for her knight Major Tarleton, who appeared -with the motto “Swift, vigilant, and bold.” He who was afterward -the terror of the South is described as a fine, soldierly fellow of -one-and-twenty, who, “when not riding races with Major Gwynne on the -commons,” spent his time in making love to the ladies. Miss Smith -became the wife of Charles Goldsborough, of Long Neck, Dorset County, -Maryland. - -The Misses Redman, so often mentioned among the belles of the time, -were nieces of the famous Dr. John Redman. Miss Rebecca, whose knight -was Monsieur Montluisant[6] (lieutenant of Hessian Chasseurs), with the -emblem a sunflower turning to the sun, her motto “_Je vise à vous_,” is -said to have been the Queen of the Meschianza, whom Watson describes, -many years later, as old and blind, “fast waning from the things that -be,” yet able to paint in vivid colors the occurrences of this day. -She spoke of André as the life of the company. It is not strange that -this brave young officer and elegant and accomplished gentleman, who -added so much to the enjoyment of the loyalist ladies of Philadelphia -during the British occupation, should have been long held by them -in grateful remembrance. We know that he was on terms of intimate -friendship with one of these sisters, as it was for her he wrote those -tender, plaintive verses, commencing,-- - - “Return, enraptured hours, - When Delia’s heart was mine; - When she with wreaths of flowers - My temples would entwine.” - -For her he cut silhouettes of mutual friends, and, on leaving the city, -severed one of the buttons of his coat, which he playfully presented to -her as a parting keepsake. Miss Rebecca Redman married Colonel Elisha -Lawrence in December, 1779. - -Miss Margaret Chew, in whose honor Major André appeared with the motto -“No rival,” was married on the ninth anniversary of the Meschianza to -Colonel John Eager Howard, of Maryland. The Howards of Belvidere are -a well-known Baltimore family, and this young man filled a prominent -place in the war of the Revolution. He was present at the battle of -White Plains, distinguished himself at Germantown, where so many of our -heroes strove in vain to turn the tide of battle, served under Gates -in the South, and at the battle of Cowpens decided the fortunes of the -day by a successful bayonet charge. At one time, it is said, he held -in his hands the swords of seven British officers of the Seventy-First -Regiment. After the war he was Governor of Maryland and filled other -public offices of importance. Surely, in this case, “the brave deserved -the fair.” - -One of the most striking figures in this brilliant assemblage was -Rebecca Franks, who was as celebrated for her ready wit as was Peggy -Shippen for her exquisite beauty and grace. Handsome, witty, and an -heiress, combining with these attractions that of being an ardent -loyalist, it is not strange that Miss Franks was given a high place at -the British revel. She won the affections of Colonel Sir Henry Johnson, -who while in Philadelphia was quartered on Edward Penington, a leading -Friend, living at the corner of Crown and Race Streets. The marriage -took place January 17, 1782, and after the surrender of Yorktown Sir -Henry and his bride sailed for England. Colonel Johnson was surprised -at Stony Point on the night of July 15, 1779, by Wayne, and made -prisoner with all his force. He afterwards distinguished himself in the -Irish rebellion, and was created Baronet. Although Cornwallis speaks -of Sir Henry as “a wrong-headed blockhead,” and thinks that he has -been unduly praised, we are inclined to say that he who was willing -to run the gauntlet of Miss Franks’s daring raillery must have been a -brave man. She seems to have spared neither friend nor foe and her wit -was always telling, whether flashing up in the quick rejoinder, “No; -Britons, go home, you mean,” when Sir Henry Clinton ordered the band -to play “Britons, Strike Home,” at a New York ball, or in her keen, -sharp rebuff when Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Steward, of Maryland, after -the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, appeared before her in a -fine suit of scarlet, saying, “I have adopted your colors, my Princess, -the better to secure a courteous reception; deign to smile on a true -knight.” To this speech Miss Franks made no reply, but, turning to the -company who surrounded her, exclaimed, “How the ass glories in the -lion’s skin!” - -One of this lady’s pointed shafts was directed at General Charles -Lee, and this time the daring beauty met her match, for he not only -vindicated himself from her charge of having worn “green breeches -patched with leather,” but in language more caustic than courtly -alluded to her own Jewish ancestry. There is a flavor of the wit of -Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Walpole in these jokes; but they raised -a great laugh at the time, and were perhaps of a sort to be better -relished in Miss Franks’s future home than in America. - -General Winfield Scott gives a description of an interview held with -this lady at her residence, at Bath, when years had sadly impaired -the beauty that had once captivated all hearts. A bright-eyed old -lady in an easy-chair met Scott with an eager, kindly gaze and the -query, “Is this the young rebel?” Such were her words, yet, before the -conversation ended, Lady Johnson confessed that she had learned to -glory in her rebel countrymen and wished that she had been a patriot, -too. “Not that heaven had failed to bless her with a good husband, -either,” she replied to Sir Henry’s gentle remonstrances. - -When the Americans regained possession of Philadelphia an effort was -made by the Whigs to exclude from their gatherings those ladies who had -taken part in the Meschianza and other British entertainments.[7] With -this object in view, a ball was given at the City Tavern “to the young -ladies who had manifested their attachment to the cause of virtue -and freedom by sacrificing every convenience to the love of their -country.”[8] This sounded patriotic enough, but we learn that General -Arnold soon after gave an entertainment at which the Tory ladies -appeared in full force, which is not to be wondered at in view of the -intelligence that Mrs. Robert Morris communicated to her mother about -this time: “I must tell you that Cupid has given our little General -a more mortal wound than all the hosts of Britons could, unless his -present conduct can expiate for his past,--Miss Peggy Shippen is the -fair one.” - -With Cupid thus taking a hand in the game, and bringing to the feet -of one of the brightest of the Tory belles the military commandant -of Philadelphia, we can readily believe that General Wayne’s severe -strictures upon the foolish fair fell upon unheeding ears: - - “Tell those Philadelphia ladies, who attended Howe’s assemblies & - levees,” he writes in July, 1778, “that the heavenly, sweet, pretty - red-coats--the accomplished gentlemen of the guards & grenadiers have - been humbled on the plains of Monmouth. - - “The Knights of the _Blended Roses_ and of the _Burning Mount_ have - resigned their laurels to Rebel officers, who will lay them at the - feet of _those_ virtuous daughters of America, who cheerfully gave - up ease and affluence in a city, for liberty and peace of mind in a - cottage.”[9] - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[2] It is pleasant to learn that Mr. Joseph Wharton, the owner of -Walnut Grove, if proud was also benevolent, as we find his name among -liberal contributors to one of the first Philadelphia almshouses. - -[3] This sketch, by Major André, is in the possession of Mr. Edward -Shippen, of Philadelphia. - -[4] “We all know of Burgoyne’s surrender, but hardly one knows -Burgoyne’s comedies, and yet there are few cleverer or more brilliant, -of a second order, than ‘The Heiress,’ and ‘Maid of Oaks.’ In a letter, -dated New York, June 2, 1777, he says, ‘You cannot imagine anything -half so beautiful as this country. It is impossible to conceive -anything so delightful. Lady Holland, in spite of her politics, would, -I am sure, feel for it, if she could see the ruin and desolation we -have introduced into the most beautiful and, I verily believe, happiest -part of the universe.’”--_World Essays_: William B. Reed, pp. 176, 177. - -[5] From a letter of the late Lawrence Lewis, Jr., written in 1879. - -[6] It appears that this knight with the shining name and emblem had -not a reputation to match them. We learn that he entered the army only -to get to America, was discharged, tried to join the Colonial army, and -was seized and sent to England. (German Allied Troops, 1776-1783, p. -333.) - -[7] Fred. D. Stone. Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. iii. p. 336. - -[8] Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia, vol. ii. p. 297. - -[9] Biographical Sketch of General Anthony Wayne, Hazard’s Register, p. -389. - - - - -[Illustration: NEW YORK BALLS & Receptions] - - -Amid elaborate ceremonials attending the reception and inauguration -of the first President of the Republic, we find some homely touches -of nature, as when those two admirable housewives Mrs. Washington and -Mrs. Adams were detained at home, in April and May, 1789, by domestic -duties, and so missed all the joyful demonstrations along the route, as -well as the brave welcome accorded their distinguished husbands in the -city of New York. Mrs. Washington was busied in putting her household -in order, and shipping china, cut glass, silver-ware, and linen from -Mount Vernon to the capital, while from John Adams’s letters we gather -that the wife, whom he so trusted that he permitted her to dispose -of sheep, cows, and other live-stock, on her own responsibility, was -attending to such matters at Braintree, Massachusetts, prior to the -removal of her household goods to the fine country-place at Richmond -Hill that Mr. Adams had rented for the season.[10] - -Although Mr. Samuel Breck, recently arrived from Europe, found New York -in 1787 “a poor town, with about twenty-three thousand people, not yet -recovered from its Revolutionary wounds” and the great fire that swept -over its western portion, he is pleased, two years later, to admire -the improvements recently made, especially some beautiful houses built -on Broadway by Mr. Macomb, one of which was occupied by General Knox, -the Secretary of War. As soon as it transpired that New York was to be -the meeting-place of the new Congress, and that General Washington -was elected President, the selection of a suitable residence for -the Chief Magistrate became a matter of considerable interest in -Republican circles. The President later occupied Mr. Macomb’s house on -Broadway near Bowling Green, subsequently known as the Mansion House -and Bunker’s Hotel; but his first residence was the house of Walter -Franklin, as is proved by a letter written from New York, April 30, -1789, which with other family papers furnishes us some interesting -facts relating to this old homestead, and its renovation preparatory to -the advent of the President and his wife, that have not yet appeared -in the histories of the time. The clever chronicler is Mrs. William -T. Robinson, and the letter is addressed to Miss Kitty Wistar, of -Brandywine, afterwards Mrs. Sharples, through the courtesy of whose -descendants it has come into the writer’s hands. - - “Great rejoicing in New York,” she says, “on the arrival of General - Washington. An elegant Barge decorated with an awning of Sattin, 12 - oarsmen drest in white frocks and blue ribbons, went down to E. Town - [Elizabeth] last fourth day to bring him up. A Stage was erected at - the Coffee House wharf covered with a carpet for him to step on, - where a company of light horse, one of Artillery, and most of the - Inhabitants were waiting to receive him.[11] They Paraded through - Queen Street in great form, while the music, the Drums and ringing of - bells were enough to stun one with the noise. Previous to his coming - Uncle Walter’s house in Cherry Street was taken for him and every room - furnished in the most elegant manner. - - “The evening after his Excellency’s arrival a general Illumination - took place, excepting among Friends, and those styled - Anti-Federalists: the latter’s windows suffered some, thou may - imagine. As soon as the General has sworn in, a grand exhibition of - fire-works is to be displayed, which it is expected will be to-morrow. - There is scarcely anything talked of now but General Washington and - the Palace.” - -The palace referred to is, evidently, the former residence of Walter -Franklin, situated at the corner of Pearl and Cherry Streets, -then owned by his widow, who had married Mr. Samuel Osgood, -Postmaster-General under the new administration. Watson says that the -Franklin House on Pearl Street was “No. 1 in pre-eminence,” and, from -the wealth and position of its owner, it was evidently considered the -best in the city for the purpose. Mrs. Robinson describes it as having -been very sumptuously fitted up; and so it doubtless was, according to -the prevailing idea of elegance. Miss Wistar’s correspondent adds - - “Thou must know that Uncle Osgood and Duer were appointed to procure a - house and furnish it; accordingly they pitched on their wives as being - likely to do it better. Aunt Osgood and Lady Kitty Duer had the whole - management of it. I went the morning before the General’s arrival to - look at it. The house really did honour to my Aunt and Lady Kitty, - they spared no pains nor expense in it. I have not done yet, my dear, - is thee not almost tired? The best of furniture in every room, and the - greatest quantity of plate and China that I ever saw before. The whole - of the first and second Story is papered, and the floor covered with - the richest kind of Turkey and Wilton Carpets.” - -The Mr. Duer spoken of by Mrs. Robinson is Colonel William Duer, who -had early in life been aide-de-camp to Lord Clive in India, and who -later held important positions under the Federal government. His wife -was one of the daughters of General William Alexander, claimant to the -Scottish earldom of Stirling. She consequently figured in New York -society as Lady Kitty Duer, giving, with her own sister, Lady Mary -Watts, and Lady Temple, a flavor of British aristocracy to republican -circles. Lady Kitty is described by John Quincy Adams as “one of the -sweetest-looking women in the city,”--which testimony is scarcely -corroborated by her portrait in the exaggerated coiffure of the day. - -Walter Franklin’s house on Cherry Street, and that of his brother -Samuel, which was around the corner on Pearl Street, were both near -the shipping quarter of the town, in which respect they resembled -fashionable Philadelphia residences of the same period. A number of -interesting family traditions cluster about these fine old houses, -in which a bevy of gay girls was gathered together, who charmed the -British officers during their occupation of the city, just as their -Quaker sisters were doing in old Philadelphia. Some of the officers -were quartered on the Franklins, among them Lord Rawdon and Admiral -Lord Richard Howe, who respectively commanded the army and the fleet. -Sally Franklin, the writer of the letter from which we have quoted, -was then a young girl, and a very beautiful one. Her marriage with -Mr. Robinson took place while the British had possession of New York. -She was evidently a great favorite with the officers in command, who -begged to be permitted to attend her wedding in Quaker meeting. This -request was refused, on the plea that the wedding was to be a very -quiet one. British officers, as Miss Rebecca Franks has informed us, -were not accustomed to take no for an answer, unless accompanied with -shot and shell. Accordingly, on the morning of the marriage, when the -beautiful bride, in her white silk dress and white bonnet, stood in -the quaint old meeting, listening to the words of her lover, “I take -this Friend, Sarah Franklin, to be my wedded wife,” a sudden sound of -footsteps and clattering of swords against the benches was heard, and, -lo! Lord Rawdon, Lord Howe, and a train of young officers, resplendent -in gay uniforms and gold lace, stood within the solemn enclosure of the -meeting. They seated themselves, with malice aforethought, on a long -bench opposite the bride, whose turn had now come to speak. Trembling, -and carefully avoiding the eyes of the strangers, who had vowed that -they would make her smile in the midst of the ceremony, she performed -her part, declaring her intention to take Friend William to be her -wedded husband. When the marriage certificate was signed, the names of -Lord Howe, Lord Rawdon, and the other officers were appended, beautiful -Sarah Robinson showing her forgiving spirit still further by allowing -those, among the intruders, who were well known to her to return to the -house and partake of the wedding-feast. - -The New York girls had a longer time in which to enjoy the society -of the gallant red-coats than their Philadelphia sisters, and were -consequently in greater danger of losing their hearts to them. There -were some marriages with British officers, as in the family of Andrew -Elliot, Lieutenant-Governor of New York, one of whose daughters married -Admiral Robert Digby, while another, Elizabeth, became the wife of -William, tenth Baron and first Earl of Cathcart, the same who as Lord -Cathcart had figured as chief of the Knights of the Blended Rose in the -Meschianza.[12] Miss Philipse was also one of those who yielded to -the attractions of the enemy, as she married the Hon. Lionel Smythe, -son of Philip, fourth Viscount Strafford, at the time captain of the -Twenty-Third British Foot. Most of the New York belles had, as Graydon -puts it, “sufficient toleration for our cause to marry officers of the -Continental army,” and when the new administration came in, we find -them as ready to dance to Whig music as they had been to Tory. The -Comte de Moustier soon gave these impartial fair ones an opportunity -to display their Terpsichorean powers at a very elegant ball, given -to President Washington, two weeks after his inauguration, at the -Macomb house, on Broadway, which was afterwards occupied by President -Washington. On this occasion the alliance between France and America -was represented in a cotillon, half the dancers being in French costume -and the other half in American; the ladies who represented France -wearing red roses and flowers of France, and the American ladies blue -ribbons and American flowers. Mr. Elias Boudinot, chairman of the -committee of Congress, in a description of this ball sent to his wife -in Philadelphia, speaks of these representatives of the allied powers -entering the room, two by two, and engaging in what he ingeniously -calls “a most curious dance, called _en ballet_, to show the happy -union between the two nations.”[13] - -The Comte de Moustier had succeeded Barbé-Marbois as French minister to -the United States, and was so addicted to entertaining that he was wont -to say that he was “but a tavern-keeper;” adding, facetiously, that -“the Americans had the complaisance not to demand his recall.”[14] Of -the new ambassador Mr. Madison wrote to Mr. Jefferson, in Paris, “It is -with much pleasure I inform you that Moustier begins to make himself -acceptable; and with still more that Madame Bréhan begins to be viewed -in the light which I hope she merits.” This lady was Anne-Flore Millet, -Marquise de Bréhan, a sister of the Comte de Moustier, who assisted -him in doing the honors of his house. She is described as a singular, -whimsical old woman, who delighted in playing with a negro child and -caressing a monkey. With all her eccentricities, she seems to have been -possessed of some talent and considerable skill as an artist, as she -not only executed several portraits of Washington, but achieved a feat -known to few portrait-painters, that of pleasing the sitter himself. - -About a week before the Comte de Moustier’s entertainment, the -inauguration ball was held, and, if we are to credit contemporaneous -gossip, was a very grand and imposing function. Although those were -days of stage-coaching and slow travel, a number of visitors from other -cities were in New York, as appears from a letter written by Miss -Bertha Ingersoll, from the scene of the festivities, to Miss Sallie -McKean in Philadelphia. - - “We shall remain here,” she writes, “even if we have to sleep in - tents, as so many will have to do. Mr. Williamson had promised to - engage us rooms at Frauncis’s, but that was jammed long ago, as was - every other decent public house, and now while we are waiting at Mrs. - Vandervoort’s, in Maiden Lane, till after dinner, two of our beaux - are running about town determined to obtain the best places for us to - stay at which can be opened for love or money or the most persuasive - speeches.” - -Mrs. Washington was still at Mount Vernon on the 7th of May, the date -of the inauguration ball,[15] consequently the story of a sofa raised -some steps above the floor of the ball-room for the accommodation -of the President and his wife during the dancing is quite without -foundation, as is the equally absurd story of portly Mrs. Knox pushing -her way up to this circle and having to descend suddenly from her -elevated position because there was no room for her on the platform. -Even if there was no dais for the President and his wife, there was no -lack of form and ceremony at this Republican entertainment, where the -men all wore the small-clothes of the day, which so well became their -stately proportions, and where, says Huntingdon, many powdered heads -were still to be seen, among men as well as women. The President’s -costume on such occasions was a full suit of black velvet, with long -black silk stockings, white vest, silver knee- and shoe-buckles, the -hair being powdered and gathered together at the back in a black silk -bag tied with a bow of black ribbon. He wore a light dress sword, -with a richly-ornamented hilt, and often carried in his hand a cocked -hat, decorated with the American cockade. The Vice-President, John -Adams, wore a full suit of drab, with bag-wig and wrist-ruffles. The -gentlemen’s laces seem to have rivalled those of the ladies, although -in their costumes rich silks, satins, and brocades had begun to give -place to cloth of various colors, as if to forecast the less ornate -masculine costume of later date. - -“The collection of ladies” at this ball, writes a contemporary, “was -numerous and brilliant, and they were dressed with consummate taste -and elegance. The number of persons present was upwards of three -hundred, and satisfaction, vivacity, and delight beamed from every -countenance.” Colonel William Leet Stone, of New York, thus describes -one of the costumes: “It was a plain celestial blue satin gown, with -a white satin petticoat. On the neck was worn a very large Italian -gauze handkerchief, with border stripes of satin. The head-dress was a -_pouf_ of satin in the form of a globe, the _créneaux_ or head-piece of -which was composed of white satin, having a double wing in large pleats -and trimmed with a wreath of artificial roses. The hair was dressed -all over in detached curls, four of which in two ranks fell on each -side of the neck and were relieved behind by a floating chignon.” We -have Colonel Stone’s word for it that this was an attractive costume, -although the description does not sound so to modern ears, especially -with the heavy head decorations. It appears, however, that the ladies -of the first administration had made one important departure, for -which thanksgivings should have been devoutly uttered. They had by this -time renounced the ungainly head-dress that had reared its pyramid -skyward for some years, and which, accompanied as it was with scant -drapery about the shoulders and bust, had led some wit of the day to -accuse the fair ones of robbing their breasts of gauze, cambric, and -muslin for the use of their heads, while another satirist wrote,-- - - “Give Chloe a bushel of horse-hair and wool, - Of paste and pomatum a pound; - Ten yards of gay ribbon to deck her sweet skull, - And gauze to encompass it round.” - -Perhaps some such witticisms as these had led to the change of fashion; -or, more likely, a little bird from France had whispered in the ladies’ -ears that the mighty pyramid had fallen there. From whatever cause, the -structure of hair, flowers, feathers, and jewels no longer reared its -imposing pinnacle above the brow of beauty, and many of the Stuart, -Malbone, Trumbull, and Copley paintings of women of this period -represent the hair dressed low, with curls and bandeaux _à la Grecque_ -or rolled moderately high _à la Pompadour_. - -In one of the journals of the day we read that - - “On Thursday evening, the subscribers of the Dancing Assembly, gave - an elegant Ball and Entertainment. The President of the United - States, was pleased to honor the company with his presence--His - Excellency the Vice President--most of the members of both Houses of - Congress--His Excellency the Governor [Clinton] and a great many other - dignified public characters: His Excellency Count de Moustier--His - Most Christian Majesty’s Ambassador--The Baron Steuben, and other - foreigners of distinction were present, as well as the most beautiful - ladies of New York.”[16] - -Among these were the Misses Livingston, one of whom married Mr. Ridley, -of Baltimore, the Misses Van Horne, “avowed Whigs,” says Graydon, -“notwithstanding their civility to the British officers,” and the -Misses White, who lived on Wall Street near Broadway, to one of whom -was addressed the following epigram by a beau of the period named Brown: - - “My lovely maid, I’ve often thought - Whether thy name be just or not; - Thy bosom is as cold as snow, - Which we for matchless _white_ may show; - But when thy beauteous face is seen, - Thou’rt of _brunettes_ the charming queen. - Resolve our doubts: let it be known - Thou rather art inclined to _Brown_.” - -It is evident that this fair White did not permanently incline to -Brown, as one sister became Lady Hayes, and the other married one of -the Monroes. Here also, in goodly array, were Osgoods, Philipses, -Rutherfurds, Van Cortlandts, Van Zandts, Clintons, Montgomerys, De -Lanceys, De Peysters, Kissams, Bleeckers, Clarksons, Verplancks, -Schuylers, Van Rensselaers, and Macombs. How the old names repeat -themselves in the social life of to-day! Prominent in these inaugural -festivities were the Livingstons of Clermont, Chief Justice Yates, of -New York, the handsome soldierly figure of Morgan Lewis, Grand Marshal -of the Inauguration ceremonies, Mrs. Dominick Lynch, Mrs. Edgar, -Mrs. Provoost, Lady Stirling, and her two daughters, Lady Mary Watts -and Lady Kitty Duer. We learn that their aunt, Mrs. Peter Van Brugh -Livingston, had the honor of dancing a cotillon with the President, -who opened the ball with the wife of the Mayor of New York, Mrs. James -Duane. He also danced in the minuet with Mrs. James Homer Maxwell, with -whom as Miss Catharine Van Zandt he had repeatedly danced while the -army was quartered at Morristown. When Washington entered the lists, -dancing seemed to be elevated to the dignity of a function of the -state, and in proof of the grace with which his Excellency could tread -a measure it is related that a French gentleman, after observing him -in the dance, paid him the high compliment of saying that a Parisian -education could not have rendered his execution more admirable. -Mrs. James Beekman,[17] born Jane Keteletas, was the belle of the de -Moustier ball, a week later, and gazing upon her serene face, framed -in by a little cap of gauze and ribbon, that would have been trying to -features less perfect, we can readily believe that she also occupied -a prominent place in the inaugural festivities. Mrs. William Smith, -who had returned from London, where her husband was Secretary of the -American legation, was present, as was also Lady Temple, the American -wife of Sir John Temple, British Consul-General, whom the Marquis de -Chastellux found so distinguished that it was unnecessary to pronounce -her beautiful. Her husband, Sir John, took upon himself “singular -airs,” says Mrs. William Smith, and this spirited little woman declined -to visit my lady because she did not consider that Sir John treated her -spouse with proper deference. Lady Christiana Griffin, the Scotch wife -of Cyrus Griffin, President of Congress, was also one of the guests of -the evening. - -Among New York women whose husbands held high positions were Mrs. -Alexander Hamilton; Mrs. Ralph Izard, wife of the Senator from South -Carolina, whose surname furnished Mrs. Bache a peg on which to hang -her _bon-mot_ about knowing everything South Carolinian from B[18] to -Z (izzard); Mrs. Robert R. Livingston, the daughter of Colonel Henry -Beekman, whose husband had a week earlier administered the oath of -office to the President; Mrs. King, born Mary Alsop, of whose marriage -to Rufus King John Adams speaks as “additional bonds to cement the -love between New York and old Massachusetts;” and Mrs. Elbridge Gerry, -wife of the Senator from Massachusetts. The Rev. Manasseh Cutler -visited the Gerrys when they were living in Philadelphia, and speaks -of the beauty and accomplishments of the New York lady. He expressed -to her his surprise that Philadelphia ladies rose so early, saying -that he saw them at breakfast at half-past five, when in Boston they -could hardly see a breakfast-table before nine without falling into -hysterics. To which Mrs. Gerry replied that she had become inured to -early rising and found it conducive to her health. - -Stately courtesy and dignity, combined with a certain simplicity -begotten of pioneer living in a new country, seem to have been the -distinguishing characteristics of this old-time society, and of the -couple who presided over it and knew so well how to balance the -functions of public office with the sacred demands of home life. - -In days of retirement at Mount Vernon, when engaged in instructing her -maidens, or in household pursuits, Mrs. Washington was always simply -attired, and in cloth of home manufacture. She could, however, on -occasions of state appear in rich costumes of satin, velvet, and lace, -while the President, although appearing at the inaugural ceremonies in -a suit of cloth of American manufacture, on festal occasions donned -the velvet and satin that so well became him. With his republicanism -in national affairs, it is evident that Washington inclined more -to the state and ceremony of Old-World courts than to the extreme, -almost bald, simplicity that came in with a later administration. The -statement of that unknown “Virginia colonel” who said that General -Washington’s “bows were more distant and stiff than anything he had -seen at St. James’s” savors of probability, although disputed by some -of his contemporaries, and Mr. Breck tells us that the President “had -a stud of twelve or fourteen horses, and occasionally rode out to take -the air with six horses to his coach, and always two footmen behind his -carriage;” adding, “He knew how to maintain the dignity of his station. -None of his successors, except the elder Adams, has placed a proper -value on a certain degree of display that seems suitable for the chief -magistrate of a great nation. I do not mean pageantry, but the decent -exterior of a well-bred gentleman.” A President who thus realized all -the dignity that his office implied naturally introduced a certain -amount of form and ceremony into the social life of the capital, and -when Mrs. Washington came from Mount Vernon, on the 27th of May, -receptions were held at the old Franklin house on Cherry Street, whose -like, for a certain state and fine aroma of old-time courtesy, we shall -never see again. Those who, “with the earliest attention and respect, -paid their devoirs to the amiable consort of our beloved President -were,” says one of the newspapers of the time, “the Ladies of the -Most Hon. Mr. Langdon [State Senator from New Hampshire] and the Most -Hon. Mr. Dalton, the Mayoress [Mrs. James Duane], Mrs. Livingston of -Clermont, Mrs. Chancellor Livingston, Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. McComb, -Mrs. Lynch, the Misses Bayard, and a great number of other respectable -characters. Mrs. Washington from Philadelphia was accompanied by the -Lady of Mr. Robert Morris.” We also learn that the President met his -wife at Trenton, and that with a gayly-decorated and well-manned barge -she made her journey to the seat of government. - -Although we are not disposed to agree with the Chevalier de Crèvecœur, -that “if there is a town on the American continent where English luxury -displayed its follies, it was in New York,” Philadelphia, with Mrs. -William Bingham as its social leader, having continued to assert its -supremacy in this line, we are willing to believe that there was a -fair amount of both folly and luxury in the national capital. This -gentleman, Saint-John de Crèvecœur, sometime Consul-General at New -York, was probably surprised to find anything approaching civilization -in this city and country, as he exclaims, “You will find here the -English fashions. In the dress of the women you will see the most -brilliant silks, gauzes, hats, and borrowed hair.” It is amusing, in -this connection, to note the French gentleman’s ideal of what a woman -should be. He happened to be looking for a wife himself just then, and, -like Solomon’s perfect woman, she was expected to look well to the ways -of her household, to be skilled in the spinning of flax and the making -of cheese and butter, and withal she was to have her mind cultivated a -little, just enough to enable her to enjoy reading with her husband. - -Mrs. William Smith, a less prejudiced observer than M. de Crèvecœur, -in writing to her mother of a dinner at Chief Justice Jay’s which was -served _à la mode française_, says that there was more fashion and -state in New York than she would fancy. Brissot de Warville speaks -of another dinner, this one at the house of Cyrus Griffin, at which -seven or eight women appeared dressed in great hats and plumes. If the -hats were as graceful and becoming as that worn by Mrs. John Jay in -her portrait by Pine, we have no word of censure for those old-time -beauties, although a plumed hat does seem a rather peculiar finish to -a dinner costume, almost as odd as Mrs. William Smith’s elbow-sleeves, -bare arms, and muff. - -At her formal receptions, which Mr. Daniel Huntingdon has represented -in his famous picture, Mrs. Washington stood with the Cabinet ladies -around her, stately Mrs. Robert Morris by her side, herself the -stateliest figure in the group. The President passed from guest to -guest, exchanging a word with one and another, and pleasing all by -the fine courtesy of his manner. The lovely ladies and the dignified -gentlemen, many of the latter with powdered heads and bag-wigs, like -his Excellency, trooped up by twos and threes to pay their respects -to the first lady in the land. If around the Chief Magistrate were -gathered the great men of the nation, those who, like John Adams, -Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, had already impressed -themselves deeply upon the past, and in connection with such younger -minds as those of James Madison, Rufus King, Elbridge Gerry, and Oliver -Ellsworth, the Cerberus of the Treasury, were destined to outline -the serener history of the future, Mrs. Washington numbered in her -Republican Court the noblest and most beautiful women in the land. -Among these were many who, like her, had shared with their husbands the -anxieties of the Revolutionary period,--notably, Mrs. General Knox, -Mrs. Robert Morris, and Mrs. Adams,--while in a younger group were Mrs. -Rufus King, who is described as singularly handsome, Mrs. Gerry, Mrs. -George Clinton, Mrs. William Smith, John Adams’s daughter, Mrs. Walter -Livingston, whom General Washington had once entertained, in rustic -style, when encamped near New York, and, not the least attractive among -these lovely dames, Mrs. John Jay, a daughter of Governor Livingston, -who shared with Mrs. William Bingham, of Philadelphia, the distinction -of being called the most beautiful and charming woman in America. -Honors seem to have been easy between these two high-born dames, -as both were beloved, admired, and _fêted_ at home and abroad. The -Marquise de Lafayette, who entertained a warm friendship for Mrs. Jay, -said, with charming simplicity, that “Mrs. Jay and she thought alike, -that pleasure might be found abroad, but happiness only at home.” All -of Mrs. Jay’s portraits represent a face of such exquisite beauty that -it is not difficult to imagine the furore she created at foreign and -Republican courts. - -Does there not seem to have been an indefinable charm of exquisiteness -and dignity about these old-time dames, like the fragrance that -surrounds some fine and stately exotic? They had abundant leisure to -make their daily sacrifice to the graces, and they always appear before -us in full _toilette_,--hair rolled or curled, slippers high of heel, -and gown of stiff brocade or satin. We never catch these fair ladies -_en déshabille_, nor do we desire to do so; their charm would as surely -vanish before the inglorious ease of a loose morning gown and roomy -slippers as does that of an American Indian when he divests himself -of his war-paint and feathers. We read with equanimity of some of the -belles of the period sitting all night with their pyramidal heads -propped up against pillows, because the hair-dresser could not make his -round without attending to some heads the night before the ball. This -was “_souffrir pour être belle_” with a vengeance; yet, deeming it all -in keeping with their stately elegance, for which they had to pay a -price, we never stop to think of how their poor necks must have ached, -choosing rather to dwell upon their triumphs when they entered the -ball-room. We can hear Mr. Swanwick, or some other poet of the day, pay -them the most extravagant compliments, while lamenting the void left by -the absence of another fair one: - - “Say why, amid the splendid rows - Of graceful belles and polish’d beaux, - Does not Markoe appear? - Has some intrusive pain dismay’d - From festive scenes the lov’ly maid, - Or does she illness fear?” - -Is it possible that Markoe could not get her head dressed in time, -and thus missed the ball? We wonder, and, wondering, lavish so much -sympathy upon her for the pleasure she has lost that we forget to -moralize upon the impropriety of Mr. Swanwick’s paying such exaggerated -compliments, which would turn the head of any girl of to-day. We of -this generation reverse the order of nature; like doting grandparents -we enjoy the picturesque beauty of these stately ancestors, and, with -never a thought of their higher good, retail their triumphs with -enthusiasm, wishing that for one brief moment we could turn back and -feel what they felt when their world was at their feet. It was a very -small world, according to our ideas, but it was the largest that they -knew, and it was all their own. - -What a gay pageant that old social life seems as it passes before -us! We almost forget that the picture is limned against the stern -background of war, for it is one in which the shadows have all faded -out, leaving only the bright colors upon the canvas. Let it remain -so. Why should we weep over sorrows so long past? The sting has all -gone from them, and surely there can no harm come to this generation -from dwelling upon the beauty and grace of those fair ladies, who -ruled society in New York a hundred years ago, or upon the bravery and -strength of the noble men who gathered around them. _Sic transit gloria -mundi!_ cries the moralist; but the glory has not all passed away, as -is proved by our lingering over it now, nor need it be quite effaced -from the gay life of to-day, if hearts still beat as true under silk -and broadcloth as did those of the fathers and mothers of the Republic -beneath brocaded bodices and satin waistcoats. - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[10] This house was the residence of Aaron Burr at the time of his duel -with Alexander Hamilton. - -[11] Mrs. Robinson’s statement that a carpet was spread from the wharf -for the President to walk upon was authenticated, more than sixty -years later, by an eyewitness of the scene. Dr. Atlee, in 1850, while -substitute-resident at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, met -a man of eighty-two who, when he learned that the young physician was -named Walter Franklin Atlee, exclaimed at the coincidence, saying that -he remembered having seen General Washington come up the river in a -boat, and walk on a carpet to Walter Franklin’s house, where he and -Mrs. Washington were to reside. - -[12] “Lady Cathcart was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte. -Peter Pindar celebrates her at Weymouth in connection with the king’s -insensate manners: - - ‘Cæsar spies Lady Cathcart with a book; - He flies to know what ’tis--he longs to look. - “What’s in your hand, my lady? let me know?”-- - “A book, an’t please your majesty?”--“Oho! - Book’s a good thing--good thing,--I like a book. - Very good thing, my lady,--let me look. - War of America! my lady, hae? - Bad thing, my lady! fling, fling _that_ away.”’” - -_Life of Major John André_, by Winthrop Sargent, p. 147. - -[13] See Army List, 1778. - -[14] This pleasantry on the part of the French minister seems to -have been taken _au sérieux_ by certain writers as pointing to some -obscurity of origin, while the fact is substantiated by various -authorities that Eléonore-François-Elie, Comte de Moustier, entered the -diplomatic service at eighteen, and after representing his country at -several foreign courts was twice offered the position of Minister of -Foreign Affairs by Louis XVI. - -[15] United States Gazette, May 9, 1789. - -[16] It is interesting to turn from these Republican festivities to -read in the journal of a Moravian minister, written in New York during -the occupation of the British, of King’s and Queen’s “Birthnight -Balls,” “Coronation Day” celebrations, and rejoicings over the arrival -of “His Royal Highness, Prince William Henry, the third son of our dear -King, an amiable young Prince, who gave satisfaction to all who saw -him.”--_Diary of Ewald Gustav Schaukirk._ - -[17] “The old Beekman house, built by James Beekman, and standing -three miles from the City Hall in New York, was the scene of a number -of interesting events. During the British possession of the city it -was occupied by the commander-in-chief of their army, and one room at -the head of a flight of stairs was occupied by Major André the night -before proceeding up the river on his ill-fated expedition to West -Point, while (strange providence) but a few yards distant still stands -[1848] the green house where Captain Nathan Hale, of the American army, -received his trial and condemnation as a spy.”--JEROME B. HOLGATE. - -[18] Evidently referring to the Bee family of S. C. - - - - -[Illustration: THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY] - - -In none of his schemes and foundations did Dr. Franklin more signally -display the breadth and catholicity of his mind than in his plan -for the establishment, in the New World, of an association for the -general diffusion of useful knowledge, to which the Old World should -be tributary, and from which it should in time be recipient. With this -end in view, he, in 1743, issued a proposal for the organization and -government of an American Philosophical Society, whose object was to -bring into correspondence with a central association in Philadelphia -all scientists, philosophers, and inventors, on this continent and -in Europe. Bold as was this scheme in its breadth and reach, in its -smaller details it was marked by the practical characteristics of -the projector. The Hamiltons and Franklins might “dream dreams and -see visions” to the end of the chapter; but they would have framed -no governments, or have founded no learned institutions destined to -outlast the centuries, had not their ideality been well balanced by -the strong common sense that Guizot calls “the genius of humanity.” It -was this union of the ideal and the practical that caused Franklin to -be so appreciated by the French. Mirabeau named him “the sage of two -worlds,” with a larger grasp of thought than that of our own day, when -he is still claimed, like the debatable baby brought to King Solomon, -by two cities,--by Boston, in which he first saw the light, and by -Philadelphia, in which he disseminated it so liberally. - -Although there is a vast amount of documentary evidence to prove -that the American Philosophical Society was the direct outcome of -Franklin’s proposal of 1743, and that before the breaking out of the -war with Great Britain it was an active and useful organization, -having a large native and foreign membership, two of Dr. Franklin’s -biographers have done but scant justice to his work in this direction. -Professor McMaster, in his recent interesting life of Franklin as a -man of letters, dismisses his proposal to establish such a society -as a failure;[19] while Mr. Parton, after mentioning the fact of -Franklin having founded the Philosophical Society, in accordance with -his proposal of 1743, adds, “The society was formed, and continued in -existence for some years. Nevertheless, its success was neither great -nor permanent, for at that day the circle of men capable of taking much -interest in science was too limited for the proper support of such an -organization.”[20] - -As both of these historians mention the Philosophical Society later, -and Mr. Parton at some length in his Life of Jefferson, it is probable -that they did not consider that this early society was identical with -that which in 1767 took a fresh start, elected a number of influential -members, and made for itself an enviable reputation in Europe and -America, in the latter years of the century. Sparks and Bigelow, -however, take what is, according to the historian of the society, -Dr. Robert M. Patterson, a true view of the case, tracing it back, -a continuous organization, to the proposal of Dr. Franklin issued -in 1743. Indeed, they carry it back even further than this period, -deriving it primarily from the old Junto of 1727. After describing the -workings of the Junto, or Leather Apron Society, formed from among -Franklin’s “ingenious acquaintance,” a sort of debating club of clever -young men, Jared Sparks says, “Forty years after its establishment, -it became the basis of the American Philosophical Society, of which -Franklin was the first president, and the published Transactions of -which have contributed to the advancement of science and the diffusion -of valuable knowledge in the United States.”[21] As most of Franklin’s -projects were discussed in the congenial circle that composed the -Junto, this statement does not conflict with that of Dr. Patterson. - -Dr. Franklin, in his proposal, gave a list of the subjects that were -to claim the attention of these New World philosophers. It included -“investigations in botany; in medicine; in mineralogy and mining; -in chemistry; in mechanics; in arts, trades, and manufactures; in -geography and topography; in agriculture;” and, lest something should -have been left out of this rather comprehensive list of subjects, -it was added that the association should “give its attention to all -philosophical experiments that let light into the nature of things, -tend to increase the power of man over matter, and multiply the -conveniences or pleasures of life.” The duties of the secretary of the -society were laid down, and were especially arduous, including much -foreign correspondence, in addition to the correcting, abstracting, and -methodizing of such papers as required it. This office Dr. Franklin -took upon himself, saying, with a touch of modesty that seems a trifle -strained, that he “would be secretary until they should be provided -with one more capable.” He, however, tells us in the Autobiography that -he one day added humility to his list of virtues at the suggestion of -a Quaker friend, and this form of expression may have been one of his -self-imposed exercises. - -The Philosophical Society, once established, was destined to exert -an important influence on American science, life, and letters. Among -its members were literary men, statesmen, and artists, as well as -scientists and inventors. Before its meetings were read learned papers -on government, history, education, philanthropy, politics, religion, -worship, above all, on common sense: these in addition to the numerous -scientific papers, read and communicated, while among its eulogiums and -_oraisons funèbres_, pronounced upon deceased members, are to be found -compositions worthy of Bossuet. - -As early as 1769, the society had members in the different colonies, -in the Barbadoes, in Antigua, in Heidelberg and Stockholm; while in -Edinburgh the distinguished Dr. William Cullen was a member, in London -Dr. John Fothergill, and in Paris the learned Count de Buffon. At -home it numbered such men as Francis Hopkinson, statesman and writer -of prose and poetry; Dr. Phineas Bond and his brother Thomas, both -original members; Dr. Adam Kuhn and Daniel Dulany, of Maryland. Upon -these early lists we find Pierre Eugène du Simitière, who was one -of the committee appointed to prepare a design for a national seal; -Benjamin West; John Dickinson, who was writing his “Farmer’s Letters,” -destined to make him known on both sides of the sea; and John Bartram, -botanist to his majesty, who planted his celebrated botanical garden -near Gray’s Ferry, and built with his own hands the house, above the -study window of which is his devout confession of faith: - - “’TIS GOD ALONE, ALMIGHTY LORD, - THE HOLY ONE, BY ME ADORED. - - JOHN BARTRAM, 1770.” - -A pioneer in this field, he is recognized as the greatest of American -botanists, and, contrary to the rule generally proved by great -men’s sons, had the satisfaction of seeing his studies successfully -prosecuted by his son, William Bartram, who also contributed original -papers to the society. - -Writing in 1744 to the Honorable Cadwallader Colden, -Lieutenant-Governor of New York, a distinguished scientist and original -worker in certain lines, Dr. Franklin says,-- - - “Happening to be in this City about some particular Affairs, I have - the Pleasure of receiving yours of the 28ᵗʰ past, here. And can now - acquaint you, that a Society, as far as relates to Philadelphia, - is actually formed, and has had several Meetings to mutual - Satisfaction;--assoon [_sic_] as I get home, I shall send you a short - Acct. of what has been done and proposed at these meetings.” - -Here follows a list of members from Philadelphia, New York, and New -Jersey, to which the writer adds,-- - - “Mr. Nicholls tells me of several other Gentlemen of this City [New - York] that incline to encourage the Thing.--There are a Number of - others in Virginia, Maryland, Carolina, and the New England States who - we expect to join us assoon [_sic_] as they are acquainted that the - Society has begun to form itself. I am, Sir, with much respect, - - “Your most humᵉ sevᵗ - “B. FRANKLIN.”[22] - - -The Honorable Cadwallader Colden was one of the original members of -the American Philosophical Society, and took an active interest in its -establishment and advance. He and Dr. Franklin were intimate friends, -and in the habit of communicating to each other their scientific -discoveries. It was Dr. Colden who introduced into the study of botany -in America the system of Linnæus. - -One of the founders and the first president of this society was Mr. -Thomas Hopkinson, whom Dr. Franklin called his “ingenious friend,” -and to whom he acknowledges his indebtedness for demonstrating “the -power of points to _throw off_ the electrical fire.” Another “ingenious -friend,” to whom he makes no profound acknowledgment, was the Rev. -Ebenezer Kinnersley, a professor in the College of Philadelphia, to -whom it is now generally conceded that Franklin owed much of his -success in important electrical discoveries. Mr. Parton says that, in -1748, “Mr. Kinnersley contrived the amusing experiment of the magical -picture. A figure of his majesty King George II. (‘God preserve him,’ -says the loyal Franklin, in parenthesis, when telling the story) was -so arranged that any one who attempted to take his crown from his head -received a tremendous shock.” By this clever contrivance Mr. Kinnersley -proves himself something of a prophet as well as a scientist, for -notwithstanding the violent shock received by the friends of royalty in -the colonies, a few years later, it was conclusively demonstrated that -the crown could be taken off. - -In drawing up rules for the government of the Philosophical Society, -Dr. Franklin advises that correspondence be maintained not only -between the central organization and its members in the different -colonies, but with the Royal Society of London and the Dublin Society. -Thus persons residing in remote districts of the United States would -be placed in direct communication with the latest discoveries of Old -World scientists in all their lines of work. What such correspondence -meant to men of intelligence, living far from the centres of education -and enlightenment, in those days of few books and fewer magazines and -journals, it is impossible for us to imagine. Many years later, when -the French botanist, André Michaux, was appointed by his government to -examine the trees of this continent, with a view to their introduction -into France, he carried letters from the Philosophical Society to one -of its members, living in Lexington, Kentucky. - - “During my stay at Lexington,” Michaux writes, “I frequently saw Dr. - Samuel Brown, from Virginia, a physician of the College of Edinburgh, - and a member of the Philosophical Society.... Receiving regularly the - scientific journals from London, he is always in the channel of new - discoveries, and turns them to the advantage of his fellow-citizens. - It is to him that they are indebted for the introduction of the - cow-pox. He had at that time inoculated upwards of five hundred - persons in Kentucky, when they were making their first attempts in New - York and Philadelphia.” - -Agreeable as it must have been to Michaux to find flowers of science -blooming in these western wilds, we can imagine the even greater -delight that such a man as Dr. Brown must have experienced in meeting -and conversing with this foreigner, fresh from Old World haunts of -learning, with his interesting budget of news, political as well as -scientific. Those were the exciting days of the Consulate in France, -when Lord Nelson was gaining victories for England in the Northern -seas; and we can picture to ourselves these two learned gentlemen, -seated before a great fire of logs, with a steaming bowl of punch, made -from the famous Kentucky apple-jack beside them, turning away from -the paths of science to discuss Napoleon’s victories, the coalition -against England, and the assassination of the Emperor Paul in Russia, -which was followed by a treaty between his successor and the English -sovereign. - -American science must have been in a condition of encouraging activity -between 1750 and 1767, for in those years there were no less than -three societies in Philadelphia whose aims and pursuits were in the -main identical,--the promotion of useful knowledge and the drawing -together of its votaries. These societies were a second Junto, of -which the indefatigable Dr. Franklin was a member, the American -Philosophical Society, and the American Society. This division in the -ranks of science probably arose from the feeling existing between the -adherents of the Penn family and those averse to them; these parties -being as violently opposed to each other as were, later, Federalist -and Democratic-Republican; or, still later, the Whig and Democratic -parties. Happily for the historian, who is sadly confused by Juntos -and Juntolings, and by American Societies which were philosophical, -and Philosophical Societies which were also American, these different -bodies showed a disposition to unite, and in 1769 were incorporated -into one society, under the title of American Philosophical Society, -held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge. This title -proving a trifle “unhandy for every-day use,” to borrow the phraseology -of a patriotic farmer’s wife, who bestowed upon one of her offspring -the entire heading of the Republican ticket in 1860, “Abraham Lincoln -Hannibal Hamlin,” it has gradually been abbreviated into the American -Philosophical Society, there being now no other. - -Of this united society Dr. Franklin was elected president, the first -of an honorable line of presidents, whose portraits adorn the walls of -the old rooms on Fifth Street, where the philosophers met more than -a hundred years ago. The society obtained a grant of land from the -State of Pennsylvania in 1785, and in 1787 its hall was completed, -the one still used, in whose sunshiny rooms are now gathered the -relics, the treasures, and the memories of a century. Here is the -old chair on whose broad arm Jefferson wrote the Declaration, and -here are autograph letters and autographs of such value as to fill -the soul of the collector with “envy, hatred, and malice, and all -uncharitableness.” On one side of the hall is the well-known and most -characteristic portrait of Dr. Franklin,[23] in his blue coat, large -wig, and spectacles, while near by is his marble effigy by Houdon, -whose statue of Washington bears the proud inscription, “_Fait par -Houdon, citoyen Français._” - -Dr. Franklin was annually elected president of the society, Dr. -Thomas Cadwalader officiating during his residence abroad. Brissot de -Warville, coming to Philadelphia in 1788, exclaims, with devoutness -rare in a Frenchman, “Thanks be to God, he still exists! This great -man, for so many years the preceptor of the Americans, who so -gloriously contributed to their independence; death had threatened his -days, but our fears are dissipated, and his health is restored.” Two -years later the same chronicler records, “Franklin has enjoyed this -year the blessing of death, for which he waited so long a time.” - -As president of the Philosophical Society, he was succeeded, in 1791, -by Dr. Rittenhouse, the greatest American astronomer, of whom Jefferson -said, “We have supposed Rittenhouse second to no astronomer living; -in genius he must be first, because he is self-taught.” It was he who -contributed to the society the first purely scientific paper in its -series of Transactions, a calculation on the transit of Venus. He also -described a wonderful orrery, which represented the revolution of the -heavenly bodies more completely than it had ever been done before, and -which he had himself constructed at the age of twenty-three. In June, -1769, he made observations on the transit of Venus. “The whole horizon -was without a cloud,” says Rittenhouse, in his report of this event; -and so greatly excited was the young astronomer that, in the instant of -one of the contacts of the planet with the sun, he actually fainted -with emotion. Rittenhouse’s interesting report on this phenomenon, -which had never been seen but twice before by any inhabitant of the -earth, was received with satisfaction by learned and scientific men -everywhere. Those who visit the hall of the society to-day may look -out upon the State-House yard from the same window through which -Rittenhouse made his observations, and note the passing hours upon -the face of a clock constructed by his hands, which, the curator says, -“still keeps good time.” - -Prominent among the portraits of early officers is an interesting -picture of Thomas Jefferson, who was third president of the -Philosophical Society, as well as of the United States. This painting, -which well portrays the intellectual and spirited face of the original, -was executed at Monticello by Mr. Sully, who was invited there for -this purpose. Jefferson, who would have been a great scientist had he -not been called upon by his country to use his powers as a statesman, -naturally took a warm interest in the Philosophical Society, and was a -member long before he was made its president in 1797. While abroad he -disputed the arguments of the learned Count de Buffon on the degeneracy -of American animals, and finally made his position secure by sending -the astonished Frenchman the bones, skin, and horns of an enormous -New Hampshire moose. Equally convincing was this, and more agreeable -than the manner in which Dr. Franklin answered a similar argument on -the degeneracy of American men, by making all the Americans at table, -and all the Frenchmen, stand up. As those of his compatriots present -happened to be fine specimens physically, towering above the little -Gauls, the good doctor had the argument all his own way. - -It seemed, indeed, as if these two great men, who so harmoniously -combined the ideal and the practical, were born to prove to the world -that genius of the highest order, in science, letters, and statecraft, -is not incompatible with the same sort of ability that is essential to -the success of a Western farmer or a skilled mechanic. Hence, if Dr. -Franklin employed his leisure hours in inventing an improved stove, or -explaining to the Philosophical Society why certain chimneys smoked; -Mr. Jefferson used his in designing a plough, for which he received a -gold medal from France, and in calculating the number of bushels of -wheat to the acre, at Monticello. One day, he is interesting himself -in the importation of seed-rice from Italy, from the Levant, and from -Egypt; while on another, he is helping the Philosophical Society to -frame instructions for the guidance of André Michaux in his Western -explorations. It was life that interested them both,--life in the -smaller details that affect home comfort, as well as in the broader -issues that bear upon the happiness of states and nations. In Mr. -Jefferson’s minute directions regarding the education of his daughters, -and in his grasp of the details of farming, we recognize the same -sort of practical common sense that so eminently distinguished Dr. -Franklin, of whom his latest biographer says, in his own forcible -and epigrammatic style,--“Whatever he has said on domestic economy, -or thrift, is sound and striking. No other writer has left so many -just and original observations on success in life. No other writer has -pointed out so clearly the way to obtain the greatest amount of comfort -out of life. What Solomon did for the spiritual man, that did Franklin -for the earthly man. The book of Proverbs is a collection of receipts -for laying up treasure in heaven. ‘Poor Richard’ is a collection of -receipts for laying up treasure on earth.”[24] - -In addition to its regular meetings for business and for scientific -purposes, the Philosophical Society had its gala days, its annual -dinners, and its especial receptions and entertainments given to -distinguished strangers. Hither, in 1794, came the Rev. Joseph -Priestley, of Birmingham, counted in France too devout for a scientist, -and in England too broad for the clergy. As the discoverer of oxygen, -the friend of Franklin, whose experiments in electricity he had -described, and a devotee to the cause of liberty, Dr. Priestley was -warmly welcomed by the Philosophical Society, which not only received -him into its own learned brotherhood, but adopted him into American -citizenship. This first reception was followed by a dinner given by the -learned coterie in honor of Dr. Priestley. - -Many anecdotes of these old dinners have been handed down, showing that -when the good philosophers put science aside they could be as lively -_raconteurs_ and _bons vivants_ as the world has ever seen. On such -festive occasions, the witty old Abbé Correa de Serra, Judge Peters, -Mr. Du Ponceau, Dr. Caspar Wistar, Mr. John Vaughan, and later, Robert -Walsh, LL.D., and the Honorable William Short of Virginia, both most -delightful talkers, George Ord, William Strickland the architect, and -the ever-ready wits Dr. Nathaniel Chapman and Nicholas Biddle, gathered -around the board. - -Of Judge Peters’s clever sayings we find numerous records. As he -grew older, his sharp nose and chin approached each other closely. A -friend observed to him, one day, that his nose and chin would soon be -at loggerheads. “Very likely,” he replied, “for hard words often pass -between them.” Once, while he was Speaker of the House of Assembly, one -of the members, in crossing the room, tripped on the carpet and fell -flat. The House burst into laughter, while the judge, with the utmost -gravity, cried, “Order, order, gentlemen! Do you not see that a member -is on the floor?” Unceremonious, communicative, friendly, Judge Peters -was the life of every circle that he entered; correcting Mayor Wharton -at a dinner when he called to the waiter, “John, more wine,” saying -that it was a _demi_john that he needed, while he himself “drank like -a fish,” as he expressed it, from his goblet of water, requiring no -artificial aid to brighten wits that were always keen and scintillating. - -Mr. George Ord, who was a delightful _raconteur_ as well as a learned -naturalist, took great pleasure in relating a story of his friend Dr. -Abercrombie, a fellow-member of the society. Dr. James Abercrombie, -sometime rector of Christ and St. Peter’s Churches, was a divine of -the old school, who despised not the good things of this lower world -while engaged in preparation for those of the higher. Once, while on -a pastoral visit to the small town of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, where -an Episcopal church had been established, Dr. Abercrombie was regaled -with some very fine old Madeira wine, which he drank with evident -appreciation, and probably some surprise at finding anything so -choice in that region of the country. The next day, according to Mr. -Ord’s story, the good parson chose for his text that most appropriate -verse from the Acts of the Apostles, in which St. Paul says, “And the -barbarous people showed us no little kindness.” - -Another clerical member of the learned fraternity was William White, -one of our early American bishops, who was an ardent patriot and a -genial companion, as well as the most devout of churchmen. A warm -friend of Benjamin West, the artist, Bishop White was fond of telling -how he helped West to secure his bride, Miss Betty Shewell. Mr. West -was in England, and so busy painting for the court and royal family -that he could not come over to America to marry his _fiancée_; but, as -his father was about to sail for England, he wrote to Miss Shewell, -begging her to join his father, and make the voyage with him. Miss -Shewell’s brother, who was averse to the match, chiefly because West -was an impecunious genius, put a stop to the proceedings by confining -the fair bride-elect in an upper room. Bishop White, then a very -young man, Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Francis Hopkinson determined to help -on the “course of true love” by facilitating Miss Shewell’s escape -to the ship, which was waiting for her at Chester. This they did by -means of a romantic rope-ladder and a carriage around the corner. -Miss Shewell with her maid reached the ship in good time, and a few -weeks after was married to Benjamin West in the English chapel of St. -Martin’s-in-the-Fields. In telling this story, the kindly bishop was -wont to add, gleefully, “Ben was a good fellow, and deserved a good -wife, and I would do the same thing over again to-day,”--a sentiment, -we may be sure, that was greeted with applause by the gravest of the -philosophers, they being no exception to the rule that “all the world -loves a lover.” An active member of the society, and for years one of -its counsellors, Bishop White was present on all important occasions, -grave or gay. Having known General Washington and the other great men -of the Revolution, and met and conversed with Samuel Johnson while in -England, his was one of the few familiar faces that greeted the Marquis -de Lafayette when he revisited America in 1824. - -Another face to be seen for many successive years at the meetings -of the society, and at its annual dinners, was that of Peter S. Du -Ponceau, the French lawyer and philologist, who lived here for so -many years. He has left behind him pictures of some of his learned -associates that prove to us that these gentlemen, whose faces look -down upon us gravely from century-old portraits, were, on occasions, -as full of quips and quirks and fun and frolic as the most jovial -collegian of our day. Of his frequent journeys to Washington to attend -the sessions of the Supreme Court of the United States, in company with -Mr. Ingersoll, Mr. William Rawle, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Edward Tilghman, -he says,-- - - “As soon as we were out of the city and felt the flush of air, we - were like school-boys in the playground on a holiday; and we began - to kill time by all the means that our imagination could suggest. - Flashes of wit shot their coruscations on all sides; puns of the - genuine Philadelphia stamp were handed about; old college stories - were revived; macaroni Latin was spoken with great purity; songs - were sung,--even classical songs, among which I recollect the famous - Bacchanalian of the Archdeacon of Oxford, _Mihi est propositum in - tabernâ mori_; in short, we might have been taken for anything else - but the grave counsellors of the celebrated bar of Philadelphia.” - -Mr. Du Ponceau it is who is accredited with the well-known story of the -lawyer whose client came in and deposed that “his brother had died and -made a will.” A gentleman who read law with the facetious Frenchman -relates that it was only when a fee was placed in Mr. Du Ponceau’s -hand that he translated the phrase into, “Ah! you mean that your -brother made a will and died.” We can imagine the laugh with which the -philosophers would greet this most practical of jokes. - -Quite as celebrated as the dinners of the society were Mr. John -Vaughan’s breakfasts, which held the same prominence in the social -life of the time as Dr. Wistar’s evening parties or as the Sunday -afternoon vespers of Mr. Henry C. Carey, where, during the late war, -and after its close, soldiers, politicians, statesmen, and civilians -met together and discussed the great issues and events that shook the -nation from 1860 to 1865. So at Mr. Vaughan’s breakfasts were discussed -the agitating questions of the last decade of the century, Federalists -and Democratic-Republicans, as they were beginning to be called, -meeting together around his hospitable board. Mr. Vaughan himself was -a Federalist, although not a violent partisan. Riding, one day, with -Mr. Jefferson, his horse became unmanageable, disturbing somewhat -Mr. Vaughan’s serenity, upon which the latter, gathering his reins -firmly, muttered under his breath, “This horse--this horse is as bad -as a Democrat!” “Oh, no,” replied the high-priest and leader of the -party; “if he were a Democrat, he would have thrown _you_ long ago.” -Mr. Vaughan, for many years librarian and treasurer of the society, had -his rooms in the building on Fifth Street, in one of which, before its -generous old-fashioned fireplace and high carved mantel, Washington -sat for his well-known portrait by the elder Peale. The general, whom -Mr. Vaughan numbered among his friends, had already been elected a -member of the society; but we find few records of his presence at its -meetings or at the famous breakfasts. One of these breakfasts, given -in the latter years of Mr. Vaughan’s life, is still remembered by Dr. -William H. Furness, then a young man, recently come from New England -to take charge of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. The -breakfast lasted from nine until one. Whether the guests breakfasted -upon roast peacocks and nightingales’ tongues, or upon plain beefsteak -and chops, Dr. Furness does not remember; but he will never forget -the circle gathered around that table. There were John Quincy Adams, -Colonel Drayton of South Carolina, Mr. Du Ponceau, and Dr. Channing, -who exercised such an influence on the religious thought of New -England, and of whom the orthodox clergy were wont to say that his -theology was “Calvinism with the bones taken out.” A goodly company of -leading minds, “joined later,” says Dr. Furness, by Albert Gallatin -and the Rev. William Ware, pastor of the First Unitarian Church in New -York. Among other visitors of note entertained by Mr. Vaughan were Sir -Charles Lyell, and George Robins Gliddon, the Egyptologist, who were -both in this country about 1841. - -Mr. John Vaughan, whose most distinguishing trait was love for his -fellow-men, whom, it was said, he took more delight in serving than -most men take in making and hoarding dollars, belonged to a family -distinguished in statesmanship, letters, and affairs. The Vaughan -brothers were of English birth, sons of Samuel Vaughan, a London -merchant trading with America. The most prominent of this large -family was Benjamin Vaughan, M.D., LL.D., sometime secretary to -Lord Shelburne, and acting as confidential messenger in the peace -negotiations between Great Britain and America in 1783. Deeply -tinctured with the revolutionary spirit of the time, a liberal to -the extent of admiring the system of the Directory in France, and -writing in favor of it, Benjamin Vaughan finally found it expedient -to quit the Old World for the more congenial political atmosphere of -the New. He settled in Hallowell, Maine, as did his brother Charles, -where descendants of the name still reside. The death of Dr. Benjamin -Vaughan, of Hallowell, was announced to the society in 1836, and Mr. -Merrick, his kinsman, was appointed to prepare a notice of him. Another -brother, Samuel, settled in Jamaica; William, the successful banker -of the family, remained in London; while John, one of the younger -brothers, came to Philadelphia, where he established himself as a -wine merchant, and a prominent member of the First Unitarian Church. -Generous to a fault, “Johnny Vaughan,” as his intimates were wont -to call him, seems to have objected to parting with but one single -earthly possession,--his umbrella. A lady who knew Mr. Vaughan when -he was a very old gentleman remembers one of flaming red, whose color -should have insured its staying qualities. A story is also told of -his having printed on the outside of another one in large characters, -“This umbrella was stolen from John Vaughan.” One day a friend of -Mr. Vaughan’s started off with this umbrella, and, quite unconscious -of its equivocal inscription, hoisted it in broad day. Mr. Vaughan’s -Portuguese office boy, who could speak or read no English, but who -knew the umbrella, and what the printing stood for, chanced to meet -the gentleman who carried it, and with speechless but entire devotion -to his master’s interests followed it, and “froze on to it,” as the -narrator expressed it, with such persistency that the holder was fain -to relinquish it and make his escape from the jeers of the by-standers. - -It was over such a circle of learned men and _beaux-esprits_ that Mr. -Jefferson was called to preside, when he came to Philadelphia, in -1797, to act as Vice-President of the United States in an uncongenial -Federal administration. It is not strange that, with his scholarly and -scientific tastes, he found in the rooms of the Philosophical Society a -grateful retreat from political wrangling and the cares of state. Party -feeling ran so high, at this period, that “social intercourse between -members of the two parties ceased,” says Mr. Parton, “and old friends -crossed the street to avoid saluting one another. Jefferson declined -invitations to ordinary social gatherings, and spent his leisure hours -in the circle that met in the rooms of the Philosophical Society.” -Not that its membership was Republican, many of its prominent members -being Federalists; notably, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Chief Justice Tilghman, -Judge Peters, Jared Ingersoll, who was Federalist candidate for the -Vice-Presidency of the United States in 1812, Dr. Robert Patterson, -and Mr. Du Ponceau. This was a place, however, where science, art, and -literature occupied the ground and where politics and party differences -were forgotten in the discussion of some subject that touched the -general weal, as when Dr. Caspar Wistar discovered a new bone; or -Robert Patterson presented a paper on improved ship-pumps; or Jonathan -Williams one on a new mode of refining sugar; or when John Fitch -exhibited “the model, with a drawing and description, of a machine for -working a boat against the stream by means of a steam-engine;” or, -later, when Mr. Charles Goodyear was induced, by Franklin Peale, to -demonstrate to the society that vulcanized rubber could be made from -the juice of the _cahuchu_ tree. And here, as if to prove that science -and religion may be allied in closest union, came two distinguished -Moravian divines, John Heckewelder and the Rev. Lewis D. de -Schweinitz, the latter with his “_Synopsis Fungorum in America_.” - -John Adams, the Federalist President, was a member of the Philosophical -Society, and speaks of it with warm admiration. Comparing Massachusetts -and Pennsylvania, he says, in one of his letters to his wife,-- - - “Particular gentlemen here [in Philadelphia], who have improved upon - their education by travel, shine; but in general old Massachusetts - outshines her younger sisters. Still, in several particulars they - have more wit than we. They have societies, the Philosophical Society - particularly, which excites a scientific emulation, and propagates - their fame. If ever I get through this scene of politics and war, - I will spend the remainder of my days in endeavoring to instruct - my countrymen in the art of making the most of their abilities and - virtues, an art which they have hitherto too much neglected. A - philosophical society shall be established at Boston, if I have wit - and address enough to accomplish it, some time or other. Pray, set - Brother Cranch’s philosophical head plodding upon this project. Many - of his lucubrations would have been published and preserved for the - benefit of mankind, and for his honor, if such a club had existed.” - -Mr. Madison, who was far more congenial to Mr. Jefferson, politically, -than the sturdy New Englander, had been for years a member of the -society; but he was out of office now, and living quietly at his rural -home in Orange County, Virginia. It was during his residence here, in -1794, that the sprightly widow, who afterwards became his wife, writes -of her first meeting with “the great little Madison.” She tells us, in -her charming letters, that Aaron Burr brought him to see her. On this -occasion she wore “a mulberry-colored satin, with a silk tulle kerchief -over her neck, and on her head an exquisitely dainty little cap, from -which an occasional uncropped curl would escape.” - -These were still days of picturesque dressing, with both men and -women. “Jeffersonian simplicity” had not yet come in, in full force. -Watson, the annalist, describes Mr. Jefferson, a few years earlier, in -“a long-waisted white cloth coat, scarlet breeches and vest, a cocked -hat, shoes and buckles, and white silk hose,”--an elegant figure, the -life and centre of the group of men gathered together in the society’s -rooms on Fifth Street. The great Rittenhouse had, in 1797, set -forth upon a wider range among the stars; but Dr. Benjamin Rush was -there,--physician, scientist, philanthropist, and statesman, a host in -himself. His kindly face and the recollections of his contemporaries -tell us that he was a pleasant companion, with all his learning, -which cannot always be said of the learned ones of the earth. There -also was the Rev. William Smith, first provost of the University of -Pennsylvania, a man of science as well as an able divine; Dr. Barton, -nephew of Dr. Rittenhouse, an original worker, who contributed largely -to the scientific literature of the day, and gave to Americans their -first elementary treatise on botany; and Dr. Caspar Wistar, the learned -physician and genial companion, who not only enriched the society by -his own work and teachings, but by his correspondence with Humboldt and -Soemmering in Germany, Camper in Holland, Sylvester in Geneva, Pole and -Hope in Great Britain, and many more of that ilk, kept its members _en -rapport_ with scientific work abroad. Dr. Wistar succeeded Dr. Rush as -President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, which early uttered -its protest against slavery. Nor was Dr. Wistar solely interested in -the cause of the negro; that of the American Indian, which we are wont -to regard as one of the latest fads in the philanthropic world, also -engaged his attention at this early date. - -Dr. Wistar was elected president of the Philosophical Society on the -resignation of Mr. Jefferson, in 1815. Some years prior to this, -Dr. Wistar introduced to its circle the Baron von Humboldt, whom he -invited to that smaller coterie of learned men, at his own house, -which composed the Wistar Club. A gala day it must have been at the -Philosophical Society when it opened its doors to this greatest -naturalist of his time, perhaps of any time. The Baron von Humboldt was -returning from an extended tour in South America, Mexico, and the West -Indies. His young friends Montufar and Bonpland were with him,--the -same Bonpland who later gave the Empress Josephine flower-seeds from -the West Indies to plant at Malmaison, who became her intendant there, -and who stood by her bedside when she was dying. - -Another attractive figure in this group of learned men is William -Tilghman, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, the sound lawyer, ripe -scholar, and true gentleman, as his biographer calls him. Perhaps the -highest praise we can award to him now is to record that, although -Southern born and owning slaves, he expressed, with regard to slavery, -a “fervent wish to see the evils of this institution mitigated, and if -possible extinguished,” freeing his own slaves by a plan of gradual -emancipation. Mr. Tilghman was connected through his mother, Anne -Francis, with the supposed author of the Letters of Junius; and, -curiously enough, the strongest evidence yet found that the letters -were written by Sir Philip Francis has come through correspondence -with his American relatives. Interesting as is all that relates to -this literary puzzle of more than a century, the incident that led to -the recent discoveries is like a _conte de fées_, turning upon some -anonymous verses sent to a lady at Bath, in which she is told that - - “In the School of the Graces, by Venus attended, - Belinda improves every hour.” - -The fair “Belinda,” Miss Giles in every-day life, is quite sure -that the clever verses came from Sir Philip Francis, who danced -with her through a whole evening at Bath. In fact, she recognized -the handwriting of some of Woodfall’s fac-similes of the letters of -Junius. She has an anonymous note that accompanied the verses, which -is, she thinks, very like the Junius handwriting. The investigation -becomes exciting; the experts, Messrs. Chabot and Netherclift, study -the note and verses profoundly, and finally come to the conclusion -that Junius might have written the note, but not the verses. The Hon. -Edward Twisleton is deeply interested in the search, and is loath to -give up this promising leading, when lo! there comes from over the sea -a letter, nearly a hundred years old, in which Richard Tilghman, in -Philadelphia, writes to his cousin, Sir Philip Francis,-- - - “You are very tenacious of your epigram. I observe you contend for - it, as if your reputation as a Poet depended on it. I did not condemn - the Composition, I only said that it was not an Original, and I say - so still; but yet I am ready to allow that you can _weave_ Originals, - because in the School of the Graces by Venus attended, Belinda - improves every Hour.” - -Was not this a coincidence? The Franciscans were delighted, especially -as the experts were ready to affirm that the handwriting of the verses -was that of Richard Tilghman, and that it was evident that he had -copied the verses for Sir Philip. As if to make all complete, it was -found that Richard Tilghman was at Bath, with his kinsman, at the time -the verses were sent. Nothing, that has not been absolutely proven, -has ever come closer to proof, and so it remains the Tantalus cup of -the _littérateur_, although there are many who find the evidence quite -conclusive that Francis and Junius were one and the same. - -Charles Willson Peale, the artist, known as the elder Peale, was -curator of the Philosophical Society for many years, and one of its -most active members. He did good work in many lines, being a man of -scientific tastes and large public spirit. The society owes him a debt -of gratitude for handing down to this generation portraits of its most -illustrious officers and members. Mr. Peale rented a number of rooms in -the old house on Fifth Street, having his museum in the building, and -bringing up there his family of artist children, Raphael, Rembrandt, -Titian, Van-dyck, and Rubens,--names still known in American art, that -of Rembrandt being the most distinguished. In 1796 Mr. Peale presented -to the assembled philosophers a son four months and four days old, born -in the building, requesting them to name him. The society, upon this, -unanimously agreed that the child should be called Franklin, after -their chief founder and first president. “Franklin Peale,” says his -biographer, “did not disgrace his sponsors. He grew up thoughtful and -philosophical.” His genius was in the mechanical line. He was one of -the founders of the Franklin Institute, and for many years discharged -with great ability the office of chief coiner at the United States -Mint. - -One of Mr. Peale’s friends, who became an active and valued member of -the society, was the learned Abbé de Serra, Portuguese Minister to the -United States. This reverend gentleman scandalized Mrs. Peale, whose -neatness was phenomenal, by appearing at her door so dusty and shabby -(he was not a handsome man at his best) that the dainty Quakeress -waved him away from her spotless threshold, saying, “No, my good man, -I have no time to attend to you now;” little thinking that the “good -man” was the expected guest in whose honor she had donned her best -satin gown, and prepared a savory repast, whose crowning triumph was a -dish of asparagus from Mr. Peale’s garden, then a greater rarity than -now. The Abbé had been on a geological tramp with Mr. Peale, and when -that gentleman rallied his wife on treating his friend and guest like -a beggar, the excellent lady justified herself by saying that, after -all, he could not be much of a gentleman, as he “helped himself to the -asparagus with his fingers;” eating it, of course, after the French -fashion. - -Another _habitué_ of Mr. Peale’s house, and a frequent attendant at -the meetings of the society, was Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de -Canino. He was the nephew and son-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, ex-king -of Spain, and while in America resided in a house on the estate of -his uncle, near Bordentown, New Jersey. This young prince pursued -his studies in ornithology in the United States, making important -contributions to the works of Wilson. A man of wide scientific -knowledge, and a member of nearly all the learned societies of Europe, -the Prince de Canino gave a decided impulse to the study of natural -history in Italy, which was his home, and while in Philadelphia was an -active and interested member of the Philosophical Society, contributing -original papers and making valuable donations of books to its library. - -A few women of distinguished ability have been, early and late, members -of the Philosophical Society: notably Mary Somerville, the English -astronomer; Professor Maria Mitchell, of Vassar; Mrs. Louis Agassiz, -and Madame Emma Seiler. The earliest woman member was the Russian -Princess Daschkof, lady-in-waiting to the Empress Catherine II. A -great traveller, for those days, the princess profited by all that she -saw and heard in the countries which she visited. A student and an -observer, the friend of Diderot in France, and associating in Edinburgh -with such men as Dr. Blair, Adam Smith, and Ferguson, she returned to -Russia to become director of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and -later to establish another academy for the improvement and cultivation -of the Russian language. Of the manner in which the news of her -election to the Philosophical Society reached her, the princess says,-- - -“I was at my country house, and was not a little surprised on hearing -that a messenger from the council of state wished to see me. The -case and letter were introduced, the former of which contained a -large packet from Dr. Franklin, and the letter a very complimentary -communication on the part of the Duke of Sudermania. These -despatches,” says the princess, “were sent without any examination,” -and it was necessary to explain their nature at once to the despotic -Catherine. “Accordingly I drove to town,” adds the princess, “or -rather straight to court; and on entering the Empress’s dressing-room -I told the _valet de chambre_ in waiting that if her majesty was not -then engaged I should be happy in having permission to speak to her, -and to show her some papers which I had that morning received. The -Empress desired I might be shown into her bed-chamber, where I found -her writing at a little table. Having delivered into her hands the -letter of the Duke of Sudermania, ‘These others, madame,’ said I, -‘are from Dr. Franklin and from the secretary of the Philosophical -Society of Philadelphia, of which I have been admitted a most unworthy -member.’” The Empress made no comment on this matter; but after -reading the letter of the duke, desired the princess not to answer his -grace’s complimentary effusion. She had no objection, it appears, to -a correspondence between the princess and the octogenarian Franklin, -on the other side of the sea; but with the Duke of Sudermania it was -quite a different affair. The duke was a brother of the King of Sweden, -there was a coolness between the courts of Russia and Sweden, and, to -complicate matters, his grace had admired the princess at Aix and Spa, -who, with all her vast experience of life and long years of widowhood, -was only a little over forty, and speaks herself of her _beaux yeux_. - -From the time of the election of the Princess Daschkof, in 1789, the -society has always had a Russian membership, generally from among the -members of the St. Petersburg Academy. In 1864 it was presented with -a superb copy of the Codex Sinaiticus, published in St. Petersburg in -1862, from the parchment rolls found by Tischendorf in the monastery of -St. Catharine on Mount Sinai. - -A day never to be forgotten by the members of the Philosophical -Society--and there are some persons living whose memory runs back to -that period--was that upon which the Marquis de Lafayette was welcomed -to its hall, on his return to America in 1824. No words can more fitly -describe the emotions of the hour, certainly none can bring back more -perfectly the aroma of that olden time adulation, than the address of -welcome pronounced, on this occasion, by Mr. Charles J. Ingersoll: - - “America does not forget the romantic forthcoming of the most - generous, consistent, and heroic of the knights of the old world - to the rescue of the new. She has always dwelt delighted on the - constancy of the nobleman who could renounce titles and wealth for - more historical and philanthropic honors; the commander renouncing - power, who never shed a drop of blood for conquest or vainglory. She - has often trembled, but never blushed, for her oriental champion, when - tried by the alternate caresses and rage of the most terrific mobs, - and imposing monarchs. She knows that his hospitable mansion was the - shrine at which her citizens in France consecrated their faith in - independence. Invited to revisit the scenes of his first eminence, - the very idolatry of welcome abounds with redeeming characteristics - of self-government.... They raise him before the world as its image, - and bear him through illuminated cities and widely-cultivated regions, - all redolent with festivity and every device of hospitality and - entertainment, where, when their independence was declared, there was - little else than wilderness and war.” - -Could tongue or pen say more? - -An old Philadelphia lady, who, in her youth, had the honor of walking -to church with Lafayette, vividly recalls her keen disappointment when -she first saw him,--short and stout, not by any means the typical hero -of her romantic dreams. His son, George Washington Lafayette, was with -him, and at a dinner given him, when called upon to respond to a toast, -arose, and, struggling with his emotion and his feeble command of -English, placed his hand upon his heart, and said, “I am zo happy to be -ze son of my fadder!”--words which so touched the sympathetic chord in -the hearts of all present that they felt that the entire vocabulary of -the language could have furnished him with no more fitting phrase. - -Among later members of the society have been such men as Noah Webster, -Josiah Quincy, Washington Irving, Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic -explorer, the Count de Lesseps, Mr. Gladstone, Dr. Oliver Wendell -Holmes, George Bancroft, the historian, James Russell Lowell, and the -two great naturalists, Louis Agassiz, and Joseph Leidy, both of whom, -with their vast learning, retained through life a childlike frankness -and simplicity that endeared them to all who approached them. Those -who met Professor Agassiz by the sea, during his vacation seasons, and -heard from his own lips of the wonders of the shore, and those who -listened to a popular lecture of Dr. Leidy, in which he described the -life and customs of the minute creatures to be found in a drop of pond -water, will always rejoice that it was their privilege to journey even -a little way into the fairy-land of science with such masters for their -guides. Of the pleasure and profit of a more thorough penetration into -its mysteries and enchantments under such preceptors, those who were -fortunate enough to be numbered among the students of Agassiz and Leidy -speak with enthusiasm. - -The Philosophical Society, grown gray and venerable, now celebrates, -May, 1893, its one hundred and fiftieth birthday. Although numbering -a large corps of native and foreign members, working in various -branches of knowledge, and contributing to its regularly issued -publications valuable papers, the present fraternity feel that the -society’s proudest claim to distinction lies in the fact that it -fostered literature, science, and invention in the young nation, and -thus became the _alma mater_ of many institutions that have gone forth -from its protecting arms to become, in their turn, centres of light and -usefulness. - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[19] Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, by John Bach McMaster, p. -137. - -[20] Life of Benjamin Franklin, by James Parton, vol. i. p. 263. - -[21] Works of Franklin, by Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p. 9. - -[22] Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, pp. 1, 2. - -[23] Charles Willson Peale’s copy of Martin’s Franklin, the original of -which is owned by Mr. Henry Pratt McKean. - -[24] Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, by John Bach McMaster, p. -277. - - - - -[Illustration: THE WISTAR PARTIES] - - -If the impulse towards learning early given by the American -Philosophical Society has found expression in Philadelphia, and other -cities, in historical societies, scientific schools, academies of -natural science, and kindred institutions, its more genial and social -side has long been represented in the city of its birth by the Wistar -Parties. - -As this old club has, within a few years, been reorganized, it may -be interesting to turn back to the period of its inception, and even -further back into the past century, when Dr. Caspar Wistar held, at -his own house, those informal gatherings to which the Wistar Parties -of to-day owe their name. How large a place this club filled in the -social life of the period may be gathered from the fact that most -Philadelphians of distinction, if not actual members, were its frequent -guests, while all strangers of note were introduced into the circle -of choice spirits,--choice in the full sense of the word, because -chosen for particular gifts or attainments, the original Wistar Club -being composed of members of the American Philosophical Society, a -close organization that has ever striven to keep its eye single to the -interests of science, literature, art, history, and the promotion of -all useful knowledge. Although Silas Deane, the Marquis de Chastellux, -and John Adams grow quite enthusiastic when describing the luxurious -living prevalent among “the nobles of Pennsylvania,” the latter admits, -with what in a New-Englander may be considered rare generosity, that -there was something to be found here better than our high living, as he -speaks of the “high thinking” of some of those old Philadelphians, in -one of his charming letters to his wife which are only less charming -than her own. - -That John Adams does not mention Dr. Wistar’s hospitable house, and -the company met there, is attributable to the fact that the seat -of government, and with it John Adams as its head, removed from -Philadelphia to Washington about the time that these receptions began. - -The Wistar Parties have frequently been spoken of as first held on -Sunday, which erroneous impression was probably due to the fact that -Dr. Wistar’s family and friends were in the habit of dropping in upon -him on Sunday evenings, knowing him to be more at leisure then than -through the week. The following account, from the pen of Dr. Hugh L. -Hodge, entirely disproves the Sunday origin of these parties, which -were begun before Dr. Wistar’s second marriage:[25] - - “His [Dr. Wistar’s] house had become the centre of the literary and - scientific society of Philadelphia. He was in the habit of receiving - his friends to a frugal entertainment every Saturday evening. To these - reunions the most distinguished foreign visitors in the city brought - introductions, and the most intellectual of the professional residents - gathered. - - “Mrs. Bache, a very superior and high-toned woman, had, previous to - her marriage [in 1797], kept house for her brother for several years, - during which time she, with her friend Miss Eddy, afterwards Mrs. Dr. - Hosack, of New York, had the great pleasure and advantage of attending - these remarkable Saturday evening meetings.” - -These early reunions were informal, but as years rolled on a pleasant -custom crystallized into an established usage, the same friends -meeting, week after week, in Dr. Wistar’s house, at the southwest -corner of Fourth and Prune Streets, whose beautiful garden extended -to St. Mary’s church-yard. The entertainment was simple, as the -host’s idea was an intellectual rather than a convivial gathering. -Tea, coffee, and other light refreshments were offered to the guests; -ice-creams, raisins, and almonds were later added to the regale. -Even then the name of Sybarite could not be applied to those early -convives: the terrapin and oyster decadence was of much later date. -A table was seldom spread. The number of guests varied from ten to -fifty, but usually included between fifteen and twenty-five persons. -The invitations were commenced in October or November, and continued -to March or April. During this period Dr. Wistar welcomed to his home, -each week, his old friends and colleagues, and any strangers whom they -chose to bring with them. - -In 1804 Dr. Wistar issued an invitation to his friends to meet Baron -von Humboldt, the great naturalist, and his young friend the botanist -Bonpland, who stopped in Philadelphia on their return from a scientific -expedition through Mexico and the West Indies. Here also was introduced -the latest sensation, in the form of Captain Riley, long a prisoner -among the Arabs; also the learned and eccentric Dr. Mitchill, first -Surgeon-General of New York, later satirized by Halleck and Drake in -“The Croakers:” - - “We hail thee!--mammoth of the State, - Steam frigate on the waves of physic, - Equal in practice or debate - To cure the nation or the phthisic!” - -Dr. Hosack, of the same city, who was present at the fatal duel between -Hamilton and Burr, was another early guest; while under the formal -organization of 1818, and in a time nearer our own, England’s most -brilliant novelist recalls an evening spent at what he is pleased to -call a “Whister party.” - -It is not strange that Philadelphians were glad to take the guests of -the city to these parties, where was gathered together, both in the -last century and in this, the best that our New World civilization -could produce, whether of talent and learning or of courtly grace and -good breeding, and here down all the varied years has flashed that -genial flow of wit without which no social gathering is complete. -Here, in early days, came the learned and witty Abbé Correa de Serra, -Mr. Samuel Breck, of Boston, and Dr. John W. Francis, of New York, -whose wit and social qualities were said to resemble those of the -much-loved Lamb; and later came Robert Walsh and Joseph Hopkinson, both -distinguished for their brilliant colloquial abilities, while Nicholas -Biddle would save for the learned brotherhood his freshest _bon mot_, -and Dr. Nathaniel Chapman would bring hither his most irresistible -witticism. - -If the older physicians, whose portraits were recently collected at -the centenary of the College of Physicians, could step down from their -frames, after the fashion of a scene in a well-known drama, we should -have before us, _in propria persona_, a number of Dr. Wistar’s guests -of the medical fraternity. Presumably among these was Dr. Benjamin -Rush, who has been called the American Sydenham, but who combined so -many gifts that, like certain plants of various characteristics, it is -almost impossible to classify him. Perhaps in a larger sense than it -can be said of most men, even of the good physician, he belonged to -humanity.[26] - -A frequent guest was Dr. Adam Kuhn, who studied in Edinburgh, and -brought home treasures of learning as his contribution to this -“feast of reason.” Here were also the Shippens, father and son,--both -Williams, both practising at the same time, and both so eminent that -they have frequently been confused by the historian. An honorable line -of Shippens, in different callings, but notably in law and medicine, -has come from that Edward Shippen of whom Boston was not worthy, and -who, after being lashed and driven through the town at the cart’s -tail, because, forsooth, good Puritans couldn’t abide good Quakers, -came to Philadelphia in 1693, to be its first mayor and the founder -of a distinguished family.[27] Here also shone the kindly face of Dr. -Samuel Powel Griffitts, who seems to have brought with him, wherever he -went, an atmosphere of “peace and good will to men.” And here, these -gatherings being formed of men of various callings and professions, -came such lawyers as William Rawle, who was ready to discuss theology -as well as law,--perhaps a little readier to talk of the one than of -the other. One day he is writing his notes on the Constitution of the -United States, while upon another such subjects as Original Sin and the -Evidences of Christianity engage his versatile pen. - -Among legal gentlemen who were frequent guests of Dr. Wistar were -William Tilghman, of Maryland, later Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, -who in an interesting biographical sketch has embalmed the memory of -his host; George Clymer, statesman and patriot, whose name is appended -to the Declaration; and Peter Du Ponceau, who, although a Frenchman, -had an ardent admiration for American institutions and the primitive -simplicity that characterized the old Quaker _régime_ in Philadelphia. -And that the cure of souls might not be neglected, we find here John -Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, an intimate of Wistar, and -a correspondent of Du Ponceau, who later translated Heckewelder’s -interesting work on Indian manners and customs into the French. Here -also was John Vaughan, the Unitarian philanthropist, of whom it has -been said that “he represented this city as faithfully as its own name -‘Brotherly Love.’” Did they meet and talk together, these two at the -extreme poles of doctrine, the devout Moravian and the Arian whose life -was consecrated to the service of his brother man? If they met, and in -their discourse fell upon such subjects as engage the characters in -“Paradise Lost” and the “Divina Commedia,” we may be sure that in their -large mutual love for mankind they found abundant sympathy, - - “Nor melted in the acid waters of a creed - The Christian pearl of charity.” - -A goodly company, among whose members there is no one more worthy to be -remembered than the host, generally known as Dr. Caspar Wistar, Jr., -being descended from another Caspar Wistar, who came to this country -in 1717. We are informed by a German scholar and a genealogist that -all the Wisters, whether _ter_ or _tar_, come from one common stock -in Germany, where the name is written Wüster, and that Caspar, who -came to Philadelphia in 1717, son of Hans Caspar and Anna Katerina -Wüster or Wister, in having a deed of conveyance prepared was put -down Wistar by the clerk. This mistake he did not take the trouble -to correct, and from this first Caspar has come a line of _tars_, of -which Dr. Caspar Wistar, Jr., was the most distinguished. A second son -of old Hans Caspar Wister, of Hilsbach, Germany, coming over later, -had his papers made out properly, according to the German orthography -of the name, and thus established the Philadelphia line of _ters_. We -venture to give this rather lengthy explanation in view of the fact -that the spelling of Wister has been a fertile subject for discussion -in the Quaker City for some years, and because it is a most reasonable -one, as will be admitted by all who have studied the records of past -generations. In old letters and papers of the last century it is not -unusual to find a surname variously spelled in the same letter, or even -on the same page. This is notably the case in the voluminous “Penn and -Logan Correspondence,” where Jenings and Jennings, Ashton and Assheton, -Blaithwaite and Blathwayt, used interchangeably, hopelessly confuse the -reader. - -A student of the schools of Edinburgh, Professor in the College of -Philadelphia, and later in the University, Dr. Wistar has the honor of -being the author of the first American treatise on anatomy. Eminent as -a physician, teacher, and man of science, this large-brained and busy -man found life incomplete without the cultivation of its social side. - -It is to be regretted that Mr. Vaughan, Mr. Du Ponceau, or the learned -Dr. Benjamin Rush, who at times used a pen with a humorous nib, or -some of the other _habitués_ of these unique gatherings, have not -left us pleasant and gossiping reminiscences of the Wistar Club, -which would serve to render us as familiar with these old figures -as contemporaneous writers have made us with the frequenters of the -Kit-Cat Club, where the wits of Queen Anne’s time gathered, or that -later circle at the Turk’s Head, dominated by the great burly figure -of the dictionary-maker. Garrick, Reynolds, and all the rest are -grouped about him; and Boswell is ever at hand, taking notes. Did -humble Boswell realize that he was painting pictures for the future, as -well as, even better than, the elegant Sir Joshua, who sat near him? -Goldsmith was at it too, giving us life as it was, not some fanciful -picture of it; and to them we owe it that these men live before us -now. The following is the nearest approach that we can find to such a -picture, and this, from the pen of the late Chief Justice Tilghman, -gives us only one figure, when we would like to be presented to the -whole company. - -After dwelling upon the modest dignity and bland courtesy of Dr. -Wistar’s bearing as President of the Philosophical Society, and the -ardor with which he incited its members to diligence in collecting, -before it should be too late, the perishing materials of American -history, Mr. Tilghman says,-- - - “The meetings of this committee he [Dr. Wistar] regularly attended. It - was their custom, after the business of the evening was concluded, to - enter upon an unconstrained conversation on literary subjects. Then, - without intending it, our lamented friend would insensibly take the - lead; and so interesting were his anecdotes, and so just his remarks, - that, drawing close to the dying embers, we often forgot the lapse - of time, until warned by the unwelcome clock that we had entered on - another day.” - -Here is another pen-sketch from a writer signing himself “Antiquary,” -which has a touch of life in it, and shows the good doctor’s ready tact -in setting a _gauche_ stranger at his ease. Mr. John Vaughan introduced -into the learned circle what the narrator is pleased to call “a living, -live Yankee, a specimen of humanity more rare,” he says, “forty or -fifty years ago than now.” It would appear that this compatriot was -received into the company with emotions similar to those awakened, -later, by the advent of the “American Cousin” in England. - - “He was,” says the writer, “a man remarkable for his mechanical turn - of mind, but entirely unused to society. No workshop could turn - out a more uncouth individual. I was standing near the door when - John Vaughan brought him in. Between the blaze of light, the hum of - conversation, and the number of well-dressed men, he was completely - overcome, and sank into the first chair he could reach. Mr. Vaughan - could not coax him out of it, and I expected every minute the door - opened that he would make a bolt for the street. Presently Dr. Wistar, - who had the happy knack of suiting his conversation to all ages and - classes, was introduced to the shy Yankee. Soon the ice was broken, - and I saw the shy mechanic conversing freely with scientific men, - explaining to them his views upon mechanism, etc.” - -When, in 1818, the good old doctor went out to join “the innumerable -company,” the little circle here, which he had drawn together, resolved -to commemorate the pleasant meetings at his house, and to keep fresh -his memory, by forming an organization called the Wistar Parties. This -is, in brief, the _raison d’être_ of the association, as given by a -subsequent member, Mr. Job R. Tyson, in his interesting paper entitled -“Sketch of the Wistar Party,” read before that honorable society -September 26, 1845. He says,-- - - “I have ascertained that the following gentlemen, in the autumn of the - year 1818, formed themselves into an association and agreed to give - three parties every year, during the season: William Tilghman, Robert - M. Patterson, Peter S. Du Ponceau, John Vaughan, Reuben Haines, Robert - Walsh, Jr., Zacheus Collins, and Thomas C. James.” - -There were only eight to begin with; in 1821 the number had increased -to sixteen, and in 1828 to twenty-four. - -Mr. Tyson tells us that two essential laws of the existence of the -organization were, “_first_, that no one is eligible to membership who -is not a member of the American Philosophical Society; and, _second_, -that unanimity is necessary to a choice.” Numerous regulations were -added, “which,” he says, “with some modifications, have since been -observed.” - -The number of Philadelphians who could be invited to one party was -twenty, and these it appears were picked citizens, selected rather for -their attainments and attributes than for their “long descent.” With -regard to the number of strangers invited, no limit was set. - -The members were pledged to attend themselves, and procure the -attendance of strangers, punctually at the hour of eight o’clock; -and “the sumptuary code enjoined, as consentaneous with the scheme -and objects in view, that the entertainments should be marked by -unexpensive, if not frugal, simplicity.” No tea, coffee, cakes, or wine -were to be served before supper. It was recommended that the collation -consist of one course, and be so prepared as to dispense with the use -of knives at table. No ice-creams were allowed. This in 1828. - -In 1835 Mr. Job R. Tyson bought Dr. Caspar Wistar’s old house, at -Fourth and Prune Streets, when once more it opened its doors to the -learned and jovial brotherhood. - -In 1840 the number of citizens who could be invited was raised to -forty, while in the years succeeding the organization of the club many -guests from over the sea, and from the different States of the Union, -had been welcomed to the Wistar Parties. One of the latter writes,-- - - “During my stay in Philadelphia I was present at several of these - Wistar meetings, and always returned from them with increased - conviction of their beneficial tendency. - - “These meetings are held by rotation at the houses of the different - members. The conversation is generally literary or scientific, and, - as the party is usually very large, it can be varied at pleasure. - Philosophers eat like other men, and the precaution of an excellent - supper is by no means found to be superfluous. It acts, too, as a - gentle emollient on the acrimony of debate. No man can say a harsh - thing with his mouth full of turkey, and disputants forget their - differences in unity of enjoyment.” - -Better known abroad in the early part of the century than any other -American city, all travellers of consequence came to Philadelphia. -Among these we find such men as General Moreau, counted after Bonaparte -the greatest general in the French Republic; the younger Murat, who -married Miss Fraser, of South Carolina; the Marquis de Grouchy, whose -name will be forever associated with the defeat of Waterloo; the poet -Moore, whose singing drew tears from the beautiful eyes of Mrs. Joseph -Hopkinson; the Prince de Canino, son-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, -ex-king of Spain, who, himself residing at Bordentown until 1830, was -doubtless a guest of the Wistar Association, although, after the -fashion of princes, it was his pleasure to entertain rather than to -be entertained. These and many more, including President Madison, and -the witty and able Virginia gentleman William Short, who, as secretary -of legation under Thomas Jefferson, chargé-d’affaires to the French -Republic, and minister to Spain and the Netherlands, had seen much -of foreign official and social life. An acquaintance of Talleyrand, -himself a diplomatist, life abroad offered Mr. Short many attractions, -which a friend and contemporary assures us were more than balanced by -the terrors of the sea, which menaced him in the form of sea-sickness. -This gentleman, a surviving member of the Wistar Association of 1837, -recalls no social intercourse in Old-World cities more delightful than -that of this informal club. - -While on a visit to Philadelphia in 1825, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar makes -the following entry in his journal: - - “At Mr. Walsh’s I found a numerous assembly, mostly of scientific and - literary gentlemen. This assembly is called ‘Wistar Party.’... The - conversation generally relates to literary and scientific topics. - I unexpectedly met Mr. E. Livingston in this assembly. I was also - introduced to the mayor of the city, Mr. [Joseph] Watson, as well - as to most of the gentlemen present, whose interesting conversation - afforded me much entertainment.” - -This German nobleman, who was well “wined and dined” in old -Philadelphia, seems to have possessed a happy faculty of replying aptly -to the pretty compliments paid him and his country by Judge Peters, Mr. -Charles J. Ingersoll, and other social magnates of the period. To the -toast “Weimar, the native country of letters,” he replied, with ready -wit, “Pennsylvania, the asylum of unfortunate Germans.” Can we not -hear the laughter and applause that greeted that toast? They were not -allowed to subside, either, as the venerable Judge Peters followed the -toast with a song which he had composed the previous evening, and which -he sang with great vivacity and spirit. Are there any such gatherings -now, and do our octogenarians sing songs of their own composing with -vivacity? - -The Duke of Saxe-Weimar describes another Wistar Party, this at the -house of Colonel Clement C. Biddle, at which John Quincy Adams, then -President of the United States, was a guest. Of him he says,-- - - “The President is about sixty years old, of rather short stature, with - a bald head, and of a very plain and worthy appearance. He speaks - little, but what he does speak is to the purpose. I must confess that - I seldom in my life felt so true and sincere a reverence as at the - moment when this honorable gentleman, whom eleven millions of people - have thought worthy to elect as their chief magistrate, shook hands - with me.” - -In the same year Chief Justice Tilghman records a Wistar Party held at -his house, at which were present such citizens as Roberts Vaux, Mathew -Carey, the Irish protectionist, his son Henry C. Carey, political -economist and writer, Joseph Hopkinson, the elder Peale, who had -studied at the Royal Academy in London and came home to paint portraits -of Washington and his generals, Dr. Frederick Beasley, and many more, -with a sprinkling of foreigners,--Mr. Pedersen, Minister from Denmark -to the United States, the Prince de Canino, who was an enthusiastic -ornithologist, Colonel Beckwith, who had left a leg upon the field of -Waterloo, and several French chevaliers. The whole company, numbering -about one hundred, was regaled with chicken salad, oysters, ices, -wine, punch, and the like, at an expense of twenty-four dollars and -eighty-nine cents. This moderate sum, the accurate transcriber tells -us, included the whiskey for the punch, the spermaceti candles, oil for -the lamps, and extra fire in one room. - -Later in the history of the Wistar Club, after the good founders had -gone, and left it to its own devices, serious innovations were made in -the old sumptuary code, whereupon severe strictures were instituted -against the dainty fare set before the wise men, in the local journals -and elsewhere. One of these attacks upon the Wistarians appeared in -the then recently established _Daily Courier_, and is interesting -not only because the slashing editorial of the young writer ended -the brief career of his paper, but because its demise is intimately -connected with the rise of two prominent journals of to-day. It -happened that many of the subscribers to the _Daily Courier_ were -members or guests of the Wistar Parties. These persons instantly -withdrew their patronage. The _Courier_ was shaken to its foundations, -and the unfortunate young Scotchman, James Gordon Bennett, whose pen -had proved too sharp for Philadelphia, sold his journal to Mr. Jesper -Harding, upon which the _Daily Courier_ was merged in the _Pennsylvania -Inquirer_, and Mr. Bennett, having transplanted his talents to the more -congenial soil of New York, later employed them in founding the _New -York Herald_.[28] - -Written invitations to the Wistar Parties seem to have been used up to -1835, when Mr. Vaughan first speaks of a printed invitation. This bore -the quaint queued head of Dr. Wistar, and is in all respects similar to -that issued by the Wistar Association _redivivus_ of 1886. - -In 1838 and 1839 printed lists appeared, naming the hosts of the -season, and giving the dates of the several entertainments. To these -were appended sumptuary regulations, which were of course born to die. -Just when the terrapin, game, croquette, and like dainties replaced -the original decanters, flanked with ice, cakes, and one substantial -course, Mr. Tyson does not record. When the terrapin came, however, it -came to stay, until the hot discussions incident to the disturbances of -the late civil war routed it and the guests alike. - -Thackeray carried away from Philadelphia such pleasant recollections of -the Wistar Parties, and the mirth and good cheer there enjoyed, that -he thus refers to them in a letter written to Mr. William B. Reed from -Washington in 1853. He has just heard of the death of his friend Mr. -William Peter, British Consul to Philadelphia. - - “Saturday I was to have dined with him, and Mrs. Peter wrote saying he - was ill with influenza: he was in bed with his last illness, and there - were to be no more Whister parties for him. Will Whister himself, - hospitable pig-tailed shade, welcome him to Hades? And will they sit - down--no, stand up--to a ghostly supper, devouring the ιφθιμους ψυχας - of oysters and all sorts of birds?” - -Something else than the mighty oysters impressed the genial novelist, -and that was the face and figure of John Irwin, a well-known -head-waiter, who so resembled the terrapin over which he presided that -Thackeray has, in a few rapid pencil-strokes, put him down on paper as -a fine specimen of a diamond-back. Those who still remember Irwin’s -great paunch and shining face will recognize his portrait in Mr. -Thackeray’s “Orphan of Pimlico.” Thus, this latter-day Bogle, although -there arose in his time no poet, like Nicholas Biddle, to embalm his -virtues in humorous verse, has, like the “colorless colored man,” been -immortalized by the hand of genius. - -The pleasing side of Philadelphia social life must have left its -impress upon the receptive mind of Thackeray, as he writes from -Switzerland in July of the same year,-- - - “Since my return from the West, it was flying from London to Paris, - and _vice versa_, dinners right and left, parties every night. If I - had been in Philadelphia I could scarcely have been more feasted. Oh, - you unhappy Reed! I see you (after that little supper with McMichael) - on Sunday at your own table, when we had that good Sherry-Madeira, - turning aside from the wine-cup with your pale face! That cup has gone - down this well so often (meaning my own private cavity) that I wonder - the cup isn’t broken, and the well as well as it is.... I always - remember you and yours, and honest Mac, and Wharton, and Lewis, and - kind fellows who have been kind to me and I hope will be kind to me - again.” - -The “Mac” is evidently Mr. Morton McMichael, to whose whiskey punch -Mr. Thackeray alludes with tenderness in another letter, and who -is described by all who knew him as the most genial of men, a very -“king of good fellows.” So great were his social talents that, like -Shenstone’s Frenchwoman who could “draw wit out of a stone,” he -possessed the power to redeem from stagnation the dullest of dinners by -his happy faculty of giving his best and leading others to do the same. - -The “Lewis” alluded to by Mr. Thackeray is Mr. William D. Lewis, more -recently dead; another delightful dinner-talker. Possessed of rare -_bonhomie_, and furnished with a fund of anecdotes of travel,--for he -had lived some years in Russia,--he brought mirth and cheer into the -circles to which he was welcomed, and was even known, on occasions, -to sing some familiar household verses, as “Home, Sweet Home,” in the -Russian language, to the great amusement, if not to the edification, of -his hearers. - -In 1842, Mr. Tyson records only two of the original members of 1818 -still surviving, Dr. R. M. Patterson and Robert Walsh. The kindly -face of Mr. Vaughan (Johnny Vaughan, as his intimates called him), -first Dean of the Wistar Association, had only lately disappeared from -the circle. Although death had sadly thinned the ranks of original -membership, a number of honored names filled the blanks: among these, -Horace Binney, William M. Meredith, John Sergeant, Joshua Francis -Fisher, Judge Kane, Langdon Cheves, from South Carolina, Thomas Isaac -Wharton, and, there always being a large proportion of medical men, -such distinguished sons of the healing art as Dr. Robert Hare, Dr. -Thomas C. James, Dr. John K. Mitchell, Dr. Isaac Hays, physician and -writer, Dr. Franklin Bache and his friend Dr. George B. Wood closely -associated with him in medical literature, Dr. Charles D. Meigs, and -Moncure Robinson, Esq., who, among the many who have come and gone, -still [1887] recalls delightful evenings spent at the Wistar Parties. -Dr. Isaac Lea was in 1843 Dean of the association, which office he held -until the stirring events of ’60 and ’61 scattered its members, not -again to unite until 1886, within a few months of his death, when he -was succeeded in this office by his son, Mr. Henry C. Lea.[29] - -Writing during this hiatus of many years, Dr. George B. Wood says,-- - - “I have always regarded the Wistar Club not merely as an ornamental - feature of Philadelphia society, but as a very useful institution; - bringing as it did persons together of various pursuits, who would not - otherwise perhaps have met, thus removing prejudices and conciliating - friendly feeling; and, by a regulation regarding strangers which - gave each member the right to introduce one or more to the meetings, - facilitating their intercourse with citizens, and contributing to the - reputation of our city for hospitality.” - -It may be that these words hold something of a prophecy for the -future, as well as a _résumé_ of the past; and now that the old-time -invitation, bearing the “hospitable pig-tailed” head of the founder, -has once more begun to circulate, an important influence may be -exercised by it, in drawing together the best and ablest of the -various professions and callings of this city, and in affording, -as of old, a pleasant and informal means of entertaining stranger -guests. Such a club as this forecasts a meeting-ground where British -and Continental scientists and literati, professional men and men of -affairs, may clasp hands with American workers on the same lines; -where the large philanthropy of England may meet an even larger -New-World philanthropy; where, under some hospitable roof, questions in -social and political science, or the latest discovery in chemistry or -physics, may be discussed over croquettes and oysters, and with a dash -of hock or sherry (no sparkling wines are allowed) the seas that wash -widely-separated shores shall be bridged in an instant, and, meeting -on some congenial ground of knowledge, of thought, or of interest, Old -and New World denizens shall feel the delightful thrill of a common -brotherhood. - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[25] Dr. Wistar married, in 1798, Elizabeth Mifflin, granddaughter of -John Mifflin, the Councillor. - -[26] Dr. Rush himself humorously related how his patriotism had -interfered with his practice, a number of persons refusing to be -treated by him for yellow fever for the very good reason that he had -signed the Declaration of Independence. - -[27] Since writing the above, it appears upon the indisputable -authority of the first charter for the city of Philadelphia, discovered -in 1887 by Messrs. Edward P. Allinson and Boies Penrose, that the -honored name of Edward Shippen, which so long headed the list of -Philadelphia mayors, must be relegated to a second place, Humphrey -Morray having been the first mayor of Philadelphia. - -[28] Casper Souder’s History of Chestnut Street. - -[29] The Saturday Night Parties, held during the war and for some -years after, have been spoken of as direct successors of the Wistar -Association. These, however, were not composed of members of the -Philosophical Society, and the discussions at the meetings naturally -partook of the heat and excitement of the hour, rather than of the -calmer literary and scientific debate for which the Wistar Parties were -designed. The only lineal descendants of the Wistar Association of 1818 -are the parties recently organized, which bear the name of the great -physician and scientist in whose honor they were founded. - - - - -[Illustration: A BUNDLE OF OLD LOVE LETTERS] - - -Strange it is that the maiden meditations of more than two centuries -ago should have recently been brought to light in the love-letters of -Dorothy Osborne, so full of womanly tenderness, so humorous, so grave -and gay by turns, and so valuable for the spirited pictures they give -of the life and personages of the day. - -Among stacks of dry-as-dust manuscripts, awaiting the discriminating -inspection of the antiquarian, are doubtless other letters of sentiment -worthy of the world’s reading, even if there are few equal in grace -and style to those of the lovely mistress of Chicksands. A few such -unknown or forgotten love-letters have come under the observation of -the writer,--among these some yellowed pages traced by the hand of -William Penn and addressed to Hannah Callowhill, whose name is now -handed down to Philadelphians by the street which bears her family -name, but who was known to her contemporaries as a woman of strong -character and noble qualities, well fitted to be a helpmeet to the good -Proprietary. These letters form pleasant reading for a leisure hour, -not only on account of their quaint simplicity, but also because of the -insight they give into the delicate and refined nature of the man who -wrote them.[30] - -We are wont to think of the founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania -as a man deeply immersed in religious questions, in legal business, -land surveys and titles,--indeed, in all that affected the welfare of -the little colony that he established on the banks of the Delaware. To -picture him as an ardent lover requires some imagination, especially -at a period when the early romance of his life was buried in the grave -of his beloved Gulielma, and he figures on the pages of history as a -widower, past middle age, with three children. Yet among his letters -to his betrothed are some that glow with all the warmth and ardor of -youthful affection, while, as befits a man of his years and position, -they contain wise reflections on life, and passages marked by the -prudence, the forethought, and the practical grasp that come with riper -age; and always they are deeply and sincerely religious. - -This Quaker lover does not write a sonnet to the eyebrows of his -mistress, nor does he say, like a modern widower whose _billet doux_ -has come under our notice, that he has “lost his married partner and -would be glad to renew his loss.” He tells her, in grave and simple -language, that it is for the qualities of her heart and mind that he -loves her and desires to win her, as in the following written from -Worminghurst, Penn’s English home, in 1695: - - “And now let me tell thee, my Dearest, that tho’ there are many - qualitys, for which I admire thee, as well as love thee, yet yt of - Compassionating the unhappy is none of the least. And whatsoever - pittys has love, for it springs out of the same soft ground; and can - never fail, as often as there is occasion to try it. That my Dearest - H. has been a Mourner, a Sympathizer, an inhabitant of Dust, and so - wean’d from the common tastes of pleasure, yt gratefy other Pallats, - does so much exalt her character with me, yt if this were all she - brought, she must be a treasure to yt happy man yt has a Title to her. - And since, by an unusual goodness, she has made it my Lot, it shall be - as much my pleasure as she has made it my duty to make her constantly - sensible how much I am so of my obligation to her.” - -One of the most tender of these missives includes some family details -about Billy’s[31] health, who “is lively yet tender” and has just had -his hair cut, and winds up with the following description of a most -unromantic hamper which was intended as an offering to the beloved one: - - “I presume by the next wagon, there comes an Hamper directed to thy - father, the Contents for thee. Viz 3 Gallons of light french Brandy, - one of wh’ pray present thy Mother. I ordered 2 lbs of Chocolate to - keep them company. My Daughter prays thee to accept of 3 small pots of - venson, yt she says will keep well & are of her own manufacture, as - were all the last. She is concerned her pig brawn was not ready wc’h - she fancys would not have been a disagreeable way of eating a pig, but - another season will do. These are little things and yet would express - tho’ meanly Love that is Great.” - -Was Letitia Penn’s brawn the same sort as that over which dear old Lamb -waxed so eloquent in a letter to his friend Manning? It had been sent -to him by the cook of Trinity Hall and Caius College, and he says of -it,-- - - “’Tis of all my hobbies the supreme in the eating way. He might have - sent sops from the pan, skimmings, crumpets, chips, hog’s lard, the - tender brown judiciously scalped from a fillet of veal (dexterously - replaced by a salamander), the tops of asparagus, fugitive livers, - run-away gizzards of fowls, the eyes of martyred pigs, the red spawn - of lobsters, leverets’ ears, and such pretty filchings common to - cooks; but these had been ordinary presents, the every-day courtesies - of dish-washers to their sweethearts. Brawn was a noble thought.” - -At another time William Penn is concerned about the health of his -betrothed, and concludes his missive with an earnest recommendation to -her to take some pills, that he sends her, at certain hours of the -day, and a specified medicinal water, to be imbibed “three days before -the full and changes of the moon.” - -It appears to have been a not unusual practice among lovers of this -period to prescribe for their sweethearts, as we find Dorothy Osborne -writing about some infusion of steel in which she drinks Sir William -Temple’s health every morning. She vows that it makes her horribly ill, -says that it is a “drench that would poison a horse,” and declines to -continue its use unless her lover insists upon her doing so. In another -of her charming letters she gives Sir William many directions about the -care of his precious health, and even does a little quacking on his -behalf, sending him a new medicine for his cold, of which she says,-- - - “’Tis like the rest of my medicines: if it do no good ’twill do no - harm and ’twill be no great trouble to take a little on’t now and - then; for the taste on’t as it is not excellent, so ’tis not very ill.” - -It is well that some of these old letters of sentiment and domestic -life are left us, for did we not occasionally catch glimpses of the -great men of the past penning tender messages to beloved objects -(sometimes, indeed, spelling them very ill), writing about their -children and sending them trinkets and gewgaws, they would become to us -shadowy personages, very spectres, and hauntings of a dream. - -To those who are only acquainted with James Logan, William Penn’s young -secretary, through his official correspondence and endless business -letters, he must appear a very didactic and uninteresting personage; -yet reading between the lines, or scanning a stray letter addressed -to some friend or relative, we catch a sight of the real man, of like -passions with ourselves. Mrs. Hannah Penn, who survived her lover’s -generous hampers and curious medical prescriptions and became a -happy wife and the mother of a brood of sturdy young Penns, was well -qualified to be a lover’s _confidante_, and to her James Logan was -pleased to unburden his numerous and, it must be admitted, unsuccessful -love-affairs. A disappointed lover may not be the most attractive -object in every-day life, but for some indefinable reason it adds to -the historic interest of a man, especially to the feminine reader, to -know that he loved and wooed in vain and bewailed his fate in prose or -verse. Otherwise, why should generations of school-girls weep over the -sorrows of Werther? The young secretary was enamoured of Letitia Penn, -her of the pig’s brawn, and Rebecca Moore, and several others, if we -are to judge from his letters. Letitia married William Aubrey, for whom -James Logan’s admiration was ever after of the scantest. His allusion -to his rival’s rapacity in money-matters, saying that he was “a tiger -for returns,” by which he referred to quit-rents and the like, may not -have been high-minded, but was it not natural? and also that he should -have found few words in which to praise Governor Evans, whom the fair -Rebecca Moore made supremely happy? It was not, however, written in -the book of fate that this excellent Quaker youth should forever woo -in vain, and from some family treasure-trove there comes a charming -letter that succeeded in bringing to his side the lady of his love, -with whom he lived as long and as happily as the princes and princesses -of fairy lore. After dwelling at length upon the “excellent virtues” -and qualifications of this adorable Quaker maiden, and upon his ardent -desire to claim them and her for his own, the writer says, with noble -self-abnegation,-- - - “Yet, my Dearest, I cannot press it further, than thou with freedom - canst condescend to it, and enjoy Peace and Satisfaction in thy own - mind, for without this, I cannot so much as desire to obtain thee. - I therefore here resign thee to that Gracious God, thy tender and - merciful father, to whom thy innocent life and virtuous inclinations - have certainly rendered thee very dear that He may dispose of thee - according to His divine Pleasure, and as it may best suit thy - happiness--humbly imploring at the same time, and beseeching His - divine Goodness, that I may be made worthy to receive thee as a holy - gift from his hands: and then thou wilt truly prove a Blessing, and we - shall forever be happy in each other.”[32] - -This letter of the young secretary is in striking contrast to the -overloaded verbiage so prevalent in that day, which is exhibited in -another Colonial letter of a few years’ earlier date, and which reads -as if modelled on the style of Sir Charles Grandison. The writer of -this last effusion, who calls himself the Rev. Elias Keach, apologizes -elaborately for “rushing his rude and unpolished lines into the Heroik -and most Excelent Presence” of his sweetheart, Mistress Mary Helm. -After defining his financial status, which is at a rather low ebb, and -giving forth as his opinion that “Pure Righteousness and Zeal exceeds a -portion with a wife, so also in a Husband,” Mr. Keach launches his bark -upon a troubled sea of rhetorical affection, in which he pleads the -advantages of his person, mind, and estate, of whose claims he never -loses sight, even when involved in the most high-flown metaphorical -descriptions of the charms of his mistress. The style of Mr. Keach, -however, is not to be described. Like Charles Lamb’s favorite dish, -it must be tasted to be enjoyed. From the carefully pen-printed pages -before us, we transcribe the following passages: - - “Lady let me crave the mantle of your Virtue the which Noble and - generous favor will hide my naked and deformed fault altho: it seems - to be a renewed coldness to require such an incomparable favour from - your tender heart, from whom I have deserved so little Kindness. Mrs. - Mary: Solomon says Childhood and Youth are vanity; and if so you - cannot expect that in my youth which the gray hairs of our Age (or at - least of our wooden world) cannot afford; it is a common saying and - a true, love is stronger than death, & it is as true a proverb where - Love cannot go it will creep--you know Dear Lady, that the higher the - sun riseth by degrees from the East the more influence hath the power - and heat of its beams upon the Earth, so ever since I saw the sun-rise - of your comely and gracious presence the sunbeams of your countenance - and your discreet and virtuous behaviour, hath by degrees wroat such - a virtuous heat and such Ammorouse Effects in my disconsolate heart - that that which I cannot at present disclose in words in your gracious - presence I am forct (altho far distant from you) to discover in ink - and paper; trusting in god that this may be a Key to open the door of - your virtuous and tender heart against the time I do appear in person; - Dear Mistress: let me most submissively crave this favour of you among - your generrosities that you would not in the least Imagine that I have - any Bye Ends or reserves in writing these few lines to you: But that - I am Virtuously truly and sincerely, upon the word of a Christian; - and the main scope and intent of this letter is only and alone to - discover unto you, these Amorous impressions of a virtuous Love which - hath taken root or is Allready ingrafted in my heart; who have lifted - myself under the Banner of your Love; provided I can by any means - gain the honor to induce you to Acknowledge and account me your most - obligeing Servant: I must needs say this is not a common practice of - mine to write Letters of this nature but Love hath made that proper - which is not common; Mrs. Mary if I had foreseen when I saw you what - I have since experienced I would have foreshown a more Ample and - courteous behavior than I then did; Through my Stupidity and dullness - the reason then I could not tell: But the effects I now know and shall - be careful and industrious to improve, not to your disadvantage, and I - am persuaded to my exceeding comfort and contentment; as for my person - you have in a measure seen it, and as for my practice you do in a - measure Know it as for my parts the Effects of my Conversations will - show it. I know it is folly to speak in my own Praise, seeing I have - learnt this Leason Long ago wise is that man that speaks few words in - his own praise.... - - “As for my parents I am obliged By the Law of god; to Honour them, & - thus I say in short (first) they are of no mean Family; (secondly) - they are of no mean Learning, & (thirdly) they are of no mean account - and note in the World: tho they are not of ye world But the truth & - certainty of this I Leave to be proved; By Severall of no mean note in - this Province and the next.” - -Mr. Keach evidently refers to the Provinces of Pennsylvania and New -Jersey. After several lines that it is impossible to decipher, we -extract the following hope: - - “That the Silver Streams of my Dearest Affections and faithfull Love - will be willingly received into the Mill Pond of your tender Virgin - Heart; by your halling up the flood gate of your virtuous Love and - Affections; which will completely turn the Wheeles of your Gracious - will and Understanding to receive the golden graines or Effects of - my Steadfast Love and unerring Affection which will be in Loyall - respective and Obliging Service so Long as Life Shall Last and such - a thrice Happy Conjunction; may induce Many to bring bags of Golden - graines of Rejoycing to our Mill and River of joy and contentment - and we ourselves will sing ye Epithalmy; this is the Earnest (yet - Languishing) Desire of his Soul who hath sent his heart with his - Letter:”[33] - -The foregoing epistle is connected with a curious chapter in the -religious life of the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania.[34] The writer, -a son of the celebrated controversialist and Baptist divine of London, -Benjamin Keach, made himself notorious in the early days of the Colony -by passing himself off as a minister of the Baptist Church. “A very -wild spark,” one historian calls him, while even in Baptist annals -Elias Keach is spoken of as “an ungodly young man, who, to make -himself appear to be a clergyman, wore black clothing and bands.” He -carried his imposture so far as to undertake to conduct a service, in -the midst of which he broke down, and when the congregation gathered -about him, thinking that he was attacked by some sudden indisposition, -Mr. Keach confessed, “with tears and much trembling,” that he was no -minister, nor a Christian. Whether this shady episode, which occurred -in 1686, the same year that the love-letter was written to Miss Helm, -prevented the mistress of his “Amorous and Virtuous Affections” from -favoring his suit, contemporaneous history does not reveal. It does, -however, establish the fact that Miss More, daughter of Chief Justice -Nicholas More, of Pennsylvania, and not Miss Helm, became the wife of -the polite letter-writer. It would be interesting to know with what -sort of a declaratory effusion this second love was favored. On this -point history is again silent. It states, however, what it is only just -to repeat with regard to the subsequent career of Elias Keach,--namely, -that he repented of his sins before he created further scandal in -clerical circles. Having confessed, and having received absolution and -ordination from one Elder Dungan, of Rhode Island, Mr. Keach began -his life-work in earnest, which evidently bore good fruit, as he now -enjoys the reputation of having established the first Baptist church -in Philadelphia County, that of Pennepack, from which sprang a large -sisterhood of Baptist churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. - -Among later Colonial love-letters are those of Abigail Smith, -afterwards Mrs. John Adams, which are marked by the ready wit and -playful fancy that characterized all her writings. These qualities -she seems to have inherited from no stranger, as her father, the Rev. -William Smith of Weymouth, was one of the most facetious of divines. It -is said that when his eldest daughter, Mary, married Richard Cranch, -he preached from Luke x. 42: “And Mary hath chosen that good part, -which shall not be taken away from her.” Abigail also had her turn. -Some of the aristocratic parishioners of Weymouth objected to John -Adams because he was the son of a small farmer and himself a lawyer, -these two facts rendering him, they thought, ineligible to marry the -minister’s daughter, in whose veins flowed the bluest of New England -blue blood. Mr. Smith accordingly favored his congregation with a -discourse on the text, “For John came neither eating bread nor drinking -wine; and ye say, He hath a devil,” the latter clause having reference -to the groom’s profession, the law, which was not then held in much -repute in New England. - -In a letter written by Miss Smith, from her village home, to John -Adams, who was undergoing the process of inoculation for small-pox in -Boston, she says,-- - - “By the time you receive this I hope from experience that you will be - able to say that the distemper is but a trifle. Think you I would not - endure a trifle for the pleasure of seeing you? Yes, were it ten times - that trifle, I would. But my own inclinations must not be followed. I - hope you smoke your letters well before you deliver them. Mamma is so - fearful lest I catch the distemper, that she hardly ever thinks the - letters are sufficiently purified. Did you never rob a bird’s nest? - Do you remember how the poor birds would fly round and round, fearful - to come nigh, yet not know how to leave the place? Just so they say I - hover round Tom whilst he is smoking my letters.” - -It is to be regretted that John Adams’s answers to these letters are -not preserved: they were probably burned up by the anxious mamma. - -All Abigail’s letters are love-letters in their tone of earnest -devotion, whether written before or after marriage. With the details -of the stir and excitement of military doings in and around Boston, -the arrival of General Washington, the scantiness of provisions, and -the cry for pins, which seem to have been as scarce as diamonds, there -abound such passages as this: - - “I wish I could come and see you. I never suffer myself to think you - are about returning soon. Can it, will it be? May I ask--may I wish - for it? When once I expect you----But hush! Do you know it is eleven - o’clock at night?... Pray don’t let Bass forget my pins. We shall - soon have no coffee, nor sugar, nor pepper here; but whortleberries - and milk we are not obliged to commerce for. I saw a letter of yours - to Colonel Palmer by General Washington. I hope I have one too. - Good-night. With thoughts of thee I close my eyes. Angels guard and - protect thee; and may a safe return ere long bless thy Portia.” - -It was always Diana or Portia, after the romantic fashion of those -days; and who would not rather have been Portia than plain Abigail to -her lover? - -A curious literary and historical fact, not generally known, is that -General Benedict Arnold, who was notorious for his extravagance in -public and private life, was extremely parsimonious in the matter -of love-letters. By the infallible proof of an old letter, recently -discovered, it appears that he made the same amatory composition do -double duty, having used it in addressing at least two ladies of his -choice. The letter was first employed in a proposal to Miss A., whom -he did not marry, and with a few changes was used in offering himself -to the beautiful Miss Peggy Shippen, of Philadelphia, whom he married -in 1779. The letter, as addressed to Miss Shippen, is to be found in -Arnold’s “Life of Benedict Arnold,” and is undoubtedly a fine sample of -a love-letter of a rather florid and bombastic style. If Miss Shippen -had realized that her suitor had written to an earlier love that her -“charms had lighted up a flame in his bosom which could never be -extinguished, that her heavenly image was too dear to be ever effaced, -and that Heaven’s blessing should be implored for the idol and _only_ -wish of his soul,” she might with some reason have hesitated to bestow -her hand upon so trite a lover, who could find no fresh adjectives to -match her charms. - -Of interesting foreign love-letters we might speak at length: of a -manly and tender missive from the great Gustavus Adolphus to an early -love; of the Klopstock letters, than which in the whole literature -of love nothing more beautiful can be found; of those of Prosper -Mérimée to his _coquette Inconnue_, with their irresistible grace and -brilliancy enhanced by the air of mystery that surrounds them; or of -the exquisite metrical love-letters that Elizabeth Barrett addressed -to her “Most gracious singer of high poems.” We have chosen rather to -group together a few Colonial love-letters, not only because most -of them are unknown to the reading world, but also with a thought of -drawing together in sympathy lovers of to-day with those of a past -generation, not wigged, capped, and spectacled, as we are wont to -picture our grandfathers and grandmothers, but with flowing locks -and flashing eyes, armed _cap-à-pie_ to enter in and conquer, or be -conquered, in that fair realm where victor and vanquished rejoice to -quit the lists hand clasped in hand. - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[30] From MS. letters in possession of the Historical Society of -Pennsylvania. - -[31] William Penn, Jr., who grew up a gay young blade and distinguished -himself by beating the watch and otherwise scandalizing the law-abiding -citizens of old Philadelphia. - -[32] From MS. letter, written to Miss Sarah Read, of Philadelphia, in -possession of Miss F. A. Logan. - -[33] Original owned by Miss Anna Peale, a grand-daughter of Charles -Willson Peale. - -[34] New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, which now form the State of -Delaware. - - - - -[Illustration] - -_THE PHILADELPHIA DANCING ASSEMBLIES_ - - -As has been said, we are wont to think of our esteemed progenitors of -the Colonial and Revolutionary periods as performing valuable service -in their day and generation, “being good,” as some wit expresses it, -“but not having a very good time.” If our thoughts revert to the ladies -of the last century, we picture them spending their days in spinning, -knitting, or sewing, surrounded by their maid-servants, whom they are -instructing in these most useful arts, as the Mother of the Republic -is described by so many who visited her at Mount Vernon, rather than -in bedecking themselves for conquest in the gay world. The men of the -period seem to have spent so much of their time at assemblies, not -dancing assemblies, but those in which the laws of the Colonies were -discussed, and land-claims, quit-rents, and other dry affairs settled, -that we are surprised when a stray leaf from the note-book of some -public man floats down to us containing such entries as the following: - - Diana for attendance 15_s._ - For candles £1.12_s._ - “ snuffers 4_s._ - “ three dozen chairs £7. - “ 200 limes 14_s._ - “ 18 pounds milk bisket 9_s._ - “ 5 gallons rum and cask £2.3_s._ - “ Musick £1.10_s._ - -Learning that these items were among the expenses of an early -Philadelphia Dancing Assembly, and that the wives and daughters of -such ancient worthies as His Honor the Governor of Pennsylvania, Chief -Justice Shippen, Thomas Hopkinson, and the Bond brothers wore rich -imported silks, feathers, and flowers, and attended routs and balls, -life in the old Provincial city is suddenly lit up with brighter hues, -and gay scenes take their place upon the canvas of the past. - -History has treated with such dignified silence this more frivolous -side of Philadelphia life that it is only from old manuscript letters -and note-books, from such sprightly diaries as those of William Black, -of Virginia, Sarah Eve, and Sally Wister, and from Watson and other -annalists, that we learn that there was much gayety, as well as rare -good living, in this city in the last century. As early as 1738 we read -of a dancing class, instructed by Theobald Hackett, who engaged to teach - - “all sorts of fashionable English and French dances, after the newest - and politest manner practised in London, Dublin, and Paris, and to - give to young ladies, gentlemen, and children the most graceful - carriage in dancing and genteel behavior in company that can possibly - be given by any dancing-master whatever.” - -Certainly the dancing-master’s card is worded in the “politest manner,” -and his pupils in this city must have proved singularly apt in the -Terpsichorean art, as the Philadelphia women were noted, at an early -date, for their grace and social charm. - -Later, one Kennet taught dancing and fencing, as did also John Ormsby, -from London, “in the newest taste now practised in Europe, at Mr. -Foster’s house, in Market Street, opposite the Horse and Dray.” - -These announcements sound strangely un-Quakerlike, and in 1749 such -alarming premonitory symptoms of gayety culminated in a regular series -of subscription balls, after the London fashion. The good Quakers -naturally looked askance at such festivities; consequently we find -the names of no Pembertons, Logans, Fishers, Lloyds, Whartons, Coxes, -Rawles, Norrises, Peningtons, Emlens, Morrises, or Biddles on the -original list of membership; but here are M’Calls, Francises, Burds, -Shippens, Barclays, Wilcockses, Willings, McIlvaines, Hamiltons, -Allens, Whites, and Conynghams. - -The clergy was represented in these early Assemblies by the Rev. -Richard Peters, of London, who held high positions in the State as well -as in the Church, and the Provincial Government by James Hamilton, the -first American-born governor of Pennsylvania. A letter from Richard -Peters to Thomas Penn shows what a warm interest the reverend gentleman -took in the recently-formed Assembly. The letter is dated New Castle, -May 3, 1749, and reads as follows: - - “By the Governor’s encouragement there has been a very handsome - Assembly once a fortnight at Andrew Hamilton’s house and stores, - which are tenanted by Mr. Inglis [and] make a set of rooms for such a - purpose, & Consists of eighty ladies and as many gentlemen, one-half - appearing every Assembly Night. Mr. Inglis had the conduct of the - whole, and managed exceeding well. There happened a little mistake - at the beginning, which at some other times might [have] produced - disturbances. The Governor would have opened the Assembly with Mrs. - Taylor, but she refused him, I suppose because he had not been to - visit her. After Mrs. Taylor’s refusal, two or three other ladies, out - of Modesty and from no manner of ill design, excused themselves, so - that the Governor was put a little to his shifts when Mrs. Willing, - now Mrs. Mayoreas,[35] in a most Genteel Manner put herself into his - way, and on the Governor seeing this instance, he” - -here there occurs something illegible, but it appears from what follows -that the Governor danced the first minuet with this amiable lady, who -showed her fine breeding by stepping in to prevent his being placed in -an awkward position. - -Mr. Peters adds, in judicial form, that “Mrs. Taylor was neither blamed -nor excused nor commended, and so it went off, and every person during -the continuance of the Assembly, which ended last week, was extremely -cheerful and good natured.” - -This Mrs. Abraham Taylor was the same Philadelphia Taylor who wrote a -little earlier of the exceeding dulness of Provincial life, and the -lack of all congenial amusement, sighing the while for an “English -Arcadia,” which she thus quaintly described: “The hight of my ambition -is to have us all live together in some pretty country place in a clean -and genteel manner.” - -It is pleasing to know that social life was beginning to come up to -this lady’s standard, even if her own manners did not rise with it. Her -rude treatment of Governor Hamilton was due to the fact of her husband -having some difficulty with the Provincial authorities, which she -undertook to revenge upon the person who seems to have been the least -to blame in the matter. - -The managers of the first Assembly were John Swift, a successful -merchant, and Collector of the Port of Philadelphia; John Wallace, son -of a Scotch clergyman; John Inglis, whose name is not now represented -in Philadelphia, but from whom are descended Fishers, Cadwaladers, -Coxes, and Kanes; and Lynford Lardner, an Englishman, who came here -in 1740 to hold a number of honorable positions in the Province, and, -being addicted to learning as well as to gayety, was a director of -the Library Company and an early member of the American Philosophical -Society.[36] - -Among the subscribers to the first Dancing Assembly was Andrew Elliot, -son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, then a young man recently arrived in the -Province. Although he married into two Philadelphia families, Mr. -Elliot’s associations were much with New York, where he was sometime -Collector of Customs and Lieutenant-Governor. Mrs. Jauncey, Governor -Elliot’s daughter, writes from that city, in 1783, of a ball at -Head-quarters in honor of the Queen’s birthday, which her father -urged his wife to attend, yet we find him writing a few months later -of Mrs. Elliot being in Philadelphia, and warmly received by the -authorities there, “in high spirits and high frolic, with all her -best clothes; dancing with the French Minister, Financier-General, -Governor of the State, &c., &c., all striving who shall show her most -attention.” This latter was after the preliminaries of peace had been -signed between Great Britain and the United States, when Governor -Elliot’s old friends, “Governor Dickinson, Bob. Morris,” and other -officials in the government, had begun to assume the more imposing -proportions of winning figures. Both Mrs. Jauncey and Elizabeth Elliot -married Englishmen. The latter, as Lady Cathcart, seems to have taken -particular delight in dazzling the eyes of her American relatives -with pictures of her own magnificent appearance in sable and diamonds -assisting at court functions, where she is pleased to find herself on -occasions the best dressed person in the company.[37] - -Mrs. Jekyll, whose name is to be found on the early Assembly lists, and -who is spoken of as “a lady of pre-eminent fashion and beauty,” was a -grand-daughter of the first Edward Shippen. Her husband, John Jekyll, -was Collector of the Port of Boston. In connection with this lady’s -gayety and social distinction, Watson gives some curious information -with regard to the invitations in early times, which, he says, were -printed upon common playing-cards, there being no blank cards in the -country, none but playing-cards being imported for sale. “I have seen -at least a variety of a dozen in number addressed to this same lady -[Mrs. Jekyll]. One of them, from a leading gentleman of that day, -contained on the back the glaring effigy of _a queen_ of clubs!”[38] - -The first Assembly Balls were held in a large room at Hamilton’s wharf, -on Water Street, between Walnut and Dock. There seems to have been no -hall capable of accommodating so many persons, and as Water Street -skirted the court end of the town, it was a rather convenient locality -in which to hold a ball. A lady of the olden time has left a record of -going to one of these balls at Hamilton’s Stores in full dress and -on horseback. What would the belles of that early time think if their -Rosinantes could land them at the Academy of Music for one of the -great routs of our days? The scene of enchantment now presented by the -corridors, foyer, and supper-room would certainly bewilder the brains -and dazzle the eyes of those beautiful great-grandmothers, for the -decorations were not then elaborate, and the entertainment was simple, -consisting, says one chronicler, “chiefly of something to drink.” - -In 1772 the Assembly Balls seem to have been held at the Freemasons’ -Lodge, while it is evident from notices in the _Pennsylvania Journal_ -of 1784-85, that they were later held at the City Tavern. In 1802 the -managers gave notice to subscribers, in _Poulson’s Advertiser_, that -the first ball of the season would be held at Francis’s Hotel, on -Market Street. - -According to the early Assembly rules, tickets for strangers were to -be had on application to the managers, and were to be paid for at -the rate of seven shillings and sixpence,--this for gentlemen; for -ladies (such was the gallantry of the time) nothing was to be paid. -This old regulation remained in force until quite recently, when, in -consequence of the increasing number of guests from other cities and -in simple justice to the subscribers, it was decided that guests of -both sexes should be paid for at the same rates as residents. The old -subscription ticket was forty shillings, which moderate sum was levied -upon the gentleman, and of course included the lady who accompanied -him. It covered the expenses of a series of entertainments given upon -every Thursday evening from January until May. The rule was that the -ball “should commence at precisely six in the evening, and not, by -any means, to exceed twelve the same night.” Worthy and most moderate -ancestors! Your ball ended at the hour that the Assembly of our time -begins, and the fair Belindas and Myrtillas who had graced the scene -were sent off to their beds in time to get, if not beauty-sleep, -certainly some hours of good sleep before dawn. This was a fortunate -circumstance, for those were days when mothers of families considered -it one of the cardinal sins to lie abed in the morning, and if Belinda -did not get her quantum of sleep at night there was little chance of -making it up at high noon. - -Although it was one of the regulations of the Assembly that none were -to be admitted without tickets, which were received at the door by one -of the directors, there appears to have been some laxity in enforcing -this regulation, as, in 1771, the following notice was inserted in the -_Pennsylvania Journal_: - - “The Assembly will be opened this evening, and as the receiving money - at the door has been found extremely inconvenient, the managers think - it necessary to give the public notice that no person will be admitted - without a ticket from the directors, which (through the application of - a subscriber) may be had of either of the managers.” - -As card-playing formed an important part in the entertainment of the -time, rooms were provided for those who preferred cards to the dance, -furnished with fire, candles, tables, cards, etc. - -The dances were regulated according to very strict rules, “first come, -first served.” The ladies who arrived first had places in the first -set; the others were to be arranged in the order in which they arrived. -The ladies were to draw for their places, which made a little pleasant -excitement and raised a flutter of expectation in breasts masculine as -well as feminine. The directors always had the right to reserve one -place out of the set “to present to a stranger, if any, or any other -lady, who was thereby entitled to lead up that set for the night.” - -To break in upon the regular order of the dances seems to have been a -serious offence, as, in a letter of 1782, we read of a Philadelphia -belle, Miss Polly Riché, starting up a revolt against the established -authorities by “standing up in a set not her own.” By drawing the other -ladies and gentlemen, who formed the cotillon, into the rebellion, she -precipitated a rupture between the gentlemen, Mr. Moore and Colonel -Armand, and the managers of the Assembly. - -Two Jewish names appear on this early list of 1749, Levy and Franks. -Mr. Black, who was in Philadelphia in 1744, thus describes a Miss -Levy, probably a sister of Samson Levy, whose name is enrolled among -the subscribers to the Assembly: - - “In the evening, in company with Mr. Lewis and Mr. Littlepage, I - went to Mr. Levy’s, a Jew, and very Considerable Merch’t; he was a - Widdower. And his Sister, Miss Hettie Levy, kept his House. We staid - Tea, and was very agreeably Entertain’d by the Young Lady. She was - of middle Stature, and very well made her Complection Black but very - Comely, she had two Charming eyes full of Fire and Rolling; Eye Brows - Black and well turn’d, with a Beautiful head of Hair, Coal Black which - she wore a Wigg, waving in wanting curling Ringletts in her Neck; She - was a lady of a great Deal of Wit, Join’d to a Good Understanding, - full of Spirits, and of a Humor exceeding Jocose and Agreeable.” - -Another lady who inspired even more ardent admiration in the -susceptible breast of Mr. Black was Miss Mollie Stamper, who married -William Bingham, and figures on the early lists of the Assembly as Mrs. -Bingham.[39] Of this young lady’s charms Mr. Black says,-- - - “I cannot say that she was a Regular Beauty, but she was Such that - few could find any Fault with what Dame Nature had done for her.... - When I view’d her I thought all the Statues I ever beheld, was so much - inferior to her in Beauty that she was more capable of Converting - a man into a Statue, than of being Imitated by the Greatest Master - of that Art, & I surely had as much delight in Surveying her as the - Organs of Sight are capable of conveying to the Soul.” - -Few names were better known in the old-time social life than that of -Franks. David Franks was a brother of Phila Franks, afterwards Mrs. -Oliver De Lancey, and father of Rebecca Franks, who was a reigning -belle during the British occupation of Philadelphia, when General Howe -was in the habit of tying his horse before David Franks’s house and -going in to have a chat with the ladies, and probably to enjoy a laugh -at some of Miss Rebecca’s spirited sallies. Although the beautiful -Jewess shared the honors of belledom with fair Willings and Shippens, -no person seems to have disputed her title to be considered the wit -of the day among womankind. Abigail Franks, who became Mrs. Andrew -Hamilton, was another daughter of David Franks. It was to this sister -in Philadelphia that Miss Rebecca wrote a long gossipy letter from New -York in 1781, in which she contrasted the manners of the belles of that -city and her own very much to the advantage of those of the latter -place, always excepting the Van Hornes, with whom she is staying, -and whom she describes as most attractive, Miss Kitty Van Horne much -resembling the greatly admired Mrs. Galloway. - - “By the way,” she writes, “few New York ladies know how to entertain - company in their own houses, unless they introduce the card-table. - Except this family, who are remarkable for their good sense and ease, - I don’t know a woman or girl that can chat above half an hour, and - that on the form of a cap, the color of a ribbon, or the set of a - hoop, stay, or jupon. I will do our ladies, that is in Philadelphia, - the justice to say they have more cleverness in the turn of an eye - than the New York girls have in their whole composition. With what - ease have I seen a Chew, a Penn, Oswald, Allen, and a thousand - others entertain a large circle of both sexes, and the conversation, - without the aid of cards, not flag or seem in the least strained or - stupid.”[40] - -In Mr. Joseph Shippen’s “Lines Written in an Assembly Room” we -find a graceful picture of the beauties of the ante-Revolutionary -period. “Fair, charming Swift,” the eldest daughter of John Swift, -who afterwards became Mrs. Livingston; “lovely White,” a sister of -Bishop White, who, as Mrs. Robert Morris, was the chosen friend of -Mrs. Washington while in Philadelphia; “sweet, smiling, fair M’Call;” -Katharine Inglis; Polly Franks, an elder daughter of David Franks; -Sally Coxe, who married Andrew Allen, the loyalist; and Chews so fair -that Mr. Shippen cannot decide which is the fairer. Two of these -bewildering sisters, Mary and Elizabeth Chew, married respectively -Alexander Wilcocks and Edward Tilghman. Another poet, of a period a -little later than this, happening to pick up a knot of ribbon dropped -by Miss Chew on the ball-room floor, thus descants upon her charms: - - “If I mistake not--’tis the accomplish’d Chew, - To whom this ornamental bow is due; - Its taste like hers, so neat, so void of art-- - Just as her mind and gentle as her heart. - I haste to send it--to resume its place, - For beaux should sorrow o’er a bow’s disgrace.” - -It does not appear to have taken great inspirations to set the muse -to rhyming in those days. Mr. John Swanwick seems always to have -found his prompt to obey his call, and whether he is disappointed in -a walk with Miss Markoe, or whether he takes such a walk; whether it -is Miss Meredith’s canary-bird that dies or the great astronomer David -Rittenhouse, all alike give wings to his Pegasus. He lends Miss Abby -Willing his Biographical Dictionary, and with it encloses a dozen -verses or more on those inscribed in this “splendid roll of fame.” -Another occasion of poetic inspiration is when tears are observed to -stream down a young lady’s cheek on listening to a sermon from the Rev. -William White. Must it not have been delightful to possess such a fancy? - -As early as 1765 some of the good old Quaker names are to be found -on the Assembly lists, as Mifflin, Fishbourne, Dickinson, Galloway, -Nixon, Powell, and Cadwalader, the latter family being, like the -Ingersolls, Montgomerys, Sergeants, Tilghmans, Wisters, and Markoes, -among later arrivals in Philadelphia from other States or from abroad. -Margaret Cadwalader married Samuel Meredith, first Treasurer of the -United States, while her elder sister Polly became the wife of Philemon -Dickinson, from Crosia-doré, Maryland, a brother of John Dickinson, -himself distinguished as a soldier and statesman, while General John -Cadwalader carried off one of the Meschianza belles, Miss Williamina -Bond.[41] Among names upon other Assembly lists, early and late, are -those of Clymer, Hazlehurst, Evans, Burd, Lewis, McMurtrie, McPherson, -Sims, Ross, Watmough, Biddle, Wharton, Meade, etc., while in that -of 1765 there is a curious record of “Miss Allen, alias Governess,” -which evidently refers to Ann Allen, who married Governor John Penn, a -grandson of the Proprietary. Of this fair lady the ever-ready Swanwick -sings,-- - - “When youthful Allen of majestic mien - Seems as she moves of every beauty queen-- - And by refinements of a polish’d mind, - To decorate a throne design’d.” - -The regular Assembly balls seem to have been discontinued during the -War of the Revolution, although most of this time there was no lack -of gayety in Philadelphia, especially in Tory circles, as is shown by -contemporaneous letters. Miss Franks writes to Mrs. William Paca[42] in -1778, while the British were in possession of the city,-- - - “You can have no idea of the life of continued amusement I live in. I - can scarce have a moment to myself. I have stole this while everybody - is retired to dress for dinner. I am but just come from under Mr. J. - Black’s hands and most elegantly am I dressed for a ball this evening - at Smith’s where we have one every Thursday. You would not Know the - room ’tis so much improv’d. - - “I wish to Heaven you were going with us this evening to judge for - yourself. I spent Tuesday evening at Sir Wᵐ Howes where we had a - concert and Dance. I asked his leave to send you a Handkerchief to - show the fashions. He very politely gave me leave to send anything you - wanted, tho’ I told him you were a Delegate’s Lady.... - - “The Dress is more ridiculous and pretty than any thing I ever - saw--great quantity of different colored feathers on the head at a - time besides a thousand other things. The Hair dress’d very high in - the shape Miss Vining’s was the night we returned from Smiths--the Hat - we found in your Mother’s Closet wou’d be of a proper size. I have - an afternoon cap with one wing--tho’ I assure you I go less in the - fashion than most of the Ladies--no being dress’d without a hoop. B. - Bond makes her first appearance tonight at the rooms.” - -In B. Bond we recognize one of the Meschianza belles, while the Miss -Vining to whom Miss Franks refers was a Wilmington girl, whose beauty, -grace, and fluency in speaking their language made her a great favorite -with the French officers in America, who wrote home so enthusiastically -of her charms that her name became known at the court of France, -the queen herself expressing a desire to meet the famous American -beauty.[43] - - “No loss for partners,” the lively lady continues, “even I am engaged - to seven different gentlemen for you must know ’tis a fix’d rule - never to dance but two dances at a time with the same person. Oh how - I wish Mr. P. wou’d let you come in for a week or two--tell him I’ll - answer for your being let to return. I know you are as fond of a gay - life as myself--you’d have an opportunity of rakeing as much as you - choose either at Plays, Balls, Concerts or Assemblys. I’ve been but - 3 evenings alone since we mov’d to town. I begin now to be almost - tired.”[44] - -It is probably to the revival of the hoop about 1778, of which Miss -Franks speaks, that some humorous verses refer, in which the hoop and -anti-hoop factions are described as arraying themselves for battle -upon the floor of the Assembly room. The anti-hoop party was under the -leadership of Narcissa, who with her followers declared that it was -their opinion - - “That unless - They had it in their Power to dress - As they thought proper, nought would be - At last left to their Option free, - And so concluded, one and all, - Hoopless to go to the next Ball.” - -The hoop party was conducted by Fribeto, the Nash of the time, a -miniature beau, who suggests to the mind Pope’s _dramatis personæ_ in -the “Rape of the Lock:” - - “A gayly brilliant thing - That sparkled in the shining ring. - - * * * * * - - This same Fribeto once was chose - Director of the Belles and Beaux, - When’er in full Assembly they - Should meet to dance an hour away.” - -Indeed, the scheme and treatment of this rhymed _Bataille de Dames_ -are evidently borrowed from Pope’s brilliant satire, and some verses -seem not unworthy the pen of Francis Hopkinson, as, for instance, a -description of the two factions upon the Assembly night: - - “Here walks a Fair, from Head to toe - As straight as ever she can go; - And here a Dame with wings so wide, - Three Yards at least from side to side. - - “Hoops and no Hoops dividing stand - In dread array on either Hand, - Resolved to try th’ important Cause - By that Assembly’s fixed Laws.” - -In the conflict which ensues, Fribeto is worsted by the slim damsels, -and takes refuge under Melisinda’s ample wing, from whose pocket he -surveys the field of battle. Enraged by the impertinent popping up of -the dandy’s head from Melisinda’s pocket, Narcissa aims a blow at him, -which glances aside and falls upon the bosom of his protectress, who -starts up with a cry of pain and makes her escape, leaving Fribeto -prone upon the ball-room floor, a pitiable object. - - “One peal of laughter fills the place. - The Hoops their Hero now despise, - And view him with disdainful Eyes, - And with one Voice at once agree - To cry aloud for Liberty”-- - -declaring - - “That Women still - In dress at least should have their will.” - -Upon which the humiliated Fribeto announces,-- - - “My office and my Right - To govern, I resign this Night, - Nor will I meddle should you come - In greasy night Caps to this Room, - Or sit in Rows in yonder Benches, - As black with Dirt as Cynder-wenches.” - -This important battle probably occurred after the British evacuation -of the city, as Philadelphia gayety did not cease with the departure -of the red-coats, an article of apparel that General Knox declared -the American girls loved too well. Arnold’s advent as Commandant, we -know, was inaugurated by a series of festivities from which the Tory -belles were not excluded. Indeed, when such a measure was contemplated -in connection with a grand ball to be given to the French and American -officers, it was found impossible to make up the company without -them, consequently they appeared in full feather, at this and other -entertainments, it being alleged by more than one authority that far -from being slighted these loyalist ladies were given the preference -over Whig belles. Among leading Tory women were Miss Polly Riché, her -friend Miss Christian Amiel, the Bards, Bonds, Odells, Oswalds, and -Cliftons. It has been whispered that Miss Amiel was the fair lady to -whom General Arnold was engaged in writing amatory epistles before -Miss Shippen’s charms conquered the hero of many battles. A note from -the Commandant to Miss Riché is still extant, in which he thanks her -for a picture conveyed to him, in language so guarded that no reading -between the lines serves to reveal the original of the miniature, -although there are those who shrewdly suspect that it was a picture of -General Arnold, which, for reasons best known to herself, Miss Amiel -returned to him through Miss Riché. Miss Amiel afterwards married -Colonel Richard Armstrong who was in America with Major Simcoe’s -British Foot, while her friend Miss Riché became the wife of Charles -Swift. It is evidently to her approaching marriage that Miss White -refers in a letter written in 1785, in which she relates the disasters -that have befallen the wardrobes of several mutual friends, among them -Miss B. Lawrence, who has lost “three elegant lisk robes, and seventy -yards of Lace, beside the rest of her Cloaths. There is,” she adds, -“no dependence on these stage boats, pray be careful how you send -your wedding Cloaths up when you come to Town for it must be horribly -mortifying to lose them.” - -It is evident that the Assembly Balls were revived soon after peace -was declared, and held occasionally, if not regularly, as Mrs. John -Adams speaks of attending an Assembly while in Philadelphia during the -administration of President Washington. The dancing she pronounces -“very good and the company of the best kind,” adding that the ladies -are more beautiful than those she has seen at foreign courts. Mrs. -Adams must have been subject to variable moods at this time, as she -writes to her daughter one week of the dazzling brilliancy of Mrs. -Washington’s drawing-room, concluding that Mrs. Bingham had given -laws to the Philadelphia women in fashion and elegance, while in -another letter she says of an Assembly Ball, “the room despicable; the -etiquette,--it was difficult to say where it was to be found. Indeed, -it was not New York; but you must not report this from me.” This was -probably written after one of their long drives to town over muddy -roads, which made Bush Hill seem so undesirable a residence to the -Vice-President and his wife. Mrs. Adams writes in more amiable mood -upon another occasion, and is pleased to find “Mrs. Powell of all the -ladies she has met the best informed, beside which she is friendly, -affable, good, sprightly, and full of conversation.” This lady who -combines so many charms is Mrs. Samuel Powel, born Elizabeth Willing, -the aunt of Mrs. Bingham, who also came in for a large share of the -New England lady’s admiration, being included in her “constellation of -beauties,” with her sister Elizabeth, soon to become the wife of Major -William Jackson, whose portrait represents one of the handsomest men -of the time. The Chews of whom Mrs. Adams speaks are younger sisters -of the Meschianza belles, little Sophia, Juliana, and Maria, grown up -to take their sisters’ places. Old Chief Justice Benjamin Chew had a -host of pretty daughters, and in the gay world of society, as in court -circles, there is always a laudable disposition to hail the rising -sun. Instead of Mrs. Benedict Arnold, her sisters, the Redmans, the -Bonds, and Miss Wilhelmina Smith, who has gone off to Maryland with her -husband Charles Goldsborough, we find a new bevy of beauties, Sally -McKean, who afterwards married the Marquis de Yrujo, and whose languid -beauty seemed made for a Southern court, Mrs. Walter Stewart, born -Deborah McClenachan, Mrs. Henry Clymer, Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, from -Massachusetts, and Miss Wolcott, from Connecticut, whom New England -gentlemen were wont to boast equal in beauty and grace to Mrs. Bingham. -Mrs. Adams comments upon the gayety and prodigality of Philadelphia -living at this period, as General Greene had done a little earlier, the -latter having declared the luxury of Boston “an infant babe” to that -of the Quaker City. Much of the extravagance which prevailed for some -years in Philadelphia was an outcome of the speculation and the pursuit -of private gain induced by the enormous inflation of the Continental -currency. “Wealth thus easily acquired was as freely squandered,” says -Mr. F. D. Stone in his admirable paper on Philadelphia society during -the period of the new tender, “and while luxuries were being enjoyed by -one class of citizens, the expenses and burdens of others were greatly -increased.” In the diary of the moderate and abstemious Washington we -read of a number of entertainments and numerous dinners attended by him -at the Ingersolls’, Morrises’, Chews’, Rosses’, Willings’, Hamiltons’, -and Binghams’; at the latter place “I dined in great splendor,” writes -the President, who was well content with one dish of meat and one or -two glasses of wine at his own table. Again, in a letter written from -Philadelphia to General Wayne by a brother officer we read,-- - - “Permit me to say a little of the dress, manners, and customs of - the town’s people. In respect to the first, great alterations have - taken place since I was last here. It is all gayety, and from what I - can observe, every lady and gentleman endeavors to outdo the other - in splendor and show.... The manner of entertaining in this place - has likewise undergone its change. You cannot conceive anything more - elegant than the present taste. You can hardly dine at a table but - they present you with three courses, and each of them in the most - elegant manner.” - -Miss Sally McKean, in writing to a friend in New York of Mrs. -Washington’s first levee, says,-- - - “You never could have such a drawing-room; it was brilliant beyond - anything you can imagine; and though there was a great deal of - extravagance, there was so much of Philadelphia taste in everything - that it must be confessed the most delightful occasion of the kind - ever known in this country.” - -Some of the old names run down the Assembly list through all the years -to our own time, as Chew, Shippen, M’Call, Hopkinson, McIlvaine, -White, Barclay, Cadwalader, Coxe, Lardner, and many more, while others -have quite disappeared from Philadelphia society. There are no more -Hamiltons, Oswalds, Cliftons, Plumsteds, Allens, Swifts, Inglises, or -Francises to be found on the lists of to-day. Some of these families -are no longer represented in the male line, while others have married -and settled abroad, notably the Binghams, Allens, Hamiltons, and -Elliots. Into the social circles where they once held sway have come -such Southern names as Randolph, Byrd, Page, Robinson, Carter, Hunter, -and Neilson from Virginia, and Tilghman, Cheston, Murray, and many -other well-known names from that Eastern Shore of Maryland famed for -its good cheer, and for its hospitable Colonial mansions presided over -by beautiful matrons. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[35] Evidently intended for Mrs. Mayoress, as Charles Willing was -elected Mayor of Philadelphia in 1748. - -[36] Mr. Richard Penn Lardner, a descendant of this Lynford Lardner, -in 1878, owned the original list of the subscribers to the Assembly -of 1749, and the manner in which this list and the rules for its -government came into the possession of the Historical Society of -Pennsylvania is in itself an interesting bit of local history. The -rules were the property of Mr. Charles Riché Hildeburn, a direct -descendant of John Swift. He offered to give them to the society if -the old list should also be forthcoming. Mr. Lardner signified his -willingness to donate the list, and the formal presentation was made -by the late President of the Historical Society, the Hon. John William -Wallace. Thus, after a separation of one hundred and thirty years, the -old documents came together through the agency of descendants of three -of the managers of the very Assembly to which they pertained. - -[37] Chronicles of the Plumsted Family, by Eugene Devereux. - -[38] Some of these old playing-cards, with invitations to the Assembly -printed on the backs, are still in the possession of a descendant of -the first Edward Shippen. - -[39] This Mrs. Bingham was the mother of William Bingham, who married a -daughter of Thomas Willing, whose wife, Anne McCall, may well be spoken -of as “the beautiful mother of a beautiful race.” - -[40] From manuscript letter in possession of the Historical Society of -Pennsylvania. - -[41] The name Williamina was inherited from a beautiful grandmother, -Williamina Wemyss Moore. - -[42] This letter was forwarded by Edward Tilghman, who was “out on his -parole,” with the gauze handkerchiefs, ribbons, etc, to Mrs. Paca, -born Anne Harrison, the second wife of William Paca, of Wye Island, -Maryland, who was a delegate to Congress. (Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. -xvi. p. 216.) - -[43] This story, on the authority of Thomas Jefferson, is related by -Miss Elizabeth Montgomery in her “Reminiscences of Wilmington.” - -[44] Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. xvi. pp. 216, 217. - - - - -INDEX. - - - A. - - Abercrombie, Dr. James, 119. - - Adams, John, 11, 66, 88, 130, 148, 192. - - Adams, Mrs. John, 13, 16, 65, 191, 224. - - Adams, John Quincy, 70, 125, 167. - - Agassiz, Louis, 145. - - Agassiz, Mrs. Louis, 140. - - Alexander, General William, 70. - - Allen, Andrew, 214. - - Allen, Ann, 216. - - Allinson, Edward P., 154. - - Alsop, Mary, 85. (Mrs. Rufus King.) - - American Philosophical Society, 97-147. - - Amiel, Christian, 223. - - André, Major John, 26, 33, 44, 52, 84. - - Armand, Colonel, 210. - - Armstrong, Colonel Richard, 223. - - Arnold, General Benedict, 63, 194, 223. - - Arnold, Mrs. Benedict, 44. (Peggy Shippen.) - - Atlee, Dr. W. F., 68. - - Aubrey, William, 184. - - Auchmuty, Miss, 38, 42. - - Auchmuty, Rev. Samuel, 56. - - - B. - - Bache, Dr. Franklin, 174. - - Bache, Mrs. Richard, 12, 17, 85. - - Barclay, 200, 228. - - Bard, 223. - - Barton, Dr. Benjamin S., 132. - - Bartram, John, 103, 104. - - Bartram, William, 104. - - Bayard, The Misses, 88. - - Beasley, Dr. Frederick, 167. - - Beckwith, Colonel, 168. - - Beekman, Colonel Henry, 85. - - Beekman, Mrs. James, 84. - - Biddle, Clement C., 167. - - Biddle, Nicholas, 117, 152. - - Bingham, William, 211. - - Bingham, William, United States Senator, 211 (note). - - Bingham, Mrs. William, 89, 92, 224, 226. - - Binney, Horace, 173. - - Black, William, 199, 210. - - Bleecker, 82. - - Blended Rose, Ladies of the, 33, 42. - - Bonaparte, Charles Lucien, 139. - - Bonaparte, Joseph, 164. - - Bond, Becky, 43, 218. - - Bond, Dr. Phineas, 103. - - Bond, Williamina, 42, 216. - - Boudinot, Elias, 74. - - Bowers, Mrs. John M., 8. - - Breck, Samuel, 66, 152. - - Bunker’s Hotel, 67. - - Burd, 200, 216. - - Burgoyne, General, 34. - - Burning Mountain, Ladies of the, 43. - - Burr, Aaron, 66, 131. - - Bush Hill, 225. - - Byrd, 229. - - - C. - - Cadwalader, General John, 216. - - Cadwalader, Margaret, 216. - - Cadwalader, Polly, 216. - - Cadwalader, Dr. Thomas, 111. - - Calder, Sir Henry, 28, 49. - - Callowhill, Hannah, 178. (Hannah Penn.) - - Canino, Prince de, 164, 168. - - Carey, Henry C., 123, 167. - - Carey, Mathew, 167. - - Carey Vespers, 123. - - Carter, 229. - - Cathcart, Lady, 18, 19, 205. - - Cathcart, Lord, 42. - - Chapman, Dr. Nathaniel, 117, 153. - - Chastellux, Marquis de, 84, 148. - - Cheston, 229. - - Cheves, Langdon, 173. - - Chew, Elizabeth, 214. - - Chew, Mary, 214. - - Chew, Peggy, 42, 49, 58. - - Chew, Sally, 43. - - Clarkson, 82. - - Clifton, Eleanor, 28, 29. - - Clinton, Governor George, 81. - - Clinton, Mrs. George, 92. - - Clinton, Sir Henry, 38, 61. - - Clymer, George, 155. - - Clymer, Mrs. Henry, 226. - - Coffin, Eleanor, 20. - - Colden, Dr. Cadwallader, 104, 105. - - Collins, Zacheus, 162. - - Conyngham, 200. - - Coxe, Sally, 214. - - Craig, Janet, 42, 56. - - - D. - - Daschkof, Princess, 140, 142. - - Deane, Silas, 148. - - De Lancey, Mrs. Oliver, 212. - - De Peyster, 82. - - Dickinson, John, 103, 205, 216. - - Digby, Admiral Robert, 73. - - Draper, Sir William, 30. - - Drayton, Colonel, of South Carolina, 125. - - Drinker, Elizabeth, 18. - - Duane, Mrs. James, 83, 88. - - Duer, Colonel William, 70. - - Duer, Lady Kitty, 69, 70, 83. - - Dulany, Daniel, 103. - - Du Ponceau, Peter S., 121-129, 155, 162. - - - E. - - Elliot, Governor Andrew, 73, 204, 205. - - Elliot, Elizabeth, 205. - - Emlen, 200. - - Evans, 216. - - Evans, Governor John, 184. - - Eve, Sarah, 18, 199. - - - F. - - Fishbourne, 215. - - Fisher, 200, 203. - - Fisher, Joshua Francis, 173. - - Foulke, Liddy, 10. - - Francis, Anne, 134. - - Francis, Dr. John W., 152. - - Francis, Sir Philip, 134-136. - - Francis’s Hotel, 207. - - Franklin, Benjamin, 12, 17, 106, 112, 114, 120, 140; - founder of Philosophical Society, 97-102. - - Franklin, Samuel, 70. - - Franklin, Sarah, 71. (Mrs. Richard Bache.) - - Franklin, Walter, house of, New York residence of General Washington, - 67-70. - - Franks, Abigail, 212. - - Franks, David, 212. - - Franks, Phila, 212. - - Franks, Polly, 214. - - Franks, Rebecca, 14, 38, 43, 59-61, 213, 219. - - Fraser, Caroline, 164. - - Furness, Dr. William H., 124. - - - G. - - Gallatin, Albert, 125. - - Galloway, Mrs., 213. - - Gerry, Elbridge, 91. - - Gerry, Mrs. Elbridge, 86. - - Gliddon, George Robins, 125. - - Goldsborough, Charles, 57, 226. - - Greene, General Nathaniel, 8, 226. - - Griffin, Lady Christiana, 85. - - Griffin, Cyrus, 85, 90. - - Griffitts, Hannah, 54. - - Griffitts, Dr. Samuel Powel, 154. - - Grouchy, Marquis de, 164. - - - H. - - Haines, Reuben, 162. - - Hale, Captain Nathan, 84. - - Hamilton, Alexander, 66, 91. - - Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander, 85. - - Hamilton, Andrew, 201. - - Hamilton, Mrs. Andrew, 212. - - Hamilton, Governor James, 200. - - Hamilton’s Wharf, 206. - - Hancock, John, 11. - - Harrison, Anne, 217. - - Hays, Dr. Isaac, 174. - - Hazlehurst, 216. - - Heckewelder, John, 129, 155. - - Helm, Mary, 186, 190. - - Helvetius, Madame, 16, 17. - - Hildeburn, Charles Riché, 203. - - Hopkinson, Francis, 103, 120, 220. - - Hopkinson House, 21. - - Hopkinson, Joseph, 152, 167. - - Hopkinson, Thomas, 105, 198. - - Hosack, Dr., 151. - - Howard, Colonel John Eager, 59. - - Howe, Admiral Lord Richard, 38, 48, 55, 71. - - Howe, General Sir William, 24, 28, 41, 48, 55, 218. - - Humboldt, Baron von, 133, 151. - - Hunter, 229. - - Huntington, Daniel, 91. - - - I. - - Ingersoll, Bertha, 76. - - Ingersoll, Charles J., 143, 166. - - Ingersoll, Jared, 129. - - Inglis, John, 203. - - Inglis, Katharine, 214. - - Izard, Mrs. Ralph, 85. - - - J. - - Jackson, Major William, 225. - - James, Dr. Thomas C., 162, 174. - - Jauncey, Mrs., 19, 204, 205. - - Jay, John, 90, 91. - - Jay, Mrs. John, 13, 90, 92, 93. - - Jefferson, Thomas, 18, 75, 111, 124, 128. - - Jekyll, John, 206. - - Johnson, Lady, 62. (Rebecca Franks.) - - Johnson, Sir Henry, 60, 62. - - Junto, 100, 101, 109. - - - K. - - Kane, Judge, 173. - - Keach, Rev. Elias, 186-191. - - Keteletas, Jane, 84. - - Keyes, Miss, 18. - - King, Rufus, 91. - - King, Mrs. Rufus, 92. - - Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 106. - - Kissam, 82. - - Knight’s Wharf, 28, 38, 39. - - Knox, General, 66, 222. - - Knox, Mrs. General, 77, 92. - - Knyphausen, General, 38. - - Kuhn, Dr. Adam, 103, 153. - - - L. - - Lafayette, Marquis de, 142, 144. - - Lardner, Lynford, 203. - - Lardner, Richard Penn, 203, 204. - - Lawrence, Becky, 223. - - Lawrence, Colonel Elisha, 58. - - Lea, Dr. Isaac, 174. - - Lea, Henry C., 174. - - Leather Apron Society, 100. - - Lee, General Charles, 61. - - Leidy, Joseph, 145. - - Levy, Hettie, 211. - - Levy, Samson, 211. - - Lewis, Lawrence, Jr., 44. - - Lewis, Morgan, 83. - - Lewis, William D., 172. - - Livingston, Mrs. Robert R., 85. - - Livingston, Mrs. Walter, 92. - - Lloyd, 200. - - Logan, Deborah, 9. - - Logan, James, 183, 184. - - Lynch, Mrs. Dominick, 83. - - - M. - - Macomb’s House occupied by President Washington, 67. - - Madison, James, 12, 75, 130, 165. - - Marbois, Barbé-, 75. - - Markoe, Miss, 94, 215. - - Maxwell, Mrs. James Homer, 83. - - M’Call, 200, 214, 228. - - McIlvaine, 200, 228. - - McKean, Henry Pratt, 111. - - McKean, Sally, 77, 226, 228. - - McLane, Captain Allan, 51. - - McMaster, John Bach, 99. - - McMichael, Morton, 172. - - McMurtrie, 216. - - McPherson, 216. - - Meade, 216. - - Meigs, Dr. Charles D., 174. - - Meredith, Samuel, 216. - - Meredith, William M., 173. - - Meschianza, 23-64. - - Michaux, André, 107, 115. - - Mifflin, Elizabeth, 149. - - Mifflin, John, 149. - - Mitchell, Dr. John K., 174. - - Mitchell, Maria, 139. - - Montgomery, 82, 216. - - More, Chief Justice Nicholas, 190. - - Morgan, Dr. John, 19. - - Morgan, Mrs. John, 18. - - Morray, Humphrey, 154. - - Morris, Robert, 91, 205. - - Morris, Mrs. Robert, 13, 63, 91, 214. - - Montrésor, Colonel, 49, 56. - - Moustier, Comte de, 74, 75, 81. - - - N. - - Neilson, 229. - - New York Balls and Receptions, 65-96. - - Nixon, 216. - - Norris, Deborah, 10. - - - O. - - Odell, 223. - - O’Hara, Colonel, 49. - - Ord, George, 117, 118, 119. - - Osgood, Samuel, 69. - - Oswald, 213, 223. - - - P. - - Paca, Mrs. William, 217. - - Page, 229. - - Parton, James, 99, 106, 128. - - Patterson, Dr. Robert, 129. - - Patterson, Dr. Robert M., 100, 101, 162, 173. - - Peale, Charles Willson, 111, 136-139. - - Peale, Franklin, 129, 137. - - Pegg’s Run, 29. - - Pemberton, 200. - - Penington, Edward, 60. - - Penn, Governor John, 216. - - Penn, Hannah, 183. - - Penn, Letitia, 181, 184. - - Penn, Thomas, 201. - - Penn, William, 178, 181. - - Penn, William, Jr., 180. - - Penrose, Boies, 154. - - Peter, William, 170. - - Peters, Judge Richard, 11, 117, 129, 166. - - Peters, Richard, 200-202. - - Philadelphia Dancing Assemblies, 197-229. - - Philipse, 82. - - Philipse, Miss, 73. - - Plumsted, 229. - - Pool’s Bridge, 28, 39. - - Powel, Mrs. Samuel, 225. - - Priestley, Rev. Joseph, 116, 117. - - Provoost, Mrs. Samuel, 83. - - - R. - - Randolph, 229. - - Rawdon, Lord, 38, 71, 72. - - Rawle, William, 122, 155. - - Read, Sarah, 185. - - Redman, Dr. John, 57. - - Redman, Nancy, 42. - - Redman, Rebecca, 43, 57, 58. - - Reed, William B., 170. - - Riché, Polly, 210, 223. - - Rittenhouse, David, 112, 131, 215. - - Roberdeau, 18. - - Robinson, Moncure, 174. - - Robinson, Mrs. William T., 67-69. - - Ross, 216, 227. - - Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 129, 132, 153, 158. - - Rutherfurd, 82. - - - S. - - Saxe-Weimar, Duke of, 165, 167. - - Schuyler, Madame Philip, 18. - - Schweinitz, Rev. Lewis D. de, 130. - - Sedgwick, Mrs. Theodore, 226. - - Sergeant, John, 173. - - Serra, Abbé Correa de, 117, 138, 152. - - Shewell, Betty, 120. (Mrs. Benjamin West.) - - Shippen, Chief Justice Edward, 44, 205. - - Shippen, Joseph, 49, 214. - - Shippen, Peggy, 33, 42, 63, 194, 223. - - Shippen, William, 154. - - Shipton, Betty, 19. - - Short, William, 117, 165. - - Simcoe, Major, 223. - - Sims, 216. - - Smith, Abigail, 191. (Mrs. John Adams.) - - Smith, Williamina, 43, 56, 226. - - Smythe, Hon. Lionel, 74. - - Sneyd, Honora, 30. - - Somerville, Mary, 139. - - Southgate, Eliza, 14, 18, 20. - - Sparks, Jared, 100. - - Stamper, Mollie, 211. - - State in Schuylkill, 11. - - Steuben, Baron, 81. - - Steward, Lieutenant-Colonel Jack, 61. - - Stewart, Mrs. Walter, 226. - - Stirling, Lady, 83. - - Stoddert, Major, 9. - - Stone, Colonel William Leet, 79. - - Strickland, William, 117. - - Swanwick, John M. P., 94, 215. - - Swift, Charles, 223. - - Swift, John, 203, 214. - - - T. - - Tarleton, Major, 56. - - Taylor, Mrs. Abraham, 201, 202. - - Temple, Lady, 70, 84. - - Temple, Sir John, 84. - - Thackeray, William M., 170. - - Tilghman, Chief Justice, 129, 134, 155, 162, 167. - - Tilghman, Edward, 214, 217. - - Tilghman, Richard, 135, 136. - - Twisleton, Hon. Edward, 135. - - Tyson, Job R., 161. - - - V. - - Van Cortland, 82. - - Van Horne, Kitty, 213. - - Van Rensselaer, 82. - - Van Zandt, Catharine, 83. - - Vaughan, Benjamin, M. D., 126. - - Vaughan, Mr. John, 117, 123, 125, 127, 160. - - Vaughan, Samuel, 126. - - Vaux, Roberts, 167. - - Verplanck, 82. - - Vining, Miss, 218. - - - W. - - Wallace, John, 203, 204. - - Walnut Grove, 31, 32. (Meschianza House.) - - Walsh, Robert, LL. D., 117, 152, 173. - - Ware, Rev. William, 125. - - Washington, George, 8, 66, 87, 124. - - Washington, Martha, 65, 86, 91, 224. - - Watmough, 216. - - Watson, Joseph, 35, 166, 199. - - Watts, Lady Mary, 83. - - Wayne, General Anthony, 63, 227. - - West, Benjamin, 103, 120. - - Wharton, Joseph, Sr., 30-32. - - Wharton, Mayor Robert, 118. - - Wharton, Thomas Isaac, 173. - - White, Bishop, 119, 120, 214. - - White, Nancy, 42. - - Wilcocks, Alexander, 214. - - Willing, Abby, 215. - - Willing, Elizabeth, 225. - - Willing, Mrs. Charles, 201. - - Willing, Mrs. Thomas, 211. - - Wistar, Dr. Caspar, 117, 129, 149, 157, 159, 161. - - Wistar, Mrs. Caspar, 150. - - Wistar, Kitty, 67. - - Wistar Parties, 147-176. - - Wister, Sally, 9, 14, 199. - - Wolcott, Miss, 226. - - Wood, Dr. George B., 174. - - Wrottesley, John, 49. - - Wüster, Katerina, 157. - - - Y. - - Yates, Chief Justice, 83. - - -[Illustration: THE END] - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - -Obvious errors in punctuation have been corrected. - -Page 31: “entered the oom” corrected to “entered the room” - -Page 42: “Miss Achmuty’s honor” changed to “Miss Auchmuty’s honor” - -Page 47: “Major Gywnne rode in” changed to “Major Gwynne rode in” - -Page 66: “removal of her household gods” changed to “removal of her -household goods” - -Page 81: In the footnote, “Diary of Ewala” changed to “Diary of Ewald” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -.xbig {font-size: 2em;} -.big {font-size: 1.2em;} -.small {font-size: 0.8em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Through Colonial Doorways, by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Through Colonial Doorways</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Anne Hollingsworth Wharton</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 6, 2022 [eBook #67788]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS ***</div> - - - - -<h1>THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS</h1> - -<p class="center"> SEVENTEENTH EDITION -</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img001"> - <img src="images/001.jpg" class="w50" alt="One woman greeting another woman on the doorstep" /> -</span></p> - -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="cover"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" class="w50" alt="Through Colonial Doorways by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton" /> -</span></p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="center xbig">THROUGH<br />COLONIAL<br />DOORWAYS</p> - -<p class="center big p2"> BY<br /> - ANNE HOLLINGSWORTH <br /> - WHARTON</p> - -<p class="center p2"> PHILADELPHIA<br /> - J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY<br /> - MDCCCC -</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center p4 small"> <span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1893,<br /> - BY<br /> - <span class="smcap">J. B. Lippincott Company</span>.</p> - - -<p class="center p4"> <span class="smcap">Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia</span> -</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center small p4"> TO THE MEMORY OF</p> - -<p class="center big"> MARGARET N. CARTER,</p> - -<p class="center"> WHOSE LIVING AND LOVING PRESENCE WAS AN INSPIRATION - DURING THE PREPARATION OF THESE - CHAPTERS, AND WHOSE SKETCHES ARE - AMONG THOSE THAT ADORN ITS PAGES,</p> - -<p class="center"> THIS LITTLE VOLUME</p> - -<p class="center small"> IS</p> - -<p class="center">Dedicated. -</p></div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE"><span class="hide">PREFACE</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img002"> - <img src="images/002.jpg" class="w25" alt="Preface" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The revival of interest in Colonial and Revolutionary times has become -a marked feature of the life of to-day. Its manifestations are to be -found in the literature which has grown up around these periods, and -in the painstaking individual research being made among documents and -records of the past with genealogical and historical intent.</p> - -<p>Not only has a desire been shown to learn more of the great events of -the last century, but with it has come an altogether natural curiosity -to gain some insight into the social and domestic life of Colonial -days. To read of councils, congresses, and battles is not enough: men -and women wish to know something more intimate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span> and personal of the -life of the past, of how their ancestors lived and loved as well of how -they wrought, suffered, and died.</p> - -<p>With some thought of gratifying this desire, by sounding the heavy -brass knocker, and inviting the reader to enter with us through the -broad doorways of some Colonial homes into the hospitable life within, -have these pages been written.</p> - -<p>For original material placed at my disposal, in the form of letters and -manuscripts, I am indebted to numerous friends, among these to Mrs. -Oliver Hopkinson, the Misses Sharples, Miss Anna E. Peale, Miss F. -A. Logan, Mrs. Edward Wetherill, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> C. R. Hildeburn, and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Edward -Shippen.</p> - -<p>To the Editors of the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, the <i>Lippincott’s -Magazine</i>, and the <i>Philadelphia Ledger</i> and <i>Times</i>, I -wish to express my appreciation of their courtesy in allowing me to use -in some of these chapters material to which they first gave place in -their columns.</p> - -<p class="right"> -A. H. W.<br /> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Philadelphia</span>, March, 1893.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="r5" /> -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#THROUGH_COLONIAL_DOORWAYS">THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_7">7</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#The_Meschianza">THE MESCHIANZA</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_23">23</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#New_York_Balls_Receptions">NEW YORK BALLS AND RECEPTIONS</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_65">65</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#THE_American_Philosophical_Society">THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_97">97</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#THE_WISTAR_PARTIES">THE WISTAR PARTIES</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_147">147</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#A_BUNDLE_OF_OLD_LOVE_LETTERS">A BUNDLE OF OLD LOVE LETTERS</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_177">177</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#ASSEMBLIES">THE PHILADELPHIA DANCING ASSEMBLIES</a> -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Page_197">197</a> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> -</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THROUGH_COLONIAL_DOORWAYS"><span class="hide">THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img003"> - <img src="images/003.jpg" class="w50" alt="THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_t.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">The</span> historian of the past has, as a rule, been pleased to treat with -dignified silence the lighter side of Colonial life, allowing the -procession of noble men and fair women to sweep on, grand, stately, -and imposing, but lacking the softer touches that belong to social and -domestic life. So much has been written and said of the stern virtues -of the fathers and mothers of the Republic, and of their sacrifices, -privations, and heroism, that we of this generation would be in danger -of regarding them as types of excellence to be placed upon pedestals, -rather than as men and women to be loved with human affection, were -it not for some old letter, or diary, or anecdote that floats down to -us from the past, revealing the touch of nature that makes them our -kinsfolk by the bond of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> sympathy and interest, of taste and habit, as -well as by that of blood.</p> - -<p>The dignified Washington becomes to us a more approachable personality -when, in a letter written by Mrs. John M. Bowers, we read that when -she was a child of six he dandled her on his knee and sang to her -about “the old, old man and the old, old woman who lived in the -vinegar-bottle together,” or when we come across a facetious letter -of his own in which the general tells how his cook was “sometimes -minded to cut a figure,” notably, when ladies were entertained at camp, -and would, on such occasions, add to the ordinary roast and greens a -beefsteak pie or a dish of crabs, which left only six feet of space -between the different dishes instead of twelve; or again, when General -Greene writes from Middlebrook, “We had a little dance at my quarters. -His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards of three hours without -once sitting down. Upon the whole we had a pretty little frisk.”</p> - -<p>We are not accustomed to associate minuets and “pretty frisks” with the -stern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> realities of Revolutionary days, yet as brief mention of them -comes down to us, they serve to light up the background of that rugged -picture, as when Miss Sally Wister tells, in her sprightly journal, of -the tricks played by herself and a bevy of gay girls upon the young -officers quartered in the old Foulke mansion, at Penllyn, soon after -the battle of Brandywine. Miss Wister’s confidences are addressed to -Miss Deborah Norris, afterwards the learned Mrs. George Logan, and the -principal actors in the century-old drama are the lively Miss Sally, -who dubs herself “Thy smart journalizer,” and Major Stoddert from -Maryland, who in the first scenes plays a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> somewhat similar -to that of Young Marlow, but later develops attractions of mind and -character that Miss Sally finds simply irresistible. She considers him -both “good natur’d and good humor’d,” and evinces a fine discrimination -in defining the application of these terms, which shows that a Quaker -maiden in love may still retain a modicum of the clear-headedness which -is one of the distinguishing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> characteristics of her sect. The cousinly -allusions to “chicken-hearted Liddy”—Miss Liddy Foulke, later known -as Mrs. John Spencer—and her numerous admirers are very interesting. -When Miss Sally, who is evidently reducing the heart of the gallant -major to “ashes of Sodom,” naively remarks, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à propos</i> of Liddy’s -conquests, “When will Sally’s admirers appear? Ah! that, indeed. Why, -Sally has not charms sufficient to pierce the heart of a soldier. But -still I won’t despair. Who knows what mischief I yet may do?” we feel -that maidens’ hearts in 1777 were made on much the same plan that they -are nowadays, and that even to so rare a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">confidante</i> as Miss -Deborah Norris the whole was not revealed.</p> - -<p>Through such old chroniclers or letter-writers we sometimes meet the -great ladies of the past at ball or dinner, or, better still, in the -informal intercourse of their own homes, and catch glimpses of their -husbands and lovers, the warriors, statesmen, and philosophers of the -time, at some social club, like the Hasty Pudding of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> Cambridge, the -State in Schuylkill or the Wistar Parties of Philadelphia, or the -Tuesday Club and the Delphian in Baltimore. Meeting them thus, enjoying -witticisms and good cheer in one another’s excellent company, we feel -a closer bond between their life and our own than if they were always -presented to us in public ceremonial or with pen and folio in hand. -When we read of Judge Peters crying out good-humoredly, as he pushed -his way between a fat and a slim man who blocked up a doorway, “Here -I go through thick and thin;” or when we think of the signers of the -Declaration, gathered together in the old State House on that memorable -July day of 1776, illuminating the solemnity of the occasion by jokes, -even as grim ones as those of Hancock and Franklin and Gerry, we are -conscious of a sense of comradeship inspired more by the mirth and -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonhomie</i> than by the heroism of these men, who labored yesterday -that we might laugh to-day. The great John Adams, who with all his -greatness was not a universal favorite among his contemporaries,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> -comes down to us irradiated with a nimbus of amiability, in a picture -that his wife draws of him, submitting to be driven about the room -with a willow stick by one of his small grandchildren; and when Mrs. -Bache begs her “dear papa” not to reprimand her so severely for -desiring a little finery, in which to appear at the Ambassador’s and -when she “goes abroad with the Washingtons,” because he is the last -person to wish to see her “dressed with singularity, or in a way that -will not do credit to her father and her husband,” we can fancy <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Franklin’s grave features relaxing in a smile over the daughter’s -diplomacy, inherited from no stranger. The wedding of President -Madison to the pretty Widow Todd seems more real to us when we learn -from eye-witnesses of the various festivities that illuminated the -occasion, and of how the girls vied with one another in obtaining -mementos of the evening, cutting in bits the Mechlin lace that adorned -the groom’s delicate shirt-ruffles, and showering the happy pair with -rice when they drove off to Montpelier,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> old <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Madison’s estate in -Virginia. Through it all, we can hear Mrs. Washington’s earnest voice -assuring “Dolly” that she and General Washington approve of the match, -and that even if <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Madison is twenty years older than herself, he -will still make her a good husband. That this sensible advice from -the stately matron should have made the girl-widow blush and run away -does not surprise us, for, while acknowledging to an immense respect -for Mrs. Washington, in consequence not only of her position, but of -the dignity and serenity of her character, we are always conscious -of a feeling of restraint in her presence, which she makes no effort -to overcome by word or smile. We cannot imagine ourselves spending a -pleasant evening with her, discussing events of the day, or the last -engagement or ball, as we can with Mrs. John Adams, Mrs. John Jay, -or sprightly Mrs. Bache. We confess to the same emotions with regard -to Mrs. Robert Morris, whose character stands out, like that of her -intimate friend Mrs. Washington, surrounded by a halo of excellence.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -Is this the fault of these worthy ladies, or is it that of their -biographers, who, in presenting them to the world with all the lofty -virtues of Roman matrons, have added no lighter touches to their -pictures? In vain we search for some shred of gayety, or mirth, or -enthusiasm, on their part, and in sheer desperation back out of their -presence with a stately courtesy, and take refuge with Rebecca Franks, -or Sally Wister, or Eliza Southgate, with whom we are always sure of -passing a merry half-hour. Nor is it frivolity and merry-making that -we look for in the records of the past: it is life, with its high -hopes and homely cares, its simple pleasures and small gayeties, that -served to relieve the tension of earnest endeavor needed to accomplish -a great and difficult task. Mrs. Adams’s letters about her children, -her household economies, and her experiments in farming are almost as -interesting as those written from abroad, because she approaches all -subjects, even the most commonplace, with a buoyant spirit and playful -fancy. To her husband,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> during one of his long absences from home, she -writes, “I am a mortal enemy to anything but a cheerful countenance -and a merry heart, which, Solomon tells us, does good like medicine.” -And again, “I could give you a long list of domestic affairs, but -they would only serve to embarrass you and in noways relieve me. All -domestic pleasures are absorbed in the great and important duty you -owe your country, ‘for our country is, as it were, a secondary god, -and the first and greatest parent. It is to be preferred to parents, -wives, children, friends, and all things,—the gods only excepted.’” It -is not strange that to such a wife John Adams should have written, “By -the accounts in your last letter, it seems the women in Boston begin -to think themselves able to serve their country. What a pity it is -that our generals in the northern districts had not Aspasias to their -wives! I believe the two Howes have not very great women for wives. If -they had, we should suffer more from their exertions than we do. This -is our good fortune. A woman of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> sense would not let her husband spend -five weeks at sea in such a season of the year. A smart wife would have -put Howe in possession of Philadelphia a long time ago.” It is evident -that <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Adams did not need to be won over to any modern theories -with regard to the higher education of women, and, as a relief to the -sterner side of the picture, we find the wife who penned such wise -and inspiriting words to her husband entering on other occasions with -the delight of a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mondaine</i> into a court or republican function, -describing the gowns of the women, their faces and their manners, with -the minuteness and accuracy of a Parisian. Was there ever anything -written more spirited than Mrs. Adams’s description of Madame Helvetius -at Passy, throwing her arms about the neck of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ce cher Franklin</i>? -or her picture of Queen Charlotte and the royal princesses, for whom -her admiration was of the scantest? With far different touches was it -her pleasure to describe some of the American beauties abroad, for -Mrs. Adams was always a true daughter of New England, and we can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> -read between the lines when she writes of Madame Helvetius’s singular -manners, “I should have been greatly astonished at this conduct if the -good Doctor [Franklin] had not told me that in this lady I should see -a genuine Frenchwoman, wholly free from affectation or stiffness of -behavior.”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<p>Pleasant it is, and not wholly unprofitable to the student of life and -manners, to look into the family room of some Colonial mansion, to hear -girlish laughter and raillery about balls and beaux in one corner, -while in another the father of the family writes of his aspirations -for the nation in which his hopes for his children are bound up, and -the mother, looking over his shoulder, sympathizes with his patriotic -and fatherly ambitions, while she turns over in her brain, for the -hundredth time, the important question of how she and Nancy are to make -a respectable appearance at the next Assembly ball, when silks, laces, -and feathers are so very dear,—worth their weight in gold, as Mrs. -Bache <span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> tells us. It is such touches of life as these that we find in the -diaries of Sarah Eve, who was living in Philadelphia in 1772, of Eliza -Southgate of Scarborough, and of Elizabeth Drinker; in Mrs. Grant’s -pictures of New York and Albany life, in which Madame Philip Schuyler -is the central figure; or in such letters as those of Thomas Jefferson -to his family, of Mrs. Bache, Miss Franks, Lady Cathcart, and Mrs. John -Morgan. The latter gives us charming glimpses of Cambridge society in -1776, and tells of dinners, tea-drinking, and reviews in company with -the Mifflins, Roberdeaus, and others, of handsome officers and pretty -girls. Of one of the latter she speaks, in a letter to her mother, in a -manner which reveals her own loveliness of character quite as clearly -as it does the external charms of the beauty whom all the world and -her own husband admire. “The one that drew every one’s attention,” -she writes, “was the famous Jersey beauty, Miss Keyes, who is now on -a visit to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Roberdeau. She may justly be said to be fairest where -thousands are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> fair. I have had an opportunity of seeing her, and think -her a most beautiful creature, and what makes her still more engaging -is her not betraying the least consciousness of her own perfections. -I am, it seems, a most violent favorite with her; she is to dine here -to-morrow. You will wonder, perhaps, how this great intimacy took -place, but you must know she has been indisposed since her coming to -town, and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Morgan had the honor of attending her,—you know what an -admirer of beauty he is; the rest followed, of course.”</p> - -<p>In a different vein, but no less piquant, are Lady Cathcart’s remarks -on London personages and functions, in the midst of which her thoughts -fly back to her relatives and friends in America. One moment she is -describing the “Queen’s Birthnight Ball,” and the next is sending Mrs. -Jauncey a picture of her son with “Six Curles of a Side,” or commenting -upon Betty Shipton’s marriage to Major Giles, adding, “I am sure I -never believed her, last winter, when she used to talk so much about -him.”</p> - -<p>There being many old letters and diaries<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> still unread and unpublished, -it seems a task not unworthy of the later historian to gather -together such records, in order to present to this generation more -characteristic pictures of their grandfathers and grandmothers, drawn -with a freer hand and touched with the familiar light of every-day -intercourse. One young girl of the present time was strongly attracted -towards her own great-grandmother by reading a letter written by her to -her mother in Newport, asking her to send her from thence “a sprigged -muslin petticoat, and the making of an apron such as all the girls -are wearing.” A rather more modest request, this, than that of Miss -Eliza Southgate, who begged her mother for five dollars with which -to purchase a wig for the next Assembly, because Eleanor Coffin had -one, and it was quite impossible “to dress her hair stylish without -it.” Placed thus in touch with her great-grandmother’s longings and -aspirations, which flowed in the same frivolous channel as her own, -this young descendant suddenly realized that they two were of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> one -flesh and blood, and gathering and piecing together all that could -be learned from older members of the family of this lady of the last -century, she has become the heroine of romance so thrilling and so -sweet, that the girl of to-day may be said to entertain for her unknown -ancestress a more than ordinary affection.</p> - -<p>The records that have come down to us are, after all, only a few out -of the great mass written. Many, perhaps equally interesting, have -in some garret fallen a prey to mould, decay, and the book-lizard; -or have found their way to the fireplace, impelled thither by some -family iconoclast possessed with a rage for clearing up; or, still -more ignoble fate, have been torn up for curl-papers! A narrator of -veracity tells how a bevy of gay young girls, gathered together in the -roomy old Hopkinson house in Bordentown, appropriated some letters -found in the garret to this purpose, and lighting on some interesting -passages, amused themselves by reading them aloud at what Macaulay -names the “curling hour.” Reports of these nocturnal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> revels being -carried down-stairs, a member of the family interested herself in the -preservation of the letters, which proved an historical treasure-trove. -Such treasure-troves will be less likely to be discovered as the years -go on, and those who would find love-letters like Esther Wynn’s, under -the cellar stairs, had better set about looking for them before mould -and dampness have utterly obliterated the characters traced in the -long-ago.</p> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img004"> - <img src="images/004.jpg" class="w25" alt="Covered porch with plants" /> -</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Letters of Mrs. John Adams, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 253.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p> - - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Meschianza"><span class="hide">The Meschianza</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img005"> - <img src="images/005.jpg" class="w50" alt="The Meschianza" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“<i>Mars, conquest plumed, the Cyprian queen disarms:</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>And victors, vanquished, yield to Beauty’s charms.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Here then the laurel, here the palm we yield,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>And all the trophies of the tilted field;</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Here Whites and Blacks, with blended homage, pay</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>To each device the honors of the day.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Hard were the task and impious to decide,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Where all are fairest, which the fairer side.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Enough for us if by such sports we strove</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>To grace this feast of military love</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>And, joining in the wish of every heart,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Honor’d the friend and leader ere we part.</i>”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p class="ml p0"> -<i>From the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1778.</i><br /> -</p> - - -<p>If we could by any means turn back, for a moment, to certain May -days more than a hundred years ago, and enter one of the stately old -Philadelphia mansions in the eastern portion of our city, then the -court end of the town, what a gay scene would meet our eyes! Fair -ladies gathered in the spacious rooms, in their quaint but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> becoming -old-time dress, bending over brocades, laces, and ribbons, busied -in consulting upon and improvising ravishing costumes, in which to -grace the splendid <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i> to be given to General Sir William -Howe, by the officers of the British army, previous to his departure -for England. This army then held possession of Penn’s “faire greene -country towne,” and had been busy during the past winter, in lieu of -more warlike employment, in introducing among its inhabitants many of -the amusements, follies, and vices of Old World courts. The Quaker -City had, at the pleasure of her conqueror, doffed her sober drab and -appeared in festal array; for, like the Babylonian victors of old, they -that wasted her required of her mirth. The best that the city afforded -was at the disposal of the enemy, who seem to have spent their days in -feasting and merry-making, while Washington and his army endured all -the hardships of the severe winter of 1777-78 upon the bleak hillsides -of Valley Forge. Dancing assemblies, theatrical entertainments, and -various<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> gayeties marked the advent of the British in Philadelphia, -all of which formed a fitting prelude to the full-blown glories of -the Meschianza, which burst upon the admiring inhabitants on that -last-century May day.</p> - -<p>It must be remembered, in looking back upon these times, that most -of our aristocratic citizens were descended from old English stock, -and, with an inherent loyalty to the monarchy under which they had -prospered, were still content to avow themselves subjects of King -George, or, as Graydon puts it, “stuck to their ease and Madeira,” -declaring themselves neutral, which rendered the lessons taught by -these gay, pleasure-loving British officers easy ones, learned with -few grimaces. Thus, although there were many sober Friends who cast -indignant side-glances at the elaborate preparations in progress for -this brilliant <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i>, and many hearts which beat in sympathy with -the patriot cause and could ill brook the thought of such frivolity in -the midst of the stern realities of war, there was still a large class -which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> entered with spirit into a festivity which was openly denounced -by British journals of the day as ill-timed and absurd, given, as it -was, in honor of a commander whose errors had well-nigh cost him his -cause, and who was severely censured for these months of inactivity -and trifling which his officers now proceeded to commemorate. Howe -was, notwithstanding his faults and failures, sincerely beloved by -his officers, who resolved to give him this entertainment that, as -they phrased it, their “sentiments might be more universally and -unequivocally known.”</p> - -<p>Major André, who took a leading part in the preparations for the -Meschianza, composed some verses in Sir William’s praise, to be -repeated during the pageant; but, with a modesty that has not always -been attributed to him, he set them aside. The last stanza of this -strain proves to us how readily this child of monarchy, poet though he -was, had learned to cry, “The King is dead. Long live the King!” Howe -being at this very time superseded by Clinton, André writes:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“On Hudson’s banks the sure presage we read,—</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of other triumphs to our arms decreed:</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor fear but equal honors shall repay</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each hardy deed where Clinton leads the way.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>André indulged in some bold flights of fancy in these verses, such as -the following:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Veterans appeared who never knew to yield</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Howe and glory led them to the field.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Which are in sharp contrast with the effusions of a Jerseyman of the -time, who, with more truth and less sentiment, wrote:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Threat’ning to drive us from the hill,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sir William marched to attack our men,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But finding that we all stood still,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sir William he—marched back again.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>The day appointed for the Meschianza was the 18th of May. Cards of -invitation were sent out and tickets of admission given. The latter are -thus described by a Whig lady: “On the top is the crest of the Howe -arms, with <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vive vale</i> (live and farewell). To the sun setting in -the sea the other motto refers, and bears this translation:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> ‘He shines -as he sets, but shall rise again more luminous.’ General Howe being -recalled is the setting sun; while ploughing the ocean he is obscured, -but shall, on his return, and giving an account of his heroic deeds, -rise again with redoubled lustre. The wreath of laurel encompassing the -whole, encircling the arms, completes, I think, the burlesque.”</p> - -<p>The names by which this <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i> is known, Meschianza and -Mischianza, are derived from two Italian words,—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mescere</i>, to -mix, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mischiare</i>, to mingle. Thus the entertainment, so -varied in its nature, has been named a mixture and a medley with equal -propriety. We have adopted the spelling of the original invitations, -one of which lies before us, and reads thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The Favor of your meeting the Subscribers to the Meschianza at -Knight’s Wharf, near Pool’s Bridge, to-morrow, at half-past three, is -Desired.</p> - -<p class="right"> -[Signed] <span class="smcap">Henry Calder</span>.</p> -<p> -Sunday, 17th May.<br /> -<span class="smcap">Miss Clifton.</span><br /> -</p> -</div> - -<p class="p2">Knight’s wharf was at the edge of Green Street, in the Northern -Liberties; Poole’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> bridge crossed Pegg’s Run at Front Street, and was -named after one Poole, a Friend, whose mansion lay quite near.</p> - -<p>It is curious to notice that this invitation to Miss Eleanor Clifton, -whose portrait proclaims her one of the beauties of the period, is -dated but one day in advance of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i>, which would lead us -to fear that this lady was tempted to commit the sin of sewing at -her ball-dress on a Sunday, like that unfortunate damsel of Queen -Elizabeth’s time whom Mrs. Jarley holds up as a waxen warning to -all Sabbath-breakers, had we not good reason to infer that a verbal -invitation had been given long before.</p> - -<p>The preparations for this magnificent entertainment, the erection of -the numerous and vast pavilions around the old Wharton mansion, and -their decoration by André, Delancey, and all the other gallant officers -who took part in the affair, were doubtless the talk of the town for -weeks. Yards and yards of painting must have been executed by the -indefatigable André, as the ceilings, sides, and decorations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> of the -long pavilions, designed for the supper- and ball-rooms, were to a -great extent the work of his hands. Here he used unsparingly the pencil -that had made its virgin essay on the features of lovely, unrequiting -Honora Sneyd, lingering, with true artistic fervor, over festoons of -roses and bouquets of drooping flowers.</p> - -<p>The owner of this property was dubbed by his contemporaries “Duke -Wharton,” in consequence of the extreme haughtiness of his bearing and, -it is said, from the following circumstance: “One winter’s day, when -the sidewalks were rendered dangerously slippery from the accumulated -ice upon them, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Wharton, while attempting to make his usual -dignified progress over the uncertain footing, was suddenly tripped up, -and would have measured his length upon the pavement, had not a jovial -Hibernian, passing at the moment, stretched forth a friendly hand to -his aid, crying out, ‘God save my Lord the Duke!’” Another amusing -passage of compliments, this time with Sir William Draper, is related -by Graydon: “Sir William, observing that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Wharton entered the -room hat in hand, and remained uncovered, begged, as it was contrary -to the custom of his Society to do so, that the Quaker gentleman -would dispense with this unnecessary mark of respect. But the ‘Duke,’ -feeling his pride piqued at the supposition that he would uncover to -Sir William or any other man, replied, with entire <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sang-froid</i>, -that he had uncovered for his own comfort, the day being warm, and -that whenever he found it convenient he would resume his hat.” These -and other stories, all indicating a pride that seems to have been -considered commendable in those days, repeated with embellishments, -doubtless added to the merriment of many convivial after-dinner -gatherings, and passing from mouth to mouth, served to establish the -reputation and title of this old Quaker gentleman, whose death occurred -more than a year previous to the British occupation of Philadelphia.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> -The fact that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> Walnut Grove was a country-seat, and in all probability -used by the Wharton family only during the summer months, may account -for the British officers having entire possession of the premises in -the spring of ’78, while its size and situation made it an appropriate -place in which to hold their revels. Surrounded by broad lawns and -lofty trees, situated at some distance west of the Delaware River, at -what is now Fifth Street near Washington Avenue, Walnut Grove was then -considered quite a rural residence. It has long since disappeared, the -encroaching streets of a busy city having rendered almost traditional -the theatre of this gay and brilliant scene, although there were those -still living, on the anniversary of the festival in 1878, who recalled -the old brick house as it stood in Colonial times, and one who slid -down the balusters of the stairway in boyish frolic, with never a -thought of all the gay and gallant throng which once passed over the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> stairs and down the broad hall to the sound of music, merry jests, -courtly compliments, and rippling laughter.</p> - -<p>It is said that there were not many ladies with the British officers -in Philadelphia, most of them having left their wives in New York; -so, there being few authorities to consult about the prevailing -fashions at the court of the beautiful Austrian or the less beautiful -Queen Charlotte, our young ladies were forced to rely upon their own -ingenuity in the arrangement of their toilets. Those chosen to be -knights’ ladies were assisted by the taste and skill of André, whose -water-color design for the costume of the ladies of the Blended Rose -is still preserved, representing a curious combination of Oriental and -Parisian styles, its flowing tunic over full Turkish trousers being -topped by the high <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coiffure</i> of the day. Miss Peggy Shippen’s -portrait<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> represents her in this head-dress, and in a letter written -to her in August, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>1779, André playfully alludes to his millinery experience gained during -preparations for the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“You know the Mesquianza made me a complete milliner. Should you -not have received supplies for your fullest equipment from that -department, I shall be glad to enter into the whole details of -cap-wire, needles, gauze, &c., and, to the best of my abilities, -render you in these trifles services from which I hope you would infer -a zeal to be further employed.”</p> -</div> - -<p>A rash offer, it seems to us, for what knight, be he never so bold, -would be willing to enter into all the intricacies and mysteries of a -modern feminine toilet? And those of the days of powder, patch, and -high befeathered <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coiffure</i> were certainly not less bewildering to -the minds of the uninitiated.</p> - -<p>Although from various sources we learn that André took an active part -in the preparations for the Meschianza, out of doors as well as among -laces and silks in fair ladies’ boudoirs, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Sargent tells us that -Burgoyne<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> was the conductor of the elegant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> affair, which was on the -plan of a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête champêtre</i> given by Lord Derby, June, 1774, on -the occasion of Lord Stanley’s marriage with the Duke of Hamilton’s -daughter. Only about fifty young Philadelphia ladies were present at -the Meschianza; but if we are to credit history and the gossip of the -day, the destruction wrought by their charms upon the hearts of the -British officers must have been equal to that to have been expected -from twice their number, for all authorities unite in telling us that -the ladies of this city were justly celebrated for their beauty, of a -certain grand and noble type. Watson says that most of the American -gentlemen who took part in the Meschianza were <span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> “aged non-combatants,” the young men of the city being Whigs, and -generally, be it said to their credit, with Washington’s army at Valley -Forge.</p> - -<p>There seems to be no doubt that a number of Whig ladies graced this -entertainment, and one of them, herself, describes the affair in -glowing colors. What shall we say for the erring fair ones? That they -were young, beautiful, anxious to see and perhaps to be seen. Shall -we, standing amid the lights and shadows of another century, be severe -in our judgment upon these fair, curious Eves of a hundred years ago? -They had read of grand doings among court ladies and gentlemen in -the exaggerated and stilted romances of the day, until their foolish -hearts were in an eager flutter of anticipation and delight. The whole -town was talking about the projected <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i>; the young officers -were constantly passing to and fro busied with the arrangements; so -grand a sight might never again dawn upon the Philadelphia world. Thus -reasoning, and dropping the while a tear for the braves at Valley<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> -Forge, these inconsistent Whig ladies yielded.</p> - -<p>From the windows of some dwellings belonging to Friends—opposed in -principle to such scenes of gayety and dissipation—eyes as eager -as any looked forth upon the busy scene of preparation, like doves -from behind imprisoning bars. Sweet young Quakeresses, gentle-eyed -as the dove and gentle-voiced, that gay land of enchantment down the -river—a seeming Elysium—is not for you! How they must have longed to -go—sitting by the fireside, like so many Cinderellas, watching their -happy sisters start off bravely attired to the ball! To them, alas! -came no fairy godmother, so they reluctantly folded their soft wings -and stayed at home.</p> - -<p>In a little, old, commonplace-book found in a house in Southwark, and -now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, among -extracts from various authors—some in English, some in Latin, proving -the unknown writer to have been a person of taste and culture—is -a description of the Meschianza penned by an eyewitness.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> With the -exception of the well-known account of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i> given by Major -André in a letter to a friend in England, this is the most detailed -recital that we have encountered. Opening the yellowed pages, we read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Agreeable to an invitation of the managers of the Meschianza, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> M., -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> F., and myself went up about four o’clock in the afternoon, in -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> F.’s Coach, to Knight’s wharf, where we found most of the company -in the Boats. Some of these were on the water in the galley with Lord -Howe, among them Mrs. Chew, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Worrell, Mrs. Coxe, -Miss Chew, Miss Auchmuty, Miss Redman, Miss Franks, &c., General Howe, -Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Rawdon, &c.; and General Knyphausen and his -attendants were in another Galley. We continued waiting on the water -for the rest of the company near half an Hour, when, a Signal being -given from the ‘Vigilant,’ we began to move in three divisions, a -Galley and ten flatboats in each division. In the first was General -Knyphausen, &c., in the third British and German officers, and in the -middle, Lord General Howe, &c.—with three Barges, in each of which -were bands of music playing.”</p> -</div> - -<p>A lady in Philadelphia at this time who attended the Meschianza, -although she declares herself a noted Whig, thus describes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> this -portion of the entertainment in a letter addressed to Mrs. Colonel -Theodorick Bland, in Virginia:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“On the back of the ticket, you observe, we are to attend at Knight’s -wharf (you remember Pool’s bridge near Kensington). Thither we -accordingly repaired in carriages at the appointed hour of three, -where we found a vast number of boats, barges, and galleys to receive -us, all adorned with small colors or jacks of different colors. On a -signal from the ‘Vigilant’ we all embarked, forming lines, with all -the music belonging to the army in the centre. The ladies interspersed -in the different boats (the seats of which were covered with green -cloth) with the red coats, colors flying, music playing, etc., you may -easily suppose formed a very gay and grand appearance; nor were the -shore and houses, lined with spectators, any bad object to those in -the regatta (the water party so called). We were obliged to row gently -on account of the galley sailing slow.</p> - -<p>“The armed ship—the ‘Fanny’—was drawn into the stream and decorated -in the most beautiful manner with the colors of every Court or State -streaming; amidst the number, the thirteen stripes waved with as much -elegance, and as gracefully sported with the gentle zephyrs, as any -of the number. After passing the above ship we reached the ‘Roebuck,’ -whose men were all fixed on her yards and gave us three cheers as we -passed, and as soon as we had got to a distance not to be incommoded -by the smoke she fired a salute and was answered by several other -vessels in the harbor. At length we reached the place of destination -(after lying awhile on our oars)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> opposite the ‘Roebuck,’ the music -playing ‘God Save the King.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>The regatta which headed the programme of the Meschianza was suggested -by a similar pageant on the Thames, June 23, 1775, and, being a -novelty even in old England, it is not strange that it should have set -provincial Philadelphia astir, nor that six barges were needed to keep -at a distance the numerous boats, filled with eager spectators, that -crowded the Delaware on the day of the entertainment, when:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“There in the broad, clear afternoon,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With myriad oars, and all in tune,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A swarm of barges moved away</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In all their grand regatta pride.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>We doubt whether those who disapproved of the whole affair—the -Quakers, Whigs, and many sensible Tories—could forbear casting furtive -glances toward that fairy procession, which, Read says,—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Like tropic isles of flowery light,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unmoored by some enchanter’s might,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O’erflowed with music, floated down</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Before the wharf-assembled town.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p> - -<p>Thus this gay and brilliant fleet proceeded down the river with flying -colors, while the band played stirring English airs, amid the soft -breezes and under the perfect skies of an old-time May day, until they -arrived opposite the scene of the festivity, where everything was in -readiness for joust and revelry. Salutes were fired by the “Roebuck” -as soon as General Howe stepped on shore, which were echoed by the -“Vigilant” and several smaller vessels up and down the river.</p> - -<p>“The fleet at the wharves,” says our journalist, “consisting of -about three hundred sail, adorned with colors, and together with the -procession, exhibited a very grand and pleasing appearance.” Very -grand it must have been to see those knights, ladies, and officers, in -their rich costumes, leaving behind them the gay scene on the river, -and walking between two files of grenadiers up the avenue toward the -house! The bravest display of the kind that the New World could afford, -for Philadelphia then excelled all the other Colonial cities in size, -culture, and importance; and here, beside<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> the flower of the English -army, were met some of the most beautiful women of the day.</p> - -<p>Passing up this avenue, the company entered a lawn, four hundred -yards on every side, where all was prepared for the exhibition of a -tournament according to the laws of ancient chivalry. Here were two -pavilions, with rows of benches rising one above the other; on the -front row of each were placed seven of the principal young ladies -of the county, arrayed in white Poland dresses of Mantua with long -sleeves, a gauze turban spangled, and sashes round the waist. Seven -of them wore pink sashes with silver spangles, and the others white -with gold spangles. All bore in their turbans favors destined for -their respective knights. Those who wore pink and white were called -the Ladies of the Blended Rose, and were Miss Auchmuty, Miss Peggy -Chew, Miss Janet Craig, Miss Nancy Redman, Miss Nancy White, Miss -Williamina Bond, and Miss Shippen. Lord Cathcart, who led the Knights -of the Blended Rose in Miss Auchmuty’s honor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> appeared upon a superb -charger. Two young black slaves, with sashes of blue and white silk, -wearing large silver clasps round their necks and arms, their breasts -and shoulders bare, held his stirrups. On his right hand walked Captain -Hazard, and on his left Captain Brownlow, his two esquires, the one -bearing his lance, the other his shield. His device was Cupid riding on -a Lion; the motto, “Surmounted by Love.”</p> - -<p>The Ladies of the Burning Mountain, whose dress was white and gold, -and whose chief was Captain Watson, superbly mounted, and arrayed in a -magnificent suit of black and orange silk, were Miss Rebecca Franks, in -whose honor Captain Watson appeared, with the motto “Love and Glory,” -Miss Sarah Shippen, Miss P. Shippen, Miss Becky Bond, Miss Becky -Redman, Miss Sally Chew, and Miss Williamina Smith.</p> - -<p>In all descriptions of the Meschianza related by eye-witnesses, the -Shippen sisters are spoken of as having taken a prominent part in the -entertainment. Only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> within a few years has a letter from a member of -the family controverted this statement, in the following terms:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The young ladies [the daughters of Chief Justice Edward Shippen] had -been invited and had arranged to go [to the Meschianza]; their names -were upon the programmes, and their dresses actually prepared; but -at the last moment their father was visited by some of his friends, -prominent members of the Society of Friends, who persuaded him that -it would be by no means seemly that his daughters should appear in -public in the Turkish dresses designed for the occasion. Consequently, -although they are said to have been in a <em>dancing</em> fury, they -were obliged to stay away. This same story has, I know, come down -independently through several branches of the family, and was told to -me repeatedly, the last time not more than two years ago, by an old -lady of the family, who was a niece of Mrs. Arnold and her sisters, -and who has since died.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> -</div> - -<p>Major André includes the Shippens in his description of the -entertainment printed in the <i>Gentleman’s Magazine</i> in August, -1778. The discrepancy between his statement and the family letters -can be accounted for only upon the supposition that,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> like the modern -reporter, André sent off his copy before the ball had taken place; or -perhaps the “dancing fury” of his daughters had such an effect upon the -Chief Justice that, at the last moment, the girls were allowed to go.</p> - -<p>Beautiful, brilliant, and fascinating, full of spirit and gayety, the -toast of the British officers, Miss Peggy Shippen seems so much a part -of the Meschianza that we incline to the latter theory, being almost -as unwilling to spare her and her sisters from the ranks of beauty as -were the gallant young officers who were prepared to do battle in their -honor.</p> - -<p>As soon as the fair ladies were seated upon the benches prepared for -them, the crowd on the left gave way, and the Knights of the Blended -Rose appeared mounted on white steeds elegantly caparisoned and covered -with white satin ornamented with pink roses. “These knights,” says -our journalist, “were dressed in white and pink satin, with hats of -pink silk, the brims of which were covered with white feathers. Each -knight had his squire on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> foot, dressed also in white and pink, with -the addition of a cloak of white silk. Every squire carried a spear and -shield, each of which had a different device and motto.”</p> - -<p>The knights, having all ridden around the lists and saluted the ladies, -sent their herald, with two trumpeters, to the Dulcineas with this -message: “The Knights of the Blended Rose, by me their herald, proclaim -and assert that the ladies of the Blended Rose excel in wit, beauty, -and every other accomplishment all other ladies in the world, and if -any knight or knights shall be so hardy as to deny this, they are -determined to support their assertion by deeds of arms, agreeable to -the laws of ancient chivalry.”</p> - -<p>The trumpets then sounded, and the herald returned to the knights, who -rode by, saluted the Dulcineas, and took their places on the left hand, -about one hundred yards distant.</p> - -<p>The crowd opening on the other side, a herald in orange and black, with -a picture of a burning mountain on his back, rode<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> forward to assure -the fair ones of the Burning Mountain that their claims to wit, beauty, -and all other charms, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">par excellence</i>, should be vindicated by -the knights whose colors they wore, “against the false and vainglorious -assertions of the Knights of the Blended Rose.”</p> - -<p>The field marshal, Major Gwynne, now gave the signal, upon which a -glove was thrown down by the chief of the White Knights, which was -picked up by the esquire of the chief of the Black Knights; the trumpet -sounded, and the fight was on, under the fire of many bright eyes from -the pavilions where the Queens of Beauty were seated.</p> - -<p>Lances were shivered, pistols fired, and finally, in the midst of -an engagement with broadswords, Major Gwynne rode in between the -combatants, declaring that the ladies were abundantly satisfied with -the proofs of valor and devotion displayed by their respective knights. -These fell back, and, joining their companies, passed on, the White -Knights to the left, the Black to the right, saluting their ladies -when they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> reached the pavilions, after which they passed through the -triumphal arch, in honor of Lord Howe, and ranged themselves on either -side. This arch was elegantly painted with naval ornaments. At the top -was a figure representing Neptune, with his trident and a ship. In the -interior were the attributes of that god. On each side of the arch was -placed a sailor, with his sword drawn. Lord Howe being an admiral in -the service, these emblems were most appropriate.</p> - -<p>The knights’ ladies passed under the arch after the knights, who -dismounted and joined them, all proceeding together along a broad -avenue, brilliantly decorated, to another arch of the same size and -elegance as the first, this in honor of Sir William Howe. “Upon passing -this second arch,” our journalist tells us, “we entered a beautiful -Flower-Garden and up a Gravel Court, ascended a flight of Steps which -conducted us into the House, at the door of which we were received by -the Managers of the Meschianza,—namely, Sir<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> John Wrottesley, Sir -Henry Calder, Colonel O’Hara, and Colonel Montrésor.” André mentions -the same, except that he substitutes Major Gardiner for Sir Henry -Calder.</p> - -<p>Two folding-doors were opened, and the company was ushered into a large -hall, brilliantly lighted, where tea, coffee, and cakes were served, -and where the knights upon bended knee received the favors due them -from their respective ladies. This scene must have been one of the most -graceful and charming of the whole pageant, and had it not been for -the remembrance of that dear Honora whose miniature he always wore, -André certainly could not have remained insensible to the manifold -attractions of Miss Peggy Chew, who now rewarded him for having -“perilled life and limb” in her service, and whose praises are thus -sung by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Joseph Shippen:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“With either Chew such beauties dwell,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Such charms by each are shared,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No critic’s judging eye can tell</span><br /> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which merits most regard.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“’Tis far beyond the painter’s skill</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To set their charms to view;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As far beyond the poet’s quill</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To give the praise that’s due.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Amid blushes, soft whisperings, and compliments such as the gentlemen -of that time were skilled in paying, the fair ones bestowed their -gracious favors; after which the company entered another hall, -elaborately decorated and hung with eighty-five mirrors, decked with -rose-pink silk ribbons and artificial flowers. In this ball-room, -whose walls were pale blue and rose-pink, with panels on which were -dropping festoons of flowers, “when the company was come up,” says our -authority, quaintly, “the Dulcineas danced first with the knights, and -then with the squires, and after them the rest of the company danced.”</p> - -<p>At half-past ten o’clock the windows were thrown open to enable the -guests to enjoy the magnificent fireworks on the lawn, when the -triumphal arch near the house appeared brilliantly illuminated, -Fame blowing from her trumpet these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> words: “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tes Lauriers sont -immortels</i>,”—meaning Sir William’s.</p> - -<p>About this time Captain Allan McLane, with a company of infantry and -Clow’s dragoons, was endeavoring to win for himself immortal laurels by -firing the abatis at the north of the city, which connected the line -of the British redoubts. When the flames reddened the sky the ladies, -doubtless, clapped their hands with delight, wondering at the beauty of -the illumination, which illusion was encouraged by the officers; and -later, when the roll-call was sounded along the line and the guns of -the redoubts fired, the guests were assured that this was all a part -of the celebration, and the dancing continued. Although McLane did not -succeed in breaking up the party, as he had hoped, he gave the British -officers a fright, which must have considerably marred the enjoyment of -the evening for them. The dragoons sent in pursuit of the incendiaries -did not succeed in overtaking them, as they found a refuge among the -hills of the Wissahickon.</p> - -<p>“After the fireworks the company returned,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> some to dancing and others -to a Faro-bank, which was opened by three German officers in one of -the Parlours. The Company continued dancing and playing until twelve -o’clock, when we were called to Supper, and two folding-doors at the -end of the hall being thrown open, we entered a room two hundred feet -long by forty wide. The Floor was covered with painted Canvas, and the -roof and sides adorned with paintings and ornamented with fifty large -mirrors. From the roof hung twelve Lustres, with twenty Spermaceti -candles in each. In this room were two Tables, reaching from one end -to the other. On the two tables were fifty large, elegant pyramids, -with Jellies, Syllabub, Cakes, and Sweetmeats.” Beside this there were -various substantials, soup being mentioned as the only viand served hot.</p> - -<p>Major André, after describing the decorations of this supper-room, says -that “there were four hundred and thirty covers, twelve hundred dishes, -and twenty-four black slaves in Oriental dresses, with silver collars -and bracelets, ranged in two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> lines, and bending to the ground as the -general and admiral approached the saloon; all these, forming together -the most brilliant assemblage of gay objects, and appearing at once as -we entered by an easy descent, exhibited a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup-d’œil</i> beyond -description magnificent.”</p> - -<p>Toward the end of supper, the herald of the Blended Rose, in his -habit of ceremony, attended by his trumpeters, entered the saloon -and proclaimed the King’s health, the Queen’s, and that of the royal -family. After the toast to the King, all the company rose and sang “God -Save the King,” which must have been a very trying moment to those Whig -ladies present, who through all the enjoyment of the day were doubtless -considerably pricked in their consciences. More loyal toasts followed, -to the army and navy, their commanders, and finally to the ladies and -their knights, the ladies’ toast being: “The Founder of the Feast.”</p> - -<p>We are pained to read that some of the gentlemen, among them one of -the same party as our quaint journalist, were so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> ungallant as to -remain at table, declaring their intention of devoting the night to -Bacchus,—alas for Venus! The guests did not disperse until dawn began -to redden the eastern sky, and some tarried until the sun was up.</p> - -<p>Here I cannot forbear transcribing some verses written by a lady—Miss -Hannah Griffitts—residing in Philadelphia at this time, in which, -though an ardent loyalist, she, as a member of the Society of Friends, -expressed her indignation against the whole affair. The poem is in -answer to the question, “What is it?” and the Quaker lady’s reply rings -forth with no uncertain sound.</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“A shameful scene of dissipation,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The death of sense and reputation;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A deep degeneracy of nature,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A frolic ‘for the lush of satire.’</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A feast of grandeur fit for kings,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Formed of the following empty things:</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ribbons and gewgaws, tints and tinsel,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To glow beneath the historic pencil;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(For what though reason now stands neuter,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How will it sparkle,—page the future?)</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heroes that will not bear inspection,</span><br /> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And glasses to affect reflection;</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Triumphant arches raised in blunders,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And true Don Quixotes made of wonders.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laurels, instead of weeping willows,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To crown the bacchanalian fellows;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sound of victory complete,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loudly re-echoed from defeat;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The fair of vanity profound,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A madman’s dance,—a lover’s round.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“In short, it’s one clear contradiction</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To every truth (except a fiction);</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Condemned by wisdom’s silver rules,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The blush of sense and gaze of fools.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“But recollection’s pained to know</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That ladies joined the frantic show;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When female prudence thus can fail,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It’s time the sex should wear the veil.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>So ended this afternoon and evening of brilliant and gorgeous -pageantry, resembling more nearly a chapter from one of the -richly-colored Eastern fairy-tales that delighted our childhood than -a story of Colonial days, which was speedily followed by the sober -realities of Sir William and Lord Howe’s return to England and by -Clinton’s evacuation of Philadelphia.</p> - -<p>It may be interesting to follow the fates<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> of those gay beauties who -held their brief, brilliant court through that spring afternoon, -especially so to that much maligned class who study the science of love -and courtship, crudely called match-makers.</p> - -<p>Strange as it may seem, none of the queens of the Meschianza married -their respective knights. Miss Janet Craig, whose knight was Lieutenant -Bygrove, and who has described the whole scene as one of enchantment to -her young mind, was never married.</p> - -<p>The chief lady of the Knights of the Blended Rose, although spoken of -frequently as an English girl, was the daughter of the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Samuel -Auchmuty, D.D., of Trinity Church, New York, a devoted loyalist. Miss -Auchmuty was with her brother-in-law, Captain Montrésor, chief engineer -of General Gage’s army at Boston, to whose skill the success of the -fireworks at the Meschianza was largely due.</p> - -<p>Williamina Smith, whose picture, with its bright eyes and tip-tilted -nose, lies before us, had for her knight Major Tarleton,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> who appeared -with the motto “Swift, vigilant, and bold.” He who was afterward -the terror of the South is described as a fine, soldierly fellow of -one-and-twenty, who, “when not riding races with Major Gwynne on the -commons,” spent his time in making love to the ladies. Miss Smith -became the wife of Charles Goldsborough, of Long Neck, Dorset County, -Maryland.</p> - -<p>The Misses Redman, so often mentioned among the belles of the time, -were nieces of the famous <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John Redman. Miss Rebecca, whose knight -was Monsieur Montluisant<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> (lieutenant of Hessian Chasseurs), with -the emblem a sunflower turning to the sun, her motto “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Je vise à -vous</i>,” is said to have been the Queen of the Meschianza, whom -Watson describes, many years later, as old and blind, “fast waning from -the things that be,” yet able to paint<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> in vivid colors the occurrences -of this day. She spoke of André as the life of the company. It is not -strange that this brave young officer and elegant and accomplished -gentleman, who added so much to the enjoyment of the loyalist ladies -of Philadelphia during the British occupation, should have been long -held by them in grateful remembrance. We know that he was on terms of -intimate friendship with one of these sisters, as it was for her he -wrote those tender, plaintive verses, commencing,—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Return, enraptured hours,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When Delia’s heart was mine;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When she with wreaths of flowers</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My temples would entwine.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>For her he cut silhouettes of mutual friends, and, on leaving the city, -severed one of the buttons of his coat, which he playfully presented to -her as a parting keepsake. Miss Rebecca Redman married Colonel Elisha -Lawrence in December, 1779.</p> - -<p>Miss Margaret Chew, in whose honor Major André appeared with the motto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> -“No rival,” was married on the ninth anniversary of the Meschianza to -Colonel John Eager Howard, of Maryland. The Howards of Belvidere are -a well-known Baltimore family, and this young man filled a prominent -place in the war of the Revolution. He was present at the battle of -White Plains, distinguished himself at Germantown, where so many of our -heroes strove in vain to turn the tide of battle, served under Gates -in the South, and at the battle of Cowpens decided the fortunes of the -day by a successful bayonet charge. At one time, it is said, he held -in his hands the swords of seven British officers of the Seventy-First -Regiment. After the war he was Governor of Maryland and filled other -public offices of importance. Surely, in this case, “the brave deserved -the fair.”</p> - -<p>One of the most striking figures in this brilliant assemblage was -Rebecca Franks, who was as celebrated for her ready wit as was Peggy -Shippen for her exquisite beauty and grace. Handsome, witty, and an -heiress, combining with these attractions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> that of being an ardent -loyalist, it is not strange that Miss Franks was given a high place at -the British revel. She won the affections of Colonel Sir Henry Johnson, -who while in Philadelphia was quartered on Edward Penington, a leading -Friend, living at the corner of Crown and Race Streets. The marriage -took place January 17, 1782, and after the surrender of Yorktown Sir -Henry and his bride sailed for England. Colonel Johnson was surprised -at Stony Point on the night of July 15, 1779, by Wayne, and made -prisoner with all his force. He afterwards distinguished himself in the -Irish rebellion, and was created Baronet. Although Cornwallis speaks -of Sir Henry as “a wrong-headed blockhead,” and thinks that he has -been unduly praised, we are inclined to say that he who was willing -to run the gauntlet of Miss Franks’s daring raillery must have been a -brave man. She seems to have spared neither friend nor foe and her wit -was always telling, whether flashing up in the quick rejoinder, “No; -Britons, go home, you mean,” when Sir<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> Henry Clinton ordered the band -to play “Britons, Strike Home,” at a New York ball, or in her keen, -sharp rebuff when Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Steward, of Maryland, after -the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, appeared before her in a -fine suit of scarlet, saying, “I have adopted your colors, my Princess, -the better to secure a courteous reception; deign to smile on a true -knight.” To this speech Miss Franks made no reply, but, turning to the -company who surrounded her, exclaimed, “How the ass glories in the -lion’s skin!”</p> - -<p>One of this lady’s pointed shafts was directed at General Charles -Lee, and this time the daring beauty met her match, for he not only -vindicated himself from her charge of having worn “green breeches -patched with leather,” but in language more caustic than courtly -alluded to her own Jewish ancestry. There is a flavor of the wit of -Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Walpole in these jokes; but they raised -a great laugh at the time, and were perhaps of a sort to be better -relished in Miss Franks’s future home than in America.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> - -<p>General Winfield Scott gives a description of an interview held with -this lady at her residence, at Bath, when years had sadly impaired -the beauty that had once captivated all hearts. A bright-eyed old -lady in an easy-chair met Scott with an eager, kindly gaze and the -query, “Is this the young rebel?” Such were her words, yet, before the -conversation ended, Lady Johnson confessed that she had learned to -glory in her rebel countrymen and wished that she had been a patriot, -too. “Not that heaven had failed to bless her with a good husband, -either,” she replied to Sir Henry’s gentle remonstrances.</p> - -<p>When the Americans regained possession of Philadelphia an effort was -made by the Whigs to exclude from their gatherings those ladies who had -taken part in the Meschianza and other British entertainments.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> With -this object in view, a ball was given at the City Tavern “to the young -ladies who had manifested their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> attachment to the cause of virtue -and freedom by sacrificing every convenience to the love of their -country.”<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> This sounded patriotic enough, but we learn that General -Arnold soon after gave an entertainment at which the Tory ladies -appeared in full force, which is not to be wondered at in view of the -intelligence that Mrs. Robert Morris communicated to her mother about -this time: “I must tell you that Cupid has given our little General -a more mortal wound than all the hosts of Britons could, unless his -present conduct can expiate for his past,—Miss Peggy Shippen is the -fair one.”</p> - -<p>With Cupid thus taking a hand in the game, and bringing to the feet -of one of the brightest of the Tory belles the military commandant -of Philadelphia, we can readily believe that General Wayne’s severe -strictures upon the foolish fair fell upon unheeding ears:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Tell those Philadelphia ladies, who attended Howe’s assemblies & -levees,” he writes in July, 1778, “that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> heavenly, sweet, pretty -red-coats—the accomplished gentlemen of the guards & grenadiers have -been humbled on the plains of Monmouth.</p> - -<p>“The Knights of the <i>Blended Roses</i> and of the <i>Burning -Mount</i> have resigned their laurels to Rebel officers, who will lay -them at the feet of <em>those</em> virtuous daughters of America, who -cheerfully gave up ease and affluence in a city, for liberty and peace -of mind in a cottage.”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> -</div> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img006"> - <img src="images/006.jpg" class="w25" alt="Woman in a dress" /> -</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> It is pleasant to learn that <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Joseph Wharton, the owner -of Walnut Grove, if proud was also benevolent, as we find his name -among liberal contributors to one of the first Philadelphia almshouses.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> This sketch, by Major André, is in the possession of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> “We all know of Burgoyne’s surrender, but hardly one knows -Burgoyne’s comedies, and yet there are few cleverer or more brilliant, -of a second order, than ‘The Heiress,’ and ‘Maid of Oaks.’ In a letter, -dated New York, June 2, 1777, he says, ‘You cannot imagine anything -half so beautiful as this country. It is impossible to conceive -anything so delightful. Lady Holland, in spite of her politics, would, -I am sure, feel for it, if she could see the ruin and desolation we -have introduced into the most beautiful and, I verily believe, happiest -part of the universe.’”—<i>World Essays</i>: William B. Reed, pp. 176, -177.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> From a letter of the late Lawrence Lewis, <abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, written in -1879.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> It appears that this knight with the shining name and -emblem had not a reputation to match them. We learn that he entered the -army only to get to America, was discharged, tried to join the Colonial -army, and was seized and sent to England. (German Allied Troops, -1776-1783, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 333.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Fred. D. Stone. Pennsylvania Magazine, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 336.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 297.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Biographical Sketch of General Anthony Wayne, Hazard’s -Register, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 389.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="New_York_Balls_Receptions"><span class="hide">New York Balls and Receptions</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img007"> - <img src="images/007.jpg" class="w50" alt="New York Balls and Receptions" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_a2.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">Amid</span> elaborate ceremonials attending the reception and inauguration -of the first President of the Republic, we find some homely touches -of nature, as when those two admirable housewives Mrs. Washington and -Mrs. Adams were detained at home, in April and May, 1789, by domestic -duties, and so missed all the joyful demonstrations along the route, as -well as the brave welcome accorded their distinguished husbands in the -city of New York. Mrs. Washington was busied in putting her household -in order, and shipping china, cut glass, silver-ware, and linen from -Mount Vernon to the capital, while from John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> Adams’s letters we gather -that the wife, whom he so trusted that he permitted her to dispose -of sheep, cows, and other live-stock, on her own responsibility, was -attending to such matters at Braintree, Massachusetts, prior to the -removal of her household goods to the fine country-place at Richmond -Hill that <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Adams had rented for the season.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> - -<p>Although <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Samuel Breck, recently arrived from Europe, found New York -in 1787 “a poor town, with about twenty-three thousand people, not yet -recovered from its Revolutionary wounds” and the great fire that swept -over its western portion, he is pleased, two years later, to admire -the improvements recently made, especially some beautiful houses built -on Broadway by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Macomb, one of which was occupied by General Knox, -the Secretary of War. As soon as it transpired that New York was to be -the meeting-place of the new Congress, and that General Washington<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> -was elected President, the selection of a suitable residence for -the Chief Magistrate became a matter of considerable interest in -Republican circles. The President later occupied <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Macomb’s house on -Broadway near Bowling Green, subsequently known as the Mansion House -and Bunker’s Hotel; but his first residence was the house of Walter -Franklin, as is proved by a letter written from New York, April 30, -1789, which with other family papers furnishes us some interesting -facts relating to this old homestead, and its renovation preparatory to -the advent of the President and his wife, that have not yet appeared -in the histories of the time. The clever chronicler is Mrs. William -T. Robinson, and the letter is addressed to Miss Kitty Wistar, of -Brandywine, afterwards Mrs. Sharples, through the courtesy of whose -descendants it has come into the writer’s hands.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Great rejoicing in New York,” she says, “on the arrival of General -Washington. An elegant Barge decorated with an awning of Sattin, 12 -oarsmen drest in white frocks and blue ribbons, went down to E. Town<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> -[Elizabeth] last fourth day to bring him up. A Stage was erected at -the Coffee House wharf covered with a carpet for him to step on, -where a company of light horse, one of Artillery, and most of the -Inhabitants were waiting to receive him.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> They Paraded through -Queen Street in great form, while the music, the Drums and ringing of -bells were enough to stun one with the noise. Previous to his coming -Uncle Walter’s house in Cherry Street was taken for him and every room -furnished in the most elegant manner.</p> - -<p>“The evening after his Excellency’s arrival a general Illumination -took place, excepting among Friends, and those styled -Anti-Federalists: the latter’s windows suffered some, thou may -imagine. As soon as the General has sworn in, a grand exhibition of -fire-works is to be displayed, which it is expected will be to-morrow. -There is scarcely anything talked of now but General Washington and -the Palace.”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> -<p>The palace referred to is, evidently, the former residence of Walter -Franklin, situated at the corner of Pearl and Cherry Streets, -then owned by his widow, who had married <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Samuel Osgood, -Postmaster-General under the new administration. Watson says that the -Franklin House on Pearl Street was “<abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 1 in pre-eminence,” and, from -the wealth and position of its owner, it was evidently considered the -best in the city for the purpose. Mrs. Robinson describes it as having -been very sumptuously fitted up; and so it doubtless was, according to -the prevailing idea of elegance. Miss Wistar’s correspondent adds</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Thou must know that Uncle Osgood and Duer were appointed to procure a -house and furnish it; accordingly they pitched on their wives as being -likely to do it better. Aunt Osgood and Lady Kitty Duer had the whole -management of it. I went the morning before the General’s arrival to -look at it. The house really did honour to my Aunt and Lady Kitty, -they spared no pains nor expense in it. I have not done yet, my dear, -is thee not almost tired? The best of furniture in every room, and the -greatest quantity of plate and China that I ever saw before. The whole -of the first and second Story is papered, and the floor covered with -the richest kind of Turkey and Wilton Carpets.”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span></p> - -<p>The <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Duer spoken of by Mrs. Robinson is Colonel William Duer, who -had early in life been aide-de-camp to Lord Clive in India, and who -later held important positions under the Federal government. His wife -was one of the daughters of General William Alexander, claimant to the -Scottish earldom of Stirling. She consequently figured in New York -society as Lady Kitty Duer, giving, with her own sister, Lady Mary -Watts, and Lady Temple, a flavor of British aristocracy to republican -circles. Lady Kitty is described by John Quincy Adams as “one of the -sweetest-looking women in the city,”—which testimony is scarcely -corroborated by her portrait in the exaggerated coiffure of the day.</p> - -<p>Walter Franklin’s house on Cherry Street, and that of his brother -Samuel, which was around the corner on Pearl Street, were both near -the shipping quarter of the town, in which respect they resembled -fashionable Philadelphia residences of the same period. A number of -interesting family traditions cluster about these fine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> old houses, -in which a bevy of gay girls was gathered together, who charmed the -British officers during their occupation of the city, just as their -Quaker sisters were doing in old Philadelphia. Some of the officers -were quartered on the Franklins, among them Lord Rawdon and Admiral -Lord Richard Howe, who respectively commanded the army and the fleet. -Sally Franklin, the writer of the letter from which we have quoted, -was then a young girl, and a very beautiful one. Her marriage with -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Robinson took place while the British had possession of New York. -She was evidently a great favorite with the officers in command, who -begged to be permitted to attend her wedding in Quaker meeting. This -request was refused, on the plea that the wedding was to be a very -quiet one. British officers, as Miss Rebecca Franks has informed us, -were not accustomed to take no for an answer, unless accompanied with -shot and shell. Accordingly, on the morning of the marriage, when the -beautiful bride, in her white silk dress and white bonnet, stood in -the quaint<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> old meeting, listening to the words of her lover, “I take -this Friend, Sarah Franklin, to be my wedded wife,” a sudden sound of -footsteps and clattering of swords against the benches was heard, and, -lo! Lord Rawdon, Lord Howe, and a train of young officers, resplendent -in gay uniforms and gold lace, stood within the solemn enclosure of the -meeting. They seated themselves, with malice aforethought, on a long -bench opposite the bride, whose turn had now come to speak. Trembling, -and carefully avoiding the eyes of the strangers, who had vowed that -they would make her smile in the midst of the ceremony, she performed -her part, declaring her intention to take Friend William to be her -wedded husband. When the marriage certificate was signed, the names of -Lord Howe, Lord Rawdon, and the other officers were appended, beautiful -Sarah Robinson showing her forgiving spirit still further by allowing -those, among the intruders, who were well known to her to return to the -house and partake of the wedding-feast.</p> - -<p>The New York girls had a longer time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> in which to enjoy the society -of the gallant red-coats than their Philadelphia sisters, and were -consequently in greater danger of losing their hearts to them. There -were some marriages with British officers, as in the family of Andrew -Elliot, Lieutenant-Governor of New York, one of whose daughters married -Admiral Robert Digby, while another, Elizabeth, became the wife of -William, tenth Baron and first Earl of Cathcart, the same who as Lord -Cathcart had figured as chief of the Knights of the Blended Rose in the -Meschianza.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Miss Philipse was also one of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> those who yielded to -the attractions of the enemy, as she married the Hon. Lionel Smythe, -son of Philip, fourth Viscount Strafford, at the time captain of the -Twenty-Third British Foot. Most of the New York belles had, as Graydon -puts it, “sufficient toleration for our cause to marry officers of the -Continental army,” and when the new administration came in, we find -them as ready to dance to Whig music as they had been to Tory. The -Comte de Moustier soon gave these impartial fair ones an opportunity -to display their Terpsichorean powers at a very elegant ball, given -to President Washington, two weeks after his inauguration, at the -Macomb house, on Broadway, which was afterwards occupied by President -Washington. On this occasion the alliance between France and America -was represented in a cotillon, half the dancers being in French costume -and the other half in American; the ladies who represented France -wearing red roses and flowers of France, and the American ladies blue -ribbons and American flowers. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Elias Boudinot,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> chairman of the -committee of Congress, in a description of this ball sent to his wife -in Philadelphia, speaks of these representatives of the allied powers -entering the room, two by two, and engaging in what he ingeniously -calls “a most curious dance, called <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en ballet</i>, to show the happy -union between the two nations.”<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>The Comte de Moustier had succeeded Barbé-Marbois as French minister to -the United States, and was so addicted to entertaining that he was wont -to say that he was “but a tavern-keeper;” adding, facetiously, that -“the Americans had the complaisance not to demand his recall.”<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Of -the new ambassador <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Madison wrote to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson, in Paris, “It is -with much pleasure I inform you that Moustier begins<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> to make himself -acceptable; and with still more that Madame Bréhan begins to be viewed -in the light which I hope she merits.” This lady was Anne-Flore Millet, -Marquise de Bréhan, a sister of the Comte de Moustier, who assisted -him in doing the honors of his house. She is described as a singular, -whimsical old woman, who delighted in playing with a negro child and -caressing a monkey. With all her eccentricities, she seems to have been -possessed of some talent and considerable skill as an artist, as she -not only executed several portraits of Washington, but achieved a feat -known to few portrait-painters, that of pleasing the sitter himself.</p> - -<p>About a week before the Comte de Moustier’s entertainment, the -inauguration ball was held, and, if we are to credit contemporaneous -gossip, was a very grand and imposing function. Although those were -days of stage-coaching and slow travel, a number of visitors from other -cities were in New York, as appears from a letter written by Miss -Bertha Ingersoll,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> from the scene of the festivities, to Miss Sallie -McKean in Philadelphia.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“We shall remain here,” she writes, “even if we have to sleep in -tents, as so many will have to do. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Williamson had promised to -engage us rooms at Frauncis’s, but that was jammed long ago, as was -every other decent public house, and now while we are waiting at Mrs. -Vandervoort’s, in Maiden Lane, till after dinner, two of our beaux -are running about town determined to obtain the best places for us to -stay at which can be opened for love or money or the most persuasive -speeches.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Mrs. Washington was still at Mount Vernon on the 7th of May, the date -of the inauguration ball,<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> consequently the story of a sofa raised -some steps above the floor of the ball-room for the accommodation -of the President and his wife during the dancing is quite without -foundation, as is the equally absurd story of portly Mrs. Knox pushing -her way up to this circle and having to descend suddenly from her -elevated position because there was no room for her on the platform. -Even if there was no dais for the President and his wife, there was no -lack of form<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> and ceremony at this Republican entertainment, where the -men all wore the small-clothes of the day, which so well became their -stately proportions, and where, says Huntingdon, many powdered heads -were still to be seen, among men as well as women. The President’s -costume on such occasions was a full suit of black velvet, with long -black silk stockings, white vest, silver knee- and shoe-buckles, the -hair being powdered and gathered together at the back in a black silk -bag tied with a bow of black ribbon. He wore a light dress sword, -with a richly-ornamented hilt, and often carried in his hand a cocked -hat, decorated with the American cockade. The Vice-President, John -Adams, wore a full suit of drab, with bag-wig and wrist-ruffles. The -gentlemen’s laces seem to have rivalled those of the ladies, although -in their costumes rich silks, satins, and brocades had begun to give -place to cloth of various colors, as if to forecast the less ornate -masculine costume of later date.</p> - -<p>“The collection of ladies” at this ball, writes a contemporary, “was -numerous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> and brilliant, and they were dressed with consummate taste -and elegance. The number of persons present was upwards of three -hundred, and satisfaction, vivacity, and delight beamed from every -countenance.” Colonel William Leet Stone, of New York, thus describes -one of the costumes: “It was a plain celestial blue satin gown, with -a white satin petticoat. On the neck was worn a very large Italian -gauze handkerchief, with border stripes of satin. The head-dress was -a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pouf</i> of satin in the form of a globe, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">créneaux</i> -or head-piece of which was composed of white satin, having a double -wing in large pleats and trimmed with a wreath of artificial roses. -The hair was dressed all over in detached curls, four of which in two -ranks fell on each side of the neck and were relieved behind by a -floating chignon.” We have Colonel Stone’s word for it that this was -an attractive costume, although the description does not sound so to -modern ears, especially with the heavy head decorations. It appears, -however, that the ladies of the first administration had made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> one -important departure, for which thanksgivings should have been devoutly -uttered. They had by this time renounced the ungainly head-dress that -had reared its pyramid skyward for some years, and which, accompanied -as it was with scant drapery about the shoulders and bust, had led some -wit of the day to accuse the fair ones of robbing their breasts of -gauze, cambric, and muslin for the use of their heads, while another -satirist wrote,—</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Give Chloe a bushel of horse-hair and wool,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of paste and pomatum a pound;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ten yards of gay ribbon to deck her sweet skull,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And gauze to encompass it round.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Perhaps some such witticisms as these had led to the change of fashion; -or, more likely, a little bird from France had whispered in the -ladies’ ears that the mighty pyramid had fallen there. From whatever -cause, the structure of hair, flowers, feathers, and jewels no longer -reared its imposing pinnacle above the brow of beauty, and many of -the Stuart, Malbone, Trumbull, and Copley paintings of women<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> of this -period represent the hair dressed low, with curls and bandeaux <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la -Grecque</i> or rolled moderately high <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la Pompadour</i>.</p> - -<p>In one of the journals of the day we read that</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“On Thursday evening, the subscribers of the Dancing Assembly, gave -an elegant Ball and Entertainment. The President of the United -States, was pleased to honor the company with his presence—His -Excellency the Vice President—most of the members of both Houses of -Congress—His Excellency the Governor [Clinton] and a great many other -dignified public characters: His Excellency Count de Moustier—His -Most Christian Majesty’s Ambassador—The Baron Steuben, and other -foreigners of distinction were present, as well as the most beautiful -ladies of New York.”<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> -</div> - -<p>Among these were the Misses Livingston, one of whom married <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Ridley, -of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> Baltimore, the Misses Van Horne, “avowed Whigs,” says Graydon, -“notwithstanding their civility to the British officers,” and the -Misses White, who lived on Wall Street near Broadway, to one of whom -was addressed the following epigram by a beau of the period named Brown:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“My lovely maid, I’ve often thought</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whether thy name be just or not;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy bosom is as cold as snow,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which we for matchless <em>white</em> may show;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But when thy beauteous face is seen,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou’rt of <em>brunettes</em> the charming queen.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Resolve our doubts: let it be known</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou rather art inclined to <em>Brown</em>.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>It is evident that this fair White did not permanently incline to -Brown, as one sister became Lady Hayes, and the other married one of -the Monroes. Here also, in goodly array, were Osgoods, Philipses, -Rutherfurds, Van Cortlandts, Van Zandts, Clintons, Montgomerys, De -Lanceys, De Peysters, Kissams, Bleeckers, Clarksons, Verplancks, -Schuylers, Van Rensselaers, and Macombs. How the old names repeat -themselves in the social life of to-day! Prominent in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> these inaugural -festivities were the Livingstons of Clermont, Chief Justice Yates, of -New York, the handsome soldierly figure of Morgan Lewis, Grand Marshal -of the Inauguration ceremonies, Mrs. Dominick Lynch, Mrs. Edgar, -Mrs. Provoost, Lady Stirling, and her two daughters, Lady Mary Watts -and Lady Kitty Duer. We learn that their aunt, Mrs. Peter Van Brugh -Livingston, had the honor of dancing a cotillon with the President, -who opened the ball with the wife of the Mayor of New York, Mrs. James -Duane. He also danced in the minuet with Mrs. James Homer Maxwell, with -whom as Miss Catharine Van Zandt he had repeatedly danced while the -army was quartered at Morristown. When Washington entered the lists, -dancing seemed to be elevated to the dignity of a function of the -state, and in proof of the grace with which his Excellency could tread -a measure it is related that a French gentleman, after observing him -in the dance, paid him the high compliment of saying that a Parisian -education could not have rendered his execution<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> more admirable. -Mrs. James Beekman,<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> born Jane Keteletas, was the belle of the de -Moustier ball, a week later, and gazing upon her serene face, framed -in by a little cap of gauze and ribbon, that would have been trying to -features less perfect, we can readily believe that she also occupied -a prominent place in the inaugural festivities. Mrs. William Smith, -who had returned from London, where her husband was Secretary of the -American legation, was present, as was also Lady Temple, the American -wife of Sir John Temple, British Consul-General, whom the Marquis de -Chastellux found so distinguished that it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> was unnecessary to pronounce -her beautiful. Her husband, Sir John, took upon himself “singular -airs,” says Mrs. William Smith, and this spirited little woman declined -to visit my lady because she did not consider that Sir John treated her -spouse with proper deference. Lady Christiana Griffin, the Scotch wife -of Cyrus Griffin, President of Congress, was also one of the guests of -the evening.</p> - -<p>Among New York women whose husbands held high positions were Mrs. -Alexander Hamilton; Mrs. Ralph Izard, wife of the Senator from South -Carolina, whose surname furnished Mrs. Bache a peg on which to hang her -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bon-mot</i> about knowing everything South Carolinian from B<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> to -Z (izzard); Mrs. Robert R. Livingston, the daughter of Colonel Henry -Beekman, whose husband had a week earlier administered the oath of -office to the President; Mrs. King, born Mary Alsop, of whose marriage -to Rufus King John Adams speaks as “additional bonds to cement the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> -love between New York and old Massachusetts;” and Mrs. Elbridge Gerry, -wife of the Senator from Massachusetts. The <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Manasseh Cutler -visited the Gerrys when they were living in Philadelphia, and speaks -of the beauty and accomplishments of the New York lady. He expressed -to her his surprise that Philadelphia ladies rose so early, saying -that he saw them at breakfast at half-past five, when in Boston they -could hardly see a breakfast-table before nine without falling into -hysterics. To which Mrs. Gerry replied that she had become inured to -early rising and found it conducive to her health.</p> - -<p>Stately courtesy and dignity, combined with a certain simplicity -begotten of pioneer living in a new country, seem to have been the -distinguishing characteristics of this old-time society, and of the -couple who presided over it and knew so well how to balance the -functions of public office with the sacred demands of home life.</p> - -<p>In days of retirement at Mount Vernon, when engaged in instructing her -maidens, or in household pursuits, Mrs. Washington<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> was always simply -attired, and in cloth of home manufacture. She could, however, on -occasions of state appear in rich costumes of satin, velvet, and lace, -while the President, although appearing at the inaugural ceremonies in -a suit of cloth of American manufacture, on festal occasions donned -the velvet and satin that so well became him. With his republicanism -in national affairs, it is evident that Washington inclined more -to the state and ceremony of Old-World courts than to the extreme, -almost bald, simplicity that came in with a later administration. The -statement of that unknown “Virginia colonel” who said that General -Washington’s “bows were more distant and stiff than anything he had -seen at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> James’s” savors of probability, although disputed by some -of his contemporaries, and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Breck tells us that the President “had -a stud of twelve or fourteen horses, and occasionally rode out to take -the air with six horses to his coach, and always two footmen behind his -carriage;” adding, “He knew how to maintain the dignity of his station. -None of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> his successors, except the elder Adams, has placed a proper -value on a certain degree of display that seems suitable for the chief -magistrate of a great nation. I do not mean pageantry, but the decent -exterior of a well-bred gentleman.” A President who thus realized all -the dignity that his office implied naturally introduced a certain -amount of form and ceremony into the social life of the capital, and -when Mrs. Washington came from Mount Vernon, on the 27th of May, -receptions were held at the old Franklin house on Cherry Street, whose -like, for a certain state and fine aroma of old-time courtesy, we shall -never see again. Those who, “with the earliest attention and respect, -paid their devoirs to the amiable consort of our beloved President -were,” says one of the newspapers of the time, “the Ladies of the -Most Hon. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Langdon [State Senator from New Hampshire] and the Most -Hon. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Dalton, the Mayoress [Mrs. James Duane], Mrs. Livingston of -Clermont, Mrs. Chancellor Livingston, Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. McComb, -Mrs. Lynch, the Misses Bayard,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> and a great number of other respectable -characters. Mrs. Washington from Philadelphia was accompanied by the -Lady of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Robert Morris.” We also learn that the President met his -wife at Trenton, and that with a gayly-decorated and well-manned barge -she made her journey to the seat of government.</p> - -<p>Although we are not disposed to agree with the Chevalier de Crèvecœur, -that “if there is a town on the American continent where English luxury -displayed its follies, it was in New York,” Philadelphia, with Mrs. -William Bingham as its social leader, having continued to assert its -supremacy in this line, we are willing to believe that there was a -fair amount of both folly and luxury in the national capital. This -gentleman, Saint-John de Crèvecœur, sometime Consul-General at New -York, was probably surprised to find anything approaching civilization -in this city and country, as he exclaims, “You will find here the -English fashions. In the dress of the women you will see the most -brilliant silks, gauzes, hats, and borrowed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> hair.” It is amusing, in -this connection, to note the French gentleman’s ideal of what a woman -should be. He happened to be looking for a wife himself just then, and, -like Solomon’s perfect woman, she was expected to look well to the ways -of her household, to be skilled in the spinning of flax and the making -of cheese and butter, and withal she was to have her mind cultivated a -little, just enough to enable her to enjoy reading with her husband.</p> - -<p>Mrs. William Smith, a less prejudiced observer than M. de Crèvecœur, -in writing to her mother of a dinner at Chief Justice Jay’s which was -served <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la mode française</i>, says that there was more fashion -and state in New York than she would fancy. Brissot de Warville speaks -of another dinner, this one at the house of Cyrus Griffin, at which -seven or eight women appeared dressed in great hats and plumes. If the -hats were as graceful and becoming as that worn by Mrs. John Jay in -her portrait by Pine, we have no word of censure for those old-time -beauties, although a plumed hat does seem a rather peculiar finish to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> -a dinner costume, almost as odd as Mrs. William Smith’s elbow-sleeves, -bare arms, and muff.</p> - -<p>At her formal receptions, which <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Daniel Huntingdon has represented -in his famous picture, Mrs. Washington stood with the Cabinet ladies -around her, stately Mrs. Robert Morris by her side, herself the -stateliest figure in the group. The President passed from guest to -guest, exchanging a word with one and another, and pleasing all by -the fine courtesy of his manner. The lovely ladies and the dignified -gentlemen, many of the latter with powdered heads and bag-wigs, like -his Excellency, trooped up by twos and threes to pay their respects -to the first lady in the land. If around the Chief Magistrate were -gathered the great men of the nation, those who, like John Adams, -Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, had already impressed -themselves deeply upon the past, and in connection with such younger -minds as those of James Madison, Rufus King, Elbridge Gerry, and Oliver -Ellsworth, the Cerberus of the Treasury,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> were destined to outline -the serener history of the future, Mrs. Washington numbered in her -Republican Court the noblest and most beautiful women in the land. -Among these were many who, like her, had shared with their husbands the -anxieties of the Revolutionary period,—notably, Mrs. General Knox, -Mrs. Robert Morris, and Mrs. Adams,—while in a younger group were Mrs. -Rufus King, who is described as singularly handsome, Mrs. Gerry, Mrs. -George Clinton, Mrs. William Smith, John Adams’s daughter, Mrs. Walter -Livingston, whom General Washington had once entertained, in rustic -style, when encamped near New York, and, not the least attractive among -these lovely dames, Mrs. John Jay, a daughter of Governor Livingston, -who shared with Mrs. William Bingham, of Philadelphia, the distinction -of being called the most beautiful and charming woman in America. -Honors seem to have been easy between these two high-born dames, as -both were beloved, admired, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fêted</i> at home and abroad. The -Marquise de Lafayette, who entertained<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> a warm friendship for Mrs. Jay, -said, with charming simplicity, that “Mrs. Jay and she thought alike, -that pleasure might be found abroad, but happiness only at home.” All -of Mrs. Jay’s portraits represent a face of such exquisite beauty that -it is not difficult to imagine the furore she created at foreign and -Republican courts.</p> - -<p>Does there not seem to have been an indefinable charm of exquisiteness -and dignity about these old-time dames, like the fragrance that -surrounds some fine and stately exotic? They had abundant leisure to -make their daily sacrifice to the graces, and they always appear before -us in full <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">toilette</i>,—hair rolled or curled, slippers high of -heel, and gown of stiff brocade or satin. We never catch these fair -ladies <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en déshabille</i>, nor do we desire to do so; their charm -would as surely vanish before the inglorious ease of a loose morning -gown and roomy slippers as does that of an American Indian when he -divests himself of his war-paint and feathers. We read with equanimity -of some of the belles of the period sitting all night with their -pyramidal heads<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> propped up against pillows, because the hair-dresser -could not make his round without attending to some heads the night -before the ball. This was “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">souffrir pour être belle</i>” with a -vengeance; yet, deeming it all in keeping with their stately elegance, -for which they had to pay a price, we never stop to think of how -their poor necks must have ached, choosing rather to dwell upon their -triumphs when they entered the ball-room. We can hear <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Swanwick, or -some other poet of the day, pay them the most extravagant compliments, -while lamenting the void left by the absence of another fair one:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Say why, amid the splendid rows</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of graceful belles and polish’d beaux,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Does not Markoe appear?</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Has some intrusive pain dismay’d</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From festive scenes the lov’ly maid,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Or does she illness fear?”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Is it possible that Markoe could not get her head dressed in time, -and thus missed the ball? We wonder, and, wondering, lavish so much -sympathy upon her for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> pleasure she has lost that we forget to -moralize upon the impropriety of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Swanwick’s paying such exaggerated -compliments, which would turn the head of any girl of to-day. We of -this generation reverse the order of nature; like doting grandparents -we enjoy the picturesque beauty of these stately ancestors, and, with -never a thought of their higher good, retail their triumphs with -enthusiasm, wishing that for one brief moment we could turn back and -feel what they felt when their world was at their feet. It was a very -small world, according to our ideas, but it was the largest that they -knew, and it was all their own.</p> - -<p>What a gay pageant that old social life seems as it passes before -us! We almost forget that the picture is limned against the stern -background of war, for it is one in which the shadows have all faded -out, leaving only the bright colors upon the canvas. Let it remain -so. Why should we weep over sorrows so long past? The sting has all -gone from them, and surely there can no harm come to this generation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> -from dwelling upon the beauty and grace of those fair ladies, who -ruled society in New York a hundred years ago, or upon the bravery and -strength of the noble men who gathered around them. <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sic transit -gloria mundi!</i> cries the moralist; but the glory has not all passed -away, as is proved by our lingering over it now, nor need it be quite -effaced from the gay life of to-day, if hearts still beat as true under -silk and broadcloth as did those of the fathers and mothers of the -Republic beneath brocaded bodices and satin waistcoats.</p> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img008"> - <img src="images/008.jpg" class="w25" alt="High heeled shoes on a floor" /> -</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> This house was the residence of Aaron Burr at the time of -his duel with Alexander Hamilton.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Mrs. Robinson’s statement that a carpet was spread from -the wharf for the President to walk upon was authenticated, more than -sixty years later, by an eyewitness of the scene. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Atlee, in 1850, -while substitute-resident at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, -met a man of eighty-two who, when he learned that the young physician -was named Walter Franklin Atlee, exclaimed at the coincidence, saying -that he remembered having seen General Washington come up the river in -a boat, and walk on a carpet to Walter Franklin’s house, where he and -Mrs. Washington were to reside.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> “Lady Cathcart was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen -Charlotte. Peter Pindar celebrates her at Weymouth in connection with -the king’s insensate manners:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">‘Cæsar spies Lady Cathcart with a book;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He flies to know what ’tis—he longs to look.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“What’s in your hand, my lady? let me know?”—</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“A book, an’t please your majesty?”—“Oho!</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Book’s a good thing—good thing,—I like a book.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Very good thing, my lady,—let me look.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">War of America! my lady, hae?</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bad thing, my lady! fling, fling <em>that</em> away.”’”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><i>Life of Major John André</i>, by Winthrop Sargent, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 147.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> See Army List, 1778.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> This pleasantry on the part of the French minister seems -to have been taken <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">au sérieux</i> by certain writers as pointing to -some obscurity of origin, while the fact is substantiated by various -authorities that Eléonore-François-Elie, Comte de Moustier, entered the -diplomatic service at eighteen, and after representing his country at -several foreign courts was twice offered the position of Minister of -Foreign Affairs by Louis XVI.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> United States Gazette, May 9, 1789.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> It is interesting to turn from these Republican -festivities to read in the journal of a Moravian minister, written in -New York during the occupation of the British, of King’s and Queen’s -“Birthnight Balls,” “Coronation Day” celebrations, and rejoicings over -the arrival of “His Royal Highness, Prince William Henry, the third son -of our dear King, an amiable young Prince, who gave satisfaction to all -who saw him.”—<i>Diary of Ewald Gustav Schaukirk.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> “The old Beekman house, built by James Beekman, and -standing three miles from the City Hall in New York, was the scene of a -number of interesting events. During the British possession of the city -it was occupied by the commander-in-chief of their army, and one room -at the head of a flight of stairs was occupied by Major André the night -before proceeding up the river on his ill-fated expedition to West -Point, while (strange providence) but a few yards distant still stands -[1848] the green house where Captain Nathan Hale, of the American -army, received his trial and condemnation as a spy.”—<span class="smcap">Jerome B. -Holgate.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> Evidently referring to the Bee family of S. C.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_American_Philosophical_Society"><span class="hide">American Philosophical Society</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img009"> - <img src="images/009.jpg" class="w50" alt="American Philosophical Society" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_i.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">In</span> none of his schemes and foundations did <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin more signally -display the breadth and catholicity of his mind than in his plan -for the establishment, in the New World, of an association for the -general diffusion of useful knowledge, to which the Old World should -be tributary, and from which it should in time be recipient. With this -end in view, he, in 1743, issued a proposal for the organization and -government of an American Philosophical Society, whose object was to -bring into correspondence with a central association in Philadelphia -all scientists,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> philosophers, and inventors, on this continent and -in Europe. Bold as was this scheme in its breadth and reach, in its -smaller details it was marked by the practical characteristics of -the projector. The Hamiltons and Franklins might “dream dreams and -see visions” to the end of the chapter; but they would have framed -no governments, or have founded no learned institutions destined to -outlast the centuries, had not their ideality been well balanced by -the strong common sense that Guizot calls “the genius of humanity.” It -was this union of the ideal and the practical that caused Franklin to -be so appreciated by the French. Mirabeau named him “the sage of two -worlds,” with a larger grasp of thought than that of our own day, when -he is still claimed, like the debatable baby brought to King Solomon, -by two cities,—by Boston, in which he first saw the light, and by -Philadelphia, in which he disseminated it so liberally.</p> - -<p>Although there is a vast amount of documentary evidence to prove -that the American Philosophical Society was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> direct outcome of -Franklin’s proposal of 1743, and that before the breaking out of the -war with Great Britain it was an active and useful organization, -having a large native and foreign membership, two of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin’s -biographers have done but scant justice to his work in this direction. -Professor McMaster, in his recent interesting life of Franklin as a -man of letters, dismisses his proposal to establish such a society -as a failure;<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> while <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Parton, after mentioning the fact of -Franklin having founded the Philosophical Society, in accordance with -his proposal of 1743, adds, “The society was formed, and continued in -existence for some years. Nevertheless, its success was neither great -nor permanent, for at that day the circle of men capable of taking much -interest in science was too limited for the proper support of such an -organization.”<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>As both of these historians mention the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> Philosophical Society later, -and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Parton at some length in his Life of Jefferson, it is probable -that they did not consider that this early society was identical with -that which in 1767 took a fresh start, elected a number of influential -members, and made for itself an enviable reputation in Europe and -America, in the latter years of the century. Sparks and Bigelow, -however, take what is, according to the historian of the society, -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Robert M. Patterson, a true view of the case, tracing it back, -a continuous organization, to the proposal of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin issued -in 1743. Indeed, they carry it back even further than this period, -deriving it primarily from the old Junto of 1727. After describing the -workings of the Junto, or Leather Apron Society, formed from among -Franklin’s “ingenious acquaintance,” a sort of debating club of clever -young men, Jared Sparks says, “Forty years after its establishment, -it became the basis of the American Philosophical Society, of which -Franklin was the first president, and the published Transactions of -which have contributed to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> advancement of science and the diffusion -of valuable knowledge in the United States.”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> As most of Franklin’s -projects were discussed in the congenial circle that composed the -Junto, this statement does not conflict with that of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Patterson.</p> - -<p><abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin, in his proposal, gave a list of the subjects that were -to claim the attention of these New World philosophers. It included -“investigations in botany; in medicine; in mineralogy and mining; -in chemistry; in mechanics; in arts, trades, and manufactures; in -geography and topography; in agriculture;” and, lest something should -have been left out of this rather comprehensive list of subjects, -it was added that the association should “give its attention to all -philosophical experiments that let light into the nature of things, -tend to increase the power of man over matter, and multiply the -conveniences or pleasures of life.” The duties of the secretary of the -society were laid down, and were especially arduous, including much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> -foreign correspondence, in addition to the correcting, abstracting, and -methodizing of such papers as required it. This office <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin -took upon himself, saying, with a touch of modesty that seems a trifle -strained, that he “would be secretary until they should be provided -with one more capable.” He, however, tells us in the Autobiography that -he one day added humility to his list of virtues at the suggestion of -a Quaker friend, and this form of expression may have been one of his -self-imposed exercises.</p> - -<p>The Philosophical Society, once established, was destined to exert -an important influence on American science, life, and letters. Among -its members were literary men, statesmen, and artists, as well as -scientists and inventors. Before its meetings were read learned papers -on government, history, education, philanthropy, politics, religion, -worship, above all, on common sense: these in addition to the numerous -scientific papers, read and communicated, while among its eulogiums and -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">oraisons funèbres</i>, pronounced upon deceased<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> members, are to be -found compositions worthy of Bossuet.</p> - -<p>As early as 1769, the society had members in the different colonies, -in the Barbadoes, in Antigua, in Heidelberg and Stockholm; while in -Edinburgh the distinguished <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> William Cullen was a member, in London -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John Fothergill, and in Paris the learned Count de Buffon. At -home it numbered such men as Francis Hopkinson, statesman and writer -of prose and poetry; <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Phineas Bond and his brother Thomas, both -original members; <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Adam Kuhn and Daniel Dulany, of Maryland. Upon -these early lists we find Pierre Eugène du Simitière, who was one -of the committee appointed to prepare a design for a national seal; -Benjamin West; John Dickinson, who was writing his “Farmer’s Letters,” -destined to make him known on both sides of the sea; and John Bartram, -botanist to his majesty, who planted his celebrated botanical garden -near Gray’s Ferry, and built with his own hands the house, above the -study window of which is his devout confession of faith:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span></p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“<span class="smcap">’Tis God Alone, Almighty Lord,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Holy One, by me Adored.</span></span></p> -<p class="right"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">John Bartram, 1770.</span>”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>A pioneer in this field, he is recognized as the greatest of American -botanists, and, contrary to the rule generally proved by great -men’s sons, had the satisfaction of seeing his studies successfully -prosecuted by his son, William Bartram, who also contributed original -papers to the society.</p> - -<p>Writing in 1744 to the Honorable Cadwallader Colden, -Lieutenant-Governor of New York, a distinguished scientist and original -worker in certain lines, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Happening to be in this City about some particular Affairs, I have -the Pleasure of receiving yours of the 28ᵗʰ past, here. And can now -acquaint you, that a Society, as far as relates to Philadelphia, -is actually formed, and has had several Meetings to mutual -Satisfaction;—assoon [<i>sic</i>] as I get home, I shall send you a -short Acct. of what has been done and proposed at these meetings.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Here follows a list of members from Philadelphia, New York, and New -Jersey, to which the writer adds,—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Nicholls tells me of several other Gentlemen of this City [New -York] that incline to encourage the Thing.—There are a Number of -others in Virginia, Maryland, Carolina, and the New England States who -we expect to join us assoon [<i>sic</i>] as they are acquainted that -the Society has begun to form itself. I am, Sir, with much respect,</p> - -<p class="center"> -“Your most humᵉ sevᵗ</p> -<p class="right"> -“<span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span>.”<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a><br /> -</p> -</div> - - -<p>The Honorable Cadwallader Colden was one of the original members of -the American Philosophical Society, and took an active interest in its -establishment and advance. He and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin were intimate friends, -and in the habit of communicating to each other their scientific -discoveries. It was <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Colden who introduced into the study of botany -in America the system of Linnæus.</p> - -<p>One of the founders and the first president of this society was <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Thomas Hopkinson, whom <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin called his “ingenious friend,” and -to whom he acknowledges his indebtedness for demonstrating<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> “the power -of points to <em>throw off</em> the electrical fire.” Another “ingenious -friend,” to whom he makes no profound acknowledgment, was the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> -Ebenezer Kinnersley, a professor in the College of Philadelphia, to -whom it is now generally conceded that Franklin owed much of his -success in important electrical discoveries. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Parton says that, in -1748, “<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Kinnersley contrived the amusing experiment of the magical -picture. A figure of his majesty King George II. (‘God preserve him,’ -says the loyal Franklin, in parenthesis, when telling the story) was -so arranged that any one who attempted to take his crown from his head -received a tremendous shock.” By this clever contrivance <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Kinnersley -proves himself something of a prophet as well as a scientist, for -notwithstanding the violent shock received by the friends of royalty in -the colonies, a few years later, it was conclusively demonstrated that -the crown could be taken off.</p> - -<p>In drawing up rules for the government of the Philosophical Society, -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> advises that correspondence be maintained not only -between the central organization and its members in the different -colonies, but with the Royal Society of London and the Dublin Society. -Thus persons residing in remote districts of the United States would -be placed in direct communication with the latest discoveries of Old -World scientists in all their lines of work. What such correspondence -meant to men of intelligence, living far from the centres of education -and enlightenment, in those days of few books and fewer magazines and -journals, it is impossible for us to imagine. Many years later, when -the French botanist, André Michaux, was appointed by his government to -examine the trees of this continent, with a view to their introduction -into France, he carried letters from the Philosophical Society to one -of its members, living in Lexington, Kentucky.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“During my stay at Lexington,” Michaux writes, “I frequently saw <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Samuel Brown, from Virginia, a physician of the College of Edinburgh, -and a member of the Philosophical Society.... Receiving regularly the -scientific journals from London, he is always in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> channel of new -discoveries, and turns them to the advantage of his fellow-citizens. -It is to him that they are indebted for the introduction of the -cow-pox. He had at that time inoculated upwards of five hundred -persons in Kentucky, when they were making their first attempts in New -York and Philadelphia.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Agreeable as it must have been to Michaux to find flowers of science -blooming in these western wilds, we can imagine the even greater -delight that such a man as <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Brown must have experienced in meeting -and conversing with this foreigner, fresh from Old World haunts of -learning, with his interesting budget of news, political as well as -scientific. Those were the exciting days of the Consulate in France, -when Lord Nelson was gaining victories for England in the Northern -seas; and we can picture to ourselves these two learned gentlemen, -seated before a great fire of logs, with a steaming bowl of punch, made -from the famous Kentucky apple-jack beside them, turning away from -the paths of science to discuss Napoleon’s victories, the coalition -against England, and the assassination of the Emperor Paul in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> Russia, -which was followed by a treaty between his successor and the English -sovereign.</p> - -<p>American science must have been in a condition of encouraging activity -between 1750 and 1767, for in those years there were no less than -three societies in Philadelphia whose aims and pursuits were in the -main identical,—the promotion of useful knowledge and the drawing -together of its votaries. These societies were a second Junto, of -which the indefatigable <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin was a member, the American -Philosophical Society, and the American Society. This division in the -ranks of science probably arose from the feeling existing between the -adherents of the Penn family and those averse to them; these parties -being as violently opposed to each other as were, later, Federalist -and Democratic-Republican; or, still later, the Whig and Democratic -parties. Happily for the historian, who is sadly confused by Juntos -and Juntolings, and by American Societies which were philosophical, -and Philosophical Societies which were also<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> American, these different -bodies showed a disposition to unite, and in 1769 were incorporated -into one society, under the title of American Philosophical Society, -held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge. This title -proving a trifle “unhandy for every-day use,” to borrow the phraseology -of a patriotic farmer’s wife, who bestowed upon one of her offspring -the entire heading of the Republican ticket in 1860, “Abraham Lincoln -Hannibal Hamlin,” it has gradually been abbreviated into the American -Philosophical Society, there being now no other.</p> - -<p>Of this united society <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin was elected president, the first -of an honorable line of presidents, whose portraits adorn the walls of -the old rooms on Fifth Street, where the philosophers met more than -a hundred years ago. The society obtained a grant of land from the -State of Pennsylvania in 1785, and in 1787 its hall was completed, -the one still used, in whose sunshiny rooms are now gathered the -relics, the treasures, and the memories of a century. Here is the -old chair on whose broad arm<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> Jefferson wrote the Declaration, and -here are autograph letters and autographs of such value as to fill -the soul of the collector with “envy, hatred, and malice, and all -uncharitableness.” On one side of the hall is the well-known and most -characteristic portrait of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> in his blue coat, large -wig, and spectacles, while near by is his marble effigy by Houdon, -whose statue of Washington bears the proud inscription, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Fait par -Houdon, citoyen Français.</i>”</p> - -<p><abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin was annually elected president of the society, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Thomas Cadwalader officiating during his residence abroad. Brissot de -Warville, coming to Philadelphia in 1788, exclaims, with devoutness -rare in a Frenchman, “Thanks be to God, he still exists! This great -man, for so many years the preceptor of the Americans, who so -gloriously contributed to their independence; death had threatened<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> his -days, but our fears are dissipated, and his health is restored.” Two -years later the same chronicler records, “Franklin has enjoyed this -year the blessing of death, for which he waited so long a time.”</p> - -<p>As president of the Philosophical Society, he was succeeded, in 1791, -by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Rittenhouse, the greatest American astronomer, of whom Jefferson -said, “We have supposed Rittenhouse second to no astronomer living; -in genius he must be first, because he is self-taught.” It was he who -contributed to the society the first purely scientific paper in its -series of Transactions, a calculation on the transit of Venus. He also -described a wonderful orrery, which represented the revolution of the -heavenly bodies more completely than it had ever been done before, and -which he had himself constructed at the age of twenty-three. In June, -1769, he made observations on the transit of Venus. “The whole horizon -was without a cloud,” says Rittenhouse, in his report of this event; -and so greatly excited was the young astronomer that, in the instant of -one of the contacts of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> planet with the sun, he actually fainted -with emotion. Rittenhouse’s interesting report on this phenomenon, -which had never been seen but twice before by any inhabitant of the -earth, was received with satisfaction by learned and scientific men -everywhere. Those who visit the hall of the society to-day may look -out upon the State-House yard from the same window through which -Rittenhouse made his observations, and note the passing hours upon -the face of a clock constructed by his hands, which, the curator says, -“still keeps good time.”</p> - -<p>Prominent among the portraits of early officers is an interesting -picture of Thomas Jefferson, who was third president of the -Philosophical Society, as well as of the United States. This painting, -which well portrays the intellectual and spirited face of the original, -was executed at Monticello by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Sully, who was invited there for -this purpose. Jefferson, who would have been a great scientist had he -not been called upon by his country to use his powers as a statesman, -naturally took a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> warm interest in the Philosophical Society, and was a -member long before he was made its president in 1797. While abroad he -disputed the arguments of the learned Count de Buffon on the degeneracy -of American animals, and finally made his position secure by sending -the astonished Frenchman the bones, skin, and horns of an enormous -New Hampshire moose. Equally convincing was this, and more agreeable -than the manner in which <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin answered a similar argument on -the degeneracy of American men, by making all the Americans at table, -and all the Frenchmen, stand up. As those of his compatriots present -happened to be fine specimens physically, towering above the little -Gauls, the good doctor had the argument all his own way.</p> - -<p>It seemed, indeed, as if these two great men, who so harmoniously -combined the ideal and the practical, were born to prove to the world -that genius of the highest order, in science, letters, and statecraft, -is not incompatible with the same sort of ability that is essential to -the success of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> Western farmer or a skilled mechanic. Hence, if <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Franklin employed his leisure hours in inventing an improved stove, or -explaining to the Philosophical Society why certain chimneys smoked; -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson used his in designing a plough, for which he received a -gold medal from France, and in calculating the number of bushels of -wheat to the acre, at Monticello. One day, he is interesting himself -in the importation of seed-rice from Italy, from the Levant, and from -Egypt; while on another, he is helping the Philosophical Society to -frame instructions for the guidance of André Michaux in his Western -explorations. It was life that interested them both,—life in the -smaller details that affect home comfort, as well as in the broader -issues that bear upon the happiness of states and nations. In <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Jefferson’s minute directions regarding the education of his daughters, -and in his grasp of the details of farming, we recognize the same -sort of practical common sense that so eminently distinguished <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Franklin, of whom his latest biographer says, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> his own forcible -and epigrammatic style,—“Whatever he has said on domestic economy, -or thrift, is sound and striking. No other writer has left so many -just and original observations on success in life. No other writer has -pointed out so clearly the way to obtain the greatest amount of comfort -out of life. What Solomon did for the spiritual man, that did Franklin -for the earthly man. The book of Proverbs is a collection of receipts -for laying up treasure in heaven. ‘Poor Richard’ is a collection of -receipts for laying up treasure on earth.”<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>In addition to its regular meetings for business and for scientific -purposes, the Philosophical Society had its gala days, its annual -dinners, and its especial receptions and entertainments given to -distinguished strangers. Hither, in 1794, came the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Joseph -Priestley, of Birmingham, counted in France too devout for a scientist, -and in England too broad for the clergy. As the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> discoverer of oxygen, -the friend of Franklin, whose experiments in electricity he had -described, and a devotee to the cause of liberty, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Priestley was -warmly welcomed by the Philosophical Society, which not only received -him into its own learned brotherhood, but adopted him into American -citizenship. This first reception was followed by a dinner given by the -learned coterie in honor of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Priestley.</p> - -<p>Many anecdotes of these old dinners have been handed down, showing that -when the good philosophers put science aside they could be as lively -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raconteurs</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bons vivants</i> as the world has ever seen. -On such festive occasions, the witty old Abbé Correa de Serra, Judge -Peters, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Du Ponceau, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> John Vaughan, and later, -Robert Walsh, LL.D., and the Honorable William Short of Virginia, both -most delightful talkers, George Ord, William Strickland the architect, -and the ever-ready wits <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Nathaniel Chapman and Nicholas Biddle, -gathered around the board.</p> - -<p>Of Judge Peters’s clever sayings we find<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> numerous records. As he -grew older, his sharp nose and chin approached each other closely. A -friend observed to him, one day, that his nose and chin would soon be -at loggerheads. “Very likely,” he replied, “for hard words often pass -between them.” Once, while he was Speaker of the House of Assembly, -one of the members, in crossing the room, tripped on the carpet and -fell flat. The House burst into laughter, while the judge, with the -utmost gravity, cried, “Order, order, gentlemen! Do you not see that a -member is on the floor?” Unceremonious, communicative, friendly, Judge -Peters was the life of every circle that he entered; correcting Mayor -Wharton at a dinner when he called to the waiter, “John, more wine,” -saying that it was a <em>demi</em>john that he needed, while he himself -“drank like a fish,” as he expressed it, from his goblet of water, -requiring no artificial aid to brighten wits that were always keen and -scintillating.</p> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> George Ord, who was a delightful <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raconteur</i> as well as a -learned naturalist, took great pleasure in relating a story<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> of his -friend <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Abercrombie, a fellow-member of the society. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> James -Abercrombie, sometime rector of Christ and <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Peter’s Churches, was -a divine of the old school, who despised not the good things of this -lower world while engaged in preparation for those of the higher. -Once, while on a pastoral visit to the small town of Shrewsbury, New -Jersey, where an Episcopal church had been established, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Abercrombie -was regaled with some very fine old Madeira wine, which he drank with -evident appreciation, and probably some surprise at finding anything so -choice in that region of the country. The next day, according to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Ord’s story, the good parson chose for his text that most appropriate -verse from the Acts of the Apostles, in which <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Paul says, “And the -barbarous people showed us no little kindness.”</p> - -<p>Another clerical member of the learned fraternity was William White, -one of our early American bishops, who was an ardent patriot and a -genial companion, as well as the most devout of churchmen. A warm<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> -friend of Benjamin West, the artist, Bishop White was fond of telling -how he helped West to secure his bride, Miss Betty Shewell. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> West -was in England, and so busy painting for the court and royal family -that he could not come over to America to marry his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>; -but, as his father was about to sail for England, he wrote to Miss -Shewell, begging her to join his father, and make the voyage with him. -Miss Shewell’s brother, who was averse to the match, chiefly because -West was an impecunious genius, put a stop to the proceedings by -confining the fair bride-elect in an upper room. Bishop White, then -a very young man, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin, and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Francis Hopkinson determined -to help on the “course of true love” by facilitating Miss Shewell’s -escape to the ship, which was waiting for her at Chester. This they did -by means of a romantic rope-ladder and a carriage around the corner. -Miss Shewell with her maid reached the ship in good time, and a few -weeks after was married to Benjamin West in the English chapel of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Martin’s-in-the-Fields. In<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span> telling this story, the kindly bishop was -wont to add, gleefully, “Ben was a good fellow, and deserved a good -wife, and I would do the same thing over again to-day,”—a sentiment, -we may be sure, that was greeted with applause by the gravest of the -philosophers, they being no exception to the rule that “all the world -loves a lover.” An active member of the society, and for years one of -its counsellors, Bishop White was present on all important occasions, -grave or gay. Having known General Washington and the other great men -of the Revolution, and met and conversed with Samuel Johnson while in -England, his was one of the few familiar faces that greeted the Marquis -de Lafayette when he revisited America in 1824.</p> - -<p>Another face to be seen for many successive years at the meetings -of the society, and at its annual dinners, was that of Peter S. Du -Ponceau, the French lawyer and philologist, who lived here for so -many years. He has left behind him pictures of some of his learned -associates that prove to us that these gentlemen, whose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> faces look -down upon us gravely from century-old portraits, were, on occasions, -as full of quips and quirks and fun and frolic as the most jovial -collegian of our day. Of his frequent journeys to Washington to attend -the sessions of the Supreme Court of the United States, in company with -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Ingersoll, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> William Rawle, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Lewis, and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Edward Tilghman, -he says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“As soon as we were out of the city and felt the flush of air, we -were like school-boys in the playground on a holiday; and we began -to kill time by all the means that our imagination could suggest. -Flashes of wit shot their coruscations on all sides; puns of the -genuine Philadelphia stamp were handed about; old college stories -were revived; macaroni Latin was spoken with great purity; songs -were sung,—even classical songs, among which I recollect the famous -Bacchanalian of the Archdeacon of Oxford, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Mihi est propositum in -tabernâ mori</i>; in short, we might have been taken for anything else -but the grave counsellors of the celebrated bar of Philadelphia.”</p> -</div> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Du Ponceau it is who is accredited with the well-known story of the -lawyer whose client came in and deposed that “his brother had died and -made a will.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> A gentleman who read law with the facetious Frenchman -relates that it was only when a fee was placed in <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Du Ponceau’s -hand that he translated the phrase into, “Ah! you mean that your -brother made a will and died.” We can imagine the laugh with which the -philosophers would greet this most practical of jokes.</p> - -<p>Quite as celebrated as the dinners of the society were <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> John -Vaughan’s breakfasts, which held the same prominence in the social -life of the time as <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar’s evening parties or as the Sunday -afternoon vespers of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Henry C. Carey, where, during the late war, -and after its close, soldiers, politicians, statesmen, and civilians -met together and discussed the great issues and events that shook the -nation from 1860 to 1865. So at <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan’s breakfasts were discussed -the agitating questions of the last decade of the century, Federalists -and Democratic-Republicans, as they were beginning to be called, -meeting together around his hospitable board. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan himself was -a Federalist, although not a violent partisan. Riding, one day, with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson, his horse became unmanageable, disturbing somewhat <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Vaughan’s serenity, upon which the latter, gathering his reins firmly, -muttered under his breath, “This horse—this horse is as bad as a -Democrat!” “Oh, no,” replied the high-priest and leader of the party; -“if he were a Democrat, he would have thrown <em>you</em> long ago.” <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Vaughan, for many years librarian and treasurer of the society, had -his rooms in the building on Fifth Street, in one of which, before its -generous old-fashioned fireplace and high carved mantel, Washington -sat for his well-known portrait by the elder Peale. The general, whom -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan numbered among his friends, had already been elected a -member of the society; but we find few records of his presence at its -meetings or at the famous breakfasts. One of these breakfasts, given -in the latter years of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan’s life, is still remembered by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -William H. Furness, then a young man, recently come from New England -to take charge of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. The -breakfast lasted from nine until one.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> Whether the guests breakfasted -upon roast peacocks and nightingales’ tongues, or upon plain beefsteak -and chops, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Furness does not remember; but he will never forget -the circle gathered around that table. There were John Quincy Adams, -Colonel Drayton of South Carolina, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Du Ponceau, and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Channing, -who exercised such an influence on the religious thought of New -England, and of whom the orthodox clergy were wont to say that his -theology was “Calvinism with the bones taken out.” A goodly company of -leading minds, “joined later,” says <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Furness, by Albert Gallatin -and the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> William Ware, pastor of the First Unitarian Church in New -York. Among other visitors of note entertained by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan were Sir -Charles Lyell, and George Robins Gliddon, the Egyptologist, who were -both in this country about 1841.</p> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> John Vaughan, whose most distinguishing trait was love for his -fellow-men, whom, it was said, he took more delight in serving than -most men take in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> making and hoarding dollars, belonged to a family -distinguished in statesmanship, letters, and affairs. The Vaughan -brothers were of English birth, sons of Samuel Vaughan, a London -merchant trading with America. The most prominent of this large -family was Benjamin Vaughan, M.D., LL.D., sometime secretary to -Lord Shelburne, and acting as confidential messenger in the peace -negotiations between Great Britain and America in 1783. Deeply -tinctured with the revolutionary spirit of the time, a liberal to -the extent of admiring the system of the Directory in France, and -writing in favor of it, Benjamin Vaughan finally found it expedient -to quit the Old World for the more congenial political atmosphere of -the New. He settled in Hallowell, Maine, as did his brother Charles, -where descendants of the name still reside. The death of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Benjamin -Vaughan, of Hallowell, was announced to the society in 1836, and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Merrick, his kinsman, was appointed to prepare a notice of him. Another -brother, Samuel, settled in Jamaica; William,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> the successful banker -of the family, remained in London; while John, one of the younger -brothers, came to Philadelphia, where he established himself as a -wine merchant, and a prominent member of the First Unitarian Church. -Generous to a fault, “Johnny Vaughan,” as his intimates were wont -to call him, seems to have objected to parting with but one single -earthly possession,—his umbrella. A lady who knew <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan when -he was a very old gentleman remembers one of flaming red, whose color -should have insured its staying qualities. A story is also told of -his having printed on the outside of another one in large characters, -“This umbrella was stolen from John Vaughan.” One day a friend of -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan’s started off with this umbrella, and, quite unconscious -of its equivocal inscription, hoisted it in broad day. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan’s -Portuguese office boy, who could speak or read no English, but who -knew the umbrella, and what the printing stood for, chanced to meet -the gentleman who carried it, and with speechless but entire devotion -to his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> master’s interests followed it, and “froze on to it,” as the -narrator expressed it, with such persistency that the holder was fain -to relinquish it and make his escape from the jeers of the by-standers.</p> - -<p>It was over such a circle of learned men and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">beaux-esprits</i> that -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson was called to preside, when he came to Philadelphia, in -1797, to act as Vice-President of the United States in an uncongenial -Federal administration. It is not strange that, with his scholarly and -scientific tastes, he found in the rooms of the Philosophical Society a -grateful retreat from political wrangling and the cares of state. Party -feeling ran so high, at this period, that “social intercourse between -members of the two parties ceased,” says <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Parton, “and old friends -crossed the street to avoid saluting one another. Jefferson declined -invitations to ordinary social gatherings, and spent his leisure hours -in the circle that met in the rooms of the Philosophical Society.” -Not that its membership was Republican, many of its prominent members -being Federalists; notably, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> Benjamin Rush, Chief Justice Tilghman, -Judge Peters, Jared Ingersoll, who was Federalist candidate for the -Vice-Presidency of the United States in 1812, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Robert Patterson, -and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Du Ponceau. This was a place, however, where science, art, -and literature occupied the ground and where politics and party -differences were forgotten in the discussion of some subject that -touched the general weal, as when <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar discovered a new -bone; or Robert Patterson presented a paper on improved ship-pumps; -or Jonathan Williams one on a new mode of refining sugar; or when -John Fitch exhibited “the model, with a drawing and description, -of a machine for working a boat against the stream by means of a -steam-engine;” or, later, when <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Charles Goodyear was induced, by -Franklin Peale, to demonstrate to the society that vulcanized rubber -could be made from the juice of the <i>cahuchu</i> tree. And here, as -if to prove that science and religion may be allied in closest union, -came two distinguished Moravian divines, John Heckewelder and the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> -Lewis D. de<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> Schweinitz, the latter with his “<i>Synopsis Fungorum in -America</i>.”</p> - -<p>John Adams, the Federalist President, was a member of the Philosophical -Society, and speaks of it with warm admiration. Comparing Massachusetts -and Pennsylvania, he says, in one of his letters to his wife,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Particular gentlemen here [in Philadelphia], who have improved upon -their education by travel, shine; but in general old Massachusetts -outshines her younger sisters. Still, in several particulars they -have more wit than we. They have societies, the Philosophical Society -particularly, which excites a scientific emulation, and propagates -their fame. If ever I get through this scene of politics and war, -I will spend the remainder of my days in endeavoring to instruct -my countrymen in the art of making the most of their abilities and -virtues, an art which they have hitherto too much neglected. A -philosophical society shall be established at Boston, if I have wit -and address enough to accomplish it, some time or other. Pray, set -Brother Cranch’s philosophical head plodding upon this project. Many -of his lucubrations would have been published and preserved for the -benefit of mankind, and for his honor, if such a club had existed.”</p> -</div> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Madison, who was far more congenial to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson, politically, -than the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> sturdy New Englander, had been for years a member of the -society; but he was out of office now, and living quietly at his rural -home in Orange County, Virginia. It was during his residence here, in -1794, that the sprightly widow, who afterwards became his wife, writes -of her first meeting with “the great little Madison.” She tells us, in -her charming letters, that Aaron Burr brought him to see her. On this -occasion she wore “a mulberry-colored satin, with a silk tulle kerchief -over her neck, and on her head an exquisitely dainty little cap, from -which an occasional uncropped curl would escape.”</p> - -<p>These were still days of picturesque dressing, with both men and -women. “Jeffersonian simplicity” had not yet come in, in full force. -Watson, the annalist, describes <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson, a few years earlier, in -“a long-waisted white cloth coat, scarlet breeches and vest, a cocked -hat, shoes and buckles, and white silk hose,”—an elegant figure, the -life and centre of the group of men gathered together in the society’s -rooms on Fifth Street. The great Rittenhouse<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> had, in 1797, set -forth upon a wider range among the stars; but <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Benjamin Rush was -there,—physician, scientist, philanthropist, and statesman, a host in -himself. His kindly face and the recollections of his contemporaries -tell us that he was a pleasant companion, with all his learning, -which cannot always be said of the learned ones of the earth. There -also was the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> William Smith, first provost of the University of -Pennsylvania, a man of science as well as an able divine; <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Barton, -nephew of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Rittenhouse, an original worker, who contributed largely -to the scientific literature of the day, and gave to Americans their -first elementary treatise on botany; and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar, the learned -physician and genial companion, who not only enriched the society by -his own work and teachings, but by his correspondence with Humboldt -and Soemmering in Germany, Camper in Holland, Sylvester in Geneva, -Pole and Hope in Great Britain, and many more of that ilk, kept its -members <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en rapport</i> with scientific work abroad. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar -succeeded <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Rush<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> as President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, -which early uttered its protest against slavery. Nor was <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar -solely interested in the cause of the negro; that of the American -Indian, which we are wont to regard as one of the latest fads in the -philanthropic world, also engaged his attention at this early date.</p> - -<p><abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar was elected president of the Philosophical Society on the -resignation of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jefferson, in 1815. Some years prior to this, -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar introduced to its circle the Baron von Humboldt, whom he -invited to that smaller coterie of learned men, at his own house, -which composed the Wistar Club. A gala day it must have been at the -Philosophical Society when it opened its doors to this greatest -naturalist of his time, perhaps of any time. The Baron von Humboldt was -returning from an extended tour in South America, Mexico, and the West -Indies. His young friends Montufar and Bonpland were with him,—the -same Bonpland who later gave the Empress Josephine flower-seeds from -the West Indies to plant at Malmaison,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> who became her intendant there, -and who stood by her bedside when she was dying.</p> - -<p>Another attractive figure in this group of learned men is William -Tilghman, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, the sound lawyer, ripe -scholar, and true gentleman, as his biographer calls him. Perhaps the -highest praise we can award to him now is to record that, although -Southern born and owning slaves, he expressed, with regard to slavery, -a “fervent wish to see the evils of this institution mitigated, and if -possible extinguished,” freeing his own slaves by a plan of gradual -emancipation. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Tilghman was connected through his mother, Anne -Francis, with the supposed author of the Letters of Junius; and, -curiously enough, the strongest evidence yet found that the letters -were written by Sir Philip Francis has come through correspondence with -his American relatives. Interesting as is all that relates to this -literary puzzle of more than a century, the incident that led to the -recent discoveries is like a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">conte de fées</i>, turning upon some -anonymous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> verses sent to a lady at Bath, in which she is told that</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“In the School of the Graces, by Venus attended,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Belinda improves every hour.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>The fair “Belinda,” Miss Giles in every-day life, is quite sure -that the clever verses came from Sir Philip Francis, who danced -with her through a whole evening at Bath. In fact, she recognized -the handwriting of some of Woodfall’s fac-similes of the letters of -Junius. She has an anonymous note that accompanied the verses, which -is, she thinks, very like the Junius handwriting. The investigation -becomes exciting; the experts, Messrs. Chabot and Netherclift, study -the note and verses profoundly, and finally come to the conclusion -that Junius might have written the note, but not the verses. The Hon. -Edward Twisleton is deeply interested in the search, and is loath to -give up this promising leading, when lo! there comes from over the sea -a letter, nearly a hundred years old, in which Richard Tilghman, in -Philadelphia, writes to his cousin, Sir Philip Francis,—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“You are very tenacious of your epigram. I observe you contend for -it, as if your reputation as a Poet depended on it. I did not condemn -the Composition, I only said that it was not an Original, and I say -so still; but yet I am ready to allow that you can <em>weave</em> -Originals, because in the School of the Graces by Venus attended, -Belinda improves every Hour.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Was not this a coincidence? The Franciscans were delighted, especially -as the experts were ready to affirm that the handwriting of the verses -was that of Richard Tilghman, and that it was evident that he had -copied the verses for Sir Philip. As if to make all complete, it was -found that Richard Tilghman was at Bath, with his kinsman, at the time -the verses were sent. Nothing, that has not been absolutely proven, has -ever come closer to proof, and so it remains the Tantalus cup of the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">littérateur</i>, although there are many who find the evidence quite -conclusive that Francis and Junius were one and the same.</p> - -<p>Charles Willson Peale, the artist, known as the elder Peale, was -curator of the Philosophical Society for many years, and one of its -most active members. He did good work in many lines, being a man of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> -scientific tastes and large public spirit. The society owes him a debt -of gratitude for handing down to this generation portraits of its most -illustrious officers and members. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peale rented a number of rooms in -the old house on Fifth Street, having his museum in the building, and -bringing up there his family of artist children, Raphael, Rembrandt, -Titian, Van-dyck, and Rubens,—names still known in American art, that -of Rembrandt being the most distinguished. In 1796 <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peale presented -to the assembled philosophers a son four months and four days old, born -in the building, requesting them to name him. The society, upon this, -unanimously agreed that the child should be called Franklin, after -their chief founder and first president. “Franklin Peale,” says his -biographer, “did not disgrace his sponsors. He grew up thoughtful and -philosophical.” His genius was in the mechanical line. He was one of -the founders of the Franklin Institute, and for many years discharged -with great ability the office of chief coiner at the United States -Mint.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span></p> - -<p>One of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peale’s friends, who became an active and valued member of -the society, was the learned Abbé de Serra, Portuguese Minister to the -United States. This reverend gentleman scandalized Mrs. Peale, whose -neatness was phenomenal, by appearing at her door so dusty and shabby -(he was not a handsome man at his best) that the dainty Quakeress -waved him away from her spotless threshold, saying, “No, my good man, -I have no time to attend to you now;” little thinking that the “good -man” was the expected guest in whose honor she had donned her best -satin gown, and prepared a savory repast, whose crowning triumph was a -dish of asparagus from <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peale’s garden, then a greater rarity than -now. The Abbé had been on a geological tramp with <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peale, and when -that gentleman rallied his wife on treating his friend and guest like -a beggar, the excellent lady justified herself by saying that, after -all, he could not be much of a gentleman, as he “helped himself to the -asparagus with his fingers;” eating it, of course, after the French -fashion.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span></p> - -<p>Another <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">habitué</i> of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peale’s house, and a frequent attendant -at the meetings of the society, was Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de -Canino. He was the nephew and son-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, ex-king -of Spain, and while in America resided in a house on the estate of -his uncle, near Bordentown, New Jersey. This young prince pursued -his studies in ornithology in the United States, making important -contributions to the works of Wilson. A man of wide scientific -knowledge, and a member of nearly all the learned societies of Europe, -the Prince de Canino gave a decided impulse to the study of natural -history in Italy, which was his home, and while in Philadelphia was an -active and interested member of the Philosophical Society, contributing -original papers and making valuable donations of books to its library.</p> - -<p>A few women of distinguished ability have been, early and late, members -of the Philosophical Society: notably Mary Somerville, the English -astronomer; Professor Maria Mitchell, of Vassar; Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> Louis Agassiz, -and Madame Emma Seiler. The earliest woman member was the Russian -Princess Daschkof, lady-in-waiting to the Empress Catherine II. A -great traveller, for those days, the princess profited by all that she -saw and heard in the countries which she visited. A student and an -observer, the friend of Diderot in France, and associating in Edinburgh -with such men as <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Blair, Adam Smith, and Ferguson, she returned to -Russia to become director of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and -later to establish another academy for the improvement and cultivation -of the Russian language. Of the manner in which the news of her -election to the Philosophical Society reached her, the princess says,—</p> - -<p>“I was at my country house, and was not a little surprised on hearing -that a messenger from the council of state wished to see me. The -case and letter were introduced, the former of which contained a -large packet from <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin, and the letter a very complimentary -communication on the part of the Duke of Sudermania.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> These -despatches,” says the princess, “were sent without any examination,” -and it was necessary to explain their nature at once to the despotic -Catherine. “Accordingly I drove to town,” adds the princess, “or -rather straight to court; and on entering the Empress’s dressing-room -I told the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">valet de chambre</i> in waiting that if her majesty was -not then engaged I should be happy in having permission to speak to -her, and to show her some papers which I had that morning received. -The Empress desired I might be shown into her bed-chamber, where I -found her writing at a little table. Having delivered into her hands -the letter of the Duke of Sudermania, ‘These others, madame,’ said I, -‘are from <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin and from the secretary of the Philosophical -Society of Philadelphia, of which I have been admitted a most unworthy -member.’” The Empress made no comment on this matter; but after -reading the letter of the duke, desired the princess not to answer his -grace’s complimentary effusion. She had no objection, it appears, to -a correspondence between the princess<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> and the octogenarian Franklin, -on the other side of the sea; but with the Duke of Sudermania it was -quite a different affair. The duke was a brother of the King of Sweden, -there was a coolness between the courts of Russia and Sweden, and, to -complicate matters, his grace had admired the princess at Aix and Spa, -who, with all her vast experience of life and long years of widowhood, -was only a little over forty, and speaks herself of her <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">beaux -yeux</i>.</p> - -<p>From the time of the election of the Princess Daschkof, in 1789, the -society has always had a Russian membership, generally from among the -members of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Petersburg Academy. In 1864 it was presented with -a superb copy of the Codex Sinaiticus, published in <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Petersburg in -1862, from the parchment rolls found by Tischendorf in the monastery of -<abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Catharine on Mount Sinai.</p> - -<p>A day never to be forgotten by the members of the Philosophical -Society—and there are some persons living whose memory runs back to -that period—was that upon which the Marquis de Lafayette<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> was welcomed -to its hall, on his return to America in 1824. No words can more fitly -describe the emotions of the hour, certainly none can bring back more -perfectly the aroma of that olden time adulation, than the address of -welcome pronounced, on this occasion, by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Charles J. Ingersoll:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“America does not forget the romantic forthcoming of the most -generous, consistent, and heroic of the knights of the old world -to the rescue of the new. She has always dwelt delighted on the -constancy of the nobleman who could renounce titles and wealth for -more historical and philanthropic honors; the commander renouncing -power, who never shed a drop of blood for conquest or vainglory. She -has often trembled, but never blushed, for her oriental champion, when -tried by the alternate caresses and rage of the most terrific mobs, -and imposing monarchs. She knows that his hospitable mansion was the -shrine at which her citizens in France consecrated their faith in -independence. Invited to revisit the scenes of his first eminence, -the very idolatry of welcome abounds with redeeming characteristics -of self-government.... They raise him before the world as its image, -and bear him through illuminated cities and widely-cultivated regions, -all redolent with festivity and every device of hospitality and -entertainment, where, when their independence was declared, there was -little else than wilderness and war.”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> - -<p>Could tongue or pen say more?</p> - -<p>An old Philadelphia lady, who, in her youth, had the honor of walking -to church with Lafayette, vividly recalls her keen disappointment when -she first saw him,—short and stout, not by any means the typical hero -of her romantic dreams. His son, George Washington Lafayette, was with -him, and at a dinner given him, when called upon to respond to a toast, -arose, and, struggling with his emotion and his feeble command of -English, placed his hand upon his heart, and said, “I am zo happy to be -ze son of my fadder!”—words which so touched the sympathetic chord in -the hearts of all present that they felt that the entire vocabulary of -the language could have furnished him with no more fitting phrase.</p> - -<p>Among later members of the society have been such men as Noah Webster, -Josiah Quincy, Washington Irving, Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic -explorer, the Count de Lesseps, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Gladstone, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Oliver Wendell -Holmes, George Bancroft, the historian, James Russell Lowell, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> -two great naturalists, Louis Agassiz, and Joseph Leidy, both of whom, -with their vast learning, retained through life a childlike frankness -and simplicity that endeared them to all who approached them. Those -who met Professor Agassiz by the sea, during his vacation seasons, and -heard from his own lips of the wonders of the shore, and those who -listened to a popular lecture of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Leidy, in which he described the -life and customs of the minute creatures to be found in a drop of pond -water, will always rejoice that it was their privilege to journey even -a little way into the fairy-land of science with such masters for their -guides. Of the pleasure and profit of a more thorough penetration into -its mysteries and enchantments under such preceptors, those who were -fortunate enough to be numbered among the students of Agassiz and Leidy -speak with enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>The Philosophical Society, grown gray and venerable, now celebrates, -May, 1893, its one hundred and fiftieth birthday. Although numbering a -large corps of native and foreign members, working in various<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span> branches -of knowledge, and contributing to its regularly issued publications -valuable papers, the present fraternity feel that the society’s -proudest claim to distinction lies in the fact that it fostered -literature, science, and invention in the young nation, and thus became -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">alma mater</i> of many institutions that have gone forth from -its protecting arms to become, in their turn, centres of light and -usefulness.</p> -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img010"> - <img src="images/010.jpg" class="w25" alt="Pinecone" /> -</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, by John Bach -McMaster, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 137.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Life of Benjamin Franklin, by James Parton, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Works of Franklin, by Jared Sparks, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, pp. 1, -2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Charles Willson Peale’s copy of Martin’s Franklin, the -original of which is owned by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Henry Pratt McKean.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, by John Bach -McMaster, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 277.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_WISTAR_PARTIES"><span class="hide">THE WISTAR PARTIES</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img011"> - <img src="images/011.jpg" class="w50" alt="THE WISTAR PARTIES" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_i2.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">If</span> the impulse towards learning early given by the American -Philosophical Society has found expression in Philadelphia, and other -cities, in historical societies, scientific schools, academies of -natural science, and kindred institutions, its more genial and social -side has long been represented in the city of its birth by the Wistar -Parties.</p> - -<p>As this old club has, within a few years, been reorganized, it may -be interesting to turn back to the period of its inception, and even -further back into the past century, when <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar held, at -his own house, those informal gatherings to which the Wistar Parties -of to-day owe their name. How large a place this club filled in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> the -social life of the period may be gathered from the fact that most -Philadelphians of distinction, if not actual members, were its frequent -guests, while all strangers of note were introduced into the circle -of choice spirits,—choice in the full sense of the word, because -chosen for particular gifts or attainments, the original Wistar Club -being composed of members of the American Philosophical Society, a -close organization that has ever striven to keep its eye single to the -interests of science, literature, art, history, and the promotion of -all useful knowledge. Although Silas Deane, the Marquis de Chastellux, -and John Adams grow quite enthusiastic when describing the luxurious -living prevalent among “the nobles of Pennsylvania,” the latter admits, -with what in a New-Englander may be considered rare generosity, that -there was something to be found here better than our high living, as he -speaks of the “high thinking” of some of those old Philadelphians, in -one of his charming letters to his wife which are only less charming -than her own.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span></p> - -<p>That John Adams does not mention <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar’s hospitable house, and -the company met there, is attributable to the fact that the seat -of government, and with it John Adams as its head, removed from -Philadelphia to Washington about the time that these receptions began.</p> - -<p>The Wistar Parties have frequently been spoken of as first held on -Sunday, which erroneous impression was probably due to the fact that -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar’s family and friends were in the habit of dropping in upon -him on Sunday evenings, knowing him to be more at leisure then than -through the week. The following account, from the pen of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Hugh L. -Hodge, entirely disproves the Sunday origin of these parties, which -were begun before <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar’s second marriage:<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“His [<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar’s] house had become the centre of the literary and -scientific society of Philadelphia. He was in the habit of receiving -his friends to a frugal entertainment every Saturday evening. To these -reunions the most distinguished foreign visitors in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> city brought -introductions, and the most intellectual of the professional residents -gathered.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Bache, a very superior and high-toned woman, had, previous to -her marriage [in 1797], kept house for her brother for several years, -during which time she, with her friend Miss Eddy, afterwards Mrs. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Hosack, of New York, had the great pleasure and advantage of attending -these remarkable Saturday evening meetings.”</p> -</div> - -<p>These early reunions were informal, but as years rolled on a pleasant -custom crystallized into an established usage, the same friends -meeting, week after week, in <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar’s house, at the southwest -corner of Fourth and Prune Streets, whose beautiful garden extended -to <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s church-yard. The entertainment was simple, as the -host’s idea was an intellectual rather than a convivial gathering. -Tea, coffee, and other light refreshments were offered to the guests; -ice-creams, raisins, and almonds were later added to the regale. -Even then the name of Sybarite could not be applied to those early -convives: the terrapin and oyster decadence was of much later date. -A table was seldom spread. The number of guests varied from ten to -fifty, but usually included between fifteen and twenty-five<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> persons. -The invitations were commenced in October or November, and continued -to March or April. During this period <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar welcomed to his home, -each week, his old friends and colleagues, and any strangers whom they -chose to bring with them.</p> - -<p>In 1804 <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar issued an invitation to his friends to meet Baron -von Humboldt, the great naturalist, and his young friend the botanist -Bonpland, who stopped in Philadelphia on their return from a scientific -expedition through Mexico and the West Indies. Here also was introduced -the latest sensation, in the form of Captain Riley, long a prisoner -among the Arabs; also the learned and eccentric <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Mitchill, first -Surgeon-General of New York, later satirized by Halleck and Drake in -“The Croakers:”</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“We hail thee!—mammoth of the State,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Steam frigate on the waves of physic,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Equal in practice or debate</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To cure the nation or the phthisic!”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Hosack, of the same city, who was present at the fatal duel between -Hamilton<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> and Burr, was another early guest; while under the formal -organization of 1818, and in a time nearer our own, England’s most -brilliant novelist recalls an evening spent at what he is pleased to -call a “Whister party.”</p> - -<p>It is not strange that Philadelphians were glad to take the guests of -the city to these parties, where was gathered together, both in the -last century and in this, the best that our New World civilization -could produce, whether of talent and learning or of courtly grace and -good breeding, and here down all the varied years has flashed that -genial flow of wit without which no social gathering is complete. -Here, in early days, came the learned and witty Abbé Correa de Serra, -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Samuel Breck, of Boston, and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John W. Francis, of New York, -whose wit and social qualities were said to resemble those of the -much-loved Lamb; and later came Robert Walsh and Joseph Hopkinson, -both distinguished for their brilliant colloquial abilities, while -Nicholas Biddle would save for the learned brotherhood his freshest -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bon mot</i>, and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> Nathaniel Chapman would bring hither his most -irresistible witticism.</p> - -<p>If the older physicians, whose portraits were recently collected at -the centenary of the College of Physicians, could step down from -their frames, after the fashion of a scene in a well-known drama, we -should have before us, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in propria persona</i>, a number of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Wistar’s guests of the medical fraternity. Presumably among these -was <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Benjamin Rush, who has been called the American Sydenham, -but who combined so many gifts that, like certain plants of various -characteristics, it is almost impossible to classify him. Perhaps -in a larger sense than it can be said of most men, even of the good -physician, he belonged to humanity.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> - -<p>A frequent guest was <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Adam Kuhn, who studied in Edinburgh, and -brought home treasures of learning as his contribution<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> to this -“feast of reason.” Here were also the Shippens, father and son,—both -Williams, both practising at the same time, and both so eminent that -they have frequently been confused by the historian. An honorable line -of Shippens, in different callings, but notably in law and medicine, -has come from that Edward Shippen of whom Boston was not worthy, and -who, after being lashed and driven through the town at the cart’s -tail, because, forsooth, good Puritans couldn’t abide good Quakers, -came to Philadelphia in 1693, to be its first mayor and the founder -of a distinguished family.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Here also shone the kindly face of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Samuel Powel Griffitts, who seems to have brought with him, wherever he -went, an atmosphere of “peace and good will to men.” And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> here, these -gatherings being formed of men of various callings and professions, -came such lawyers as William Rawle, who was ready to discuss theology -as well as law,—perhaps a little readier to talk of the one than of -the other. One day he is writing his notes on the Constitution of the -United States, while upon another such subjects as Original Sin and the -Evidences of Christianity engage his versatile pen.</p> - -<p>Among legal gentlemen who were frequent guests of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar were -William Tilghman, of Maryland, later Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, -who in an interesting biographical sketch has embalmed the memory -of his host; George Clymer, statesman and patriot, whose name is -appended to the Declaration; and Peter Du Ponceau, who, although a -Frenchman, had an ardent admiration for American institutions and the -primitive simplicity that characterized the old Quaker <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> -in Philadelphia. And that the cure of souls might not be neglected, -we find here John Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> intimate -of Wistar, and a correspondent of Du Ponceau, who later translated -Heckewelder’s interesting work on Indian manners and customs into the -French. Here also was John Vaughan, the Unitarian philanthropist, of -whom it has been said that “he represented this city as faithfully as -its own name ‘Brotherly Love.’” Did they meet and talk together, these -two at the extreme poles of doctrine, the devout Moravian and the -Arian whose life was consecrated to the service of his brother man? -If they met, and in their discourse fell upon such subjects as engage -the characters in “Paradise Lost” and the “Divina Commedia,” we may be -sure that in their large mutual love for mankind they found abundant -sympathy,</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Nor melted in the acid waters of a creed</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Christian pearl of charity.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>A goodly company, among whose members there is no one more worthy to -be remembered than the host, generally known as <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar, -<abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, being descended from another Caspar Wistar, who came to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> this -country in 1717. We are informed by a German scholar and a genealogist -that all the Wisters, whether <i>ter</i> or <i>tar</i>, come from one -common stock in Germany, where the name is written Wüster, and that -Caspar, who came to Philadelphia in 1717, son of Hans Caspar and Anna -Katerina Wüster or Wister, in having a deed of conveyance prepared was -put down Wistar by the clerk. This mistake he did not take the trouble -to correct, and from this first Caspar has come a line of <i>tars</i>, -of which <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar, <abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, was the most distinguished. A second -son of old Hans Caspar Wister, of Hilsbach, Germany, coming over later, -had his papers made out properly, according to the German orthography -of the name, and thus established the Philadelphia line of <i>ters</i>. -We venture to give this rather lengthy explanation in view of the fact -that the spelling of Wister has been a fertile subject for discussion -in the Quaker City for some years, and because it is a most reasonable -one, as will be admitted by all who have studied the records of past<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> -generations. In old letters and papers of the last century it is not -unusual to find a surname variously spelled in the same letter, or even -on the same page. This is notably the case in the voluminous “Penn and -Logan Correspondence,” where Jenings and Jennings, Ashton and Assheton, -Blaithwaite and Blathwayt, used interchangeably, hopelessly confuse the -reader.</p> - -<p>A student of the schools of Edinburgh, Professor in the College of -Philadelphia, and later in the University, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar has the honor of -being the author of the first American treatise on anatomy. Eminent as -a physician, teacher, and man of science, this large-brained and busy -man found life incomplete without the cultivation of its social side.</p> - -<p>It is to be regretted that <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Du Ponceau, or the learned -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Benjamin Rush, who at times used a pen with a humorous nib, or -some of the other <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">habitués</i> of these unique gatherings, have -not left us pleasant and gossiping reminiscences of the Wistar Club, -which would serve to render us as familiar with these old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> figures -as contemporaneous writers have made us with the frequenters of the -Kit-Cat Club, where the wits of Queen Anne’s time gathered, or that -later circle at the Turk’s Head, dominated by the great burly figure -of the dictionary-maker. Garrick, Reynolds, and all the rest are -grouped about him; and Boswell is ever at hand, taking notes. Did -humble Boswell realize that he was painting pictures for the future, as -well as, even better than, the elegant Sir Joshua, who sat near him? -Goldsmith was at it too, giving us life as it was, not some fanciful -picture of it; and to them we owe it that these men live before us -now. The following is the nearest approach that we can find to such a -picture, and this, from the pen of the late Chief Justice Tilghman, -gives us only one figure, when we would like to be presented to the -whole company.</p> - -<p>After dwelling upon the modest dignity and bland courtesy of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Wistar’s bearing as President of the Philosophical Society, and the -ardor with which he incited its members to diligence in collecting,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> -before it should be too late, the perishing materials of American -history, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Tilghman says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The meetings of this committee he [<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar] regularly attended. It -was their custom, after the business of the evening was concluded, to -enter upon an unconstrained conversation on literary subjects. Then, -without intending it, our lamented friend would insensibly take the -lead; and so interesting were his anecdotes, and so just his remarks, -that, drawing close to the dying embers, we often forgot the lapse -of time, until warned by the unwelcome clock that we had entered on -another day.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Here is another pen-sketch from a writer signing himself “Antiquary,” -which has a touch of life in it, and shows the good doctor’s ready -tact in setting a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">gauche</i> stranger at his ease. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> John Vaughan -introduced into the learned circle what the narrator is pleased to -call “a living, live Yankee, a specimen of humanity more rare,” he -says, “forty or fifty years ago than now.” It would appear that this -compatriot was received into the company with emotions similar to those -awakened, later, by the advent of the “American Cousin” in England.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“He was,” says the writer, “a man remarkable for his mechanical turn -of mind, but entirely unused to society. No workshop could turn -out a more uncouth individual. I was standing near the door when -John Vaughan brought him in. Between the blaze of light, the hum of -conversation, and the number of well-dressed men, he was completely -overcome, and sank into the first chair he could reach. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan -could not coax him out of it, and I expected every minute the door -opened that he would make a bolt for the street. Presently <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar, -who had the happy knack of suiting his conversation to all ages and -classes, was introduced to the shy Yankee. Soon the ice was broken, -and I saw the shy mechanic conversing freely with scientific men, -explaining to them his views upon mechanism, etc.”</p> -</div> - -<p>When, in 1818, the good old doctor went out to join “the innumerable -company,” the little circle here, which he had drawn together, resolved -to commemorate the pleasant meetings at his house, and to keep fresh -his memory, by forming an organization called the Wistar Parties. This -is, in brief, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i> of the association, as given -by a subsequent member, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Job R. Tyson, in his interesting paper -entitled “Sketch of the Wistar Party,” read before that honorable -society September 26, 1845. He says,—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I have ascertained that the following gentlemen, in the autumn of the -year 1818, formed themselves into an association and agreed to give -three parties every year, during the season: William Tilghman, Robert -M. Patterson, Peter S. Du Ponceau, John Vaughan, Reuben Haines, Robert -Walsh, <abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, Zacheus Collins, and Thomas C. James.”</p> -</div> - -<p>There were only eight to begin with; in 1821 the number had increased -to sixteen, and in 1828 to twenty-four.</p> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Tyson tells us that two essential laws of the existence of the -organization were, “<em>first</em>, that no one is eligible to membership -who is not a member of the American Philosophical Society; and, -<em>second</em>, that unanimity is necessary to a choice.” Numerous -regulations were added, “which,” he says, “with some modifications, -have since been observed.”</p> - -<p>The number of Philadelphians who could be invited to one party was -twenty, and these it appears were picked citizens, selected rather for -their attainments and attributes than for their “long descent.” With -regard to the number of strangers invited, no limit was set.</p> - -<p>The members were pledged to attend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> themselves, and procure the -attendance of strangers, punctually at the hour of eight o’clock; -and “the sumptuary code enjoined, as consentaneous with the scheme -and objects in view, that the entertainments should be marked by -unexpensive, if not frugal, simplicity.” No tea, coffee, cakes, or wine -were to be served before supper. It was recommended that the collation -consist of one course, and be so prepared as to dispense with the use -of knives at table. No ice-creams were allowed. This in 1828.</p> - -<p>In 1835 <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Job R. Tyson bought <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar Wistar’s old house, at -Fourth and Prune Streets, when once more it opened its doors to the -learned and jovial brotherhood.</p> - -<p>In 1840 the number of citizens who could be invited was raised to -forty, while in the years succeeding the organization of the club many -guests from over the sea, and from the different States of the Union, -had been welcomed to the Wistar Parties. One of the latter writes,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“During my stay in Philadelphia I was present at several of these -Wistar meetings, and always returned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> from them with increased -conviction of their beneficial tendency.</p> - -<p>“These meetings are held by rotation at the houses of the different -members. The conversation is generally literary or scientific, and, -as the party is usually very large, it can be varied at pleasure. -Philosophers eat like other men, and the precaution of an excellent -supper is by no means found to be superfluous. It acts, too, as a -gentle emollient on the acrimony of debate. No man can say a harsh -thing with his mouth full of turkey, and disputants forget their -differences in unity of enjoyment.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Better known abroad in the early part of the century than any other -American city, all travellers of consequence came to Philadelphia. -Among these we find such men as General Moreau, counted after Bonaparte -the greatest general in the French Republic; the younger Murat, who -married Miss Fraser, of South Carolina; the Marquis de Grouchy, whose -name will be forever associated with the defeat of Waterloo; the poet -Moore, whose singing drew tears from the beautiful eyes of Mrs. Joseph -Hopkinson; the Prince de Canino, son-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte, -ex-king of Spain, who, himself residing at Bordentown until 1830, was -doubtless a guest of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> the Wistar Association, although, after the -fashion of princes, it was his pleasure to entertain rather than to -be entertained. These and many more, including President Madison, and -the witty and able Virginia gentleman William Short, who, as secretary -of legation under Thomas Jefferson, chargé-d’affaires to the French -Republic, and minister to Spain and the Netherlands, had seen much -of foreign official and social life. An acquaintance of Talleyrand, -himself a diplomatist, life abroad offered <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Short many attractions, -which a friend and contemporary assures us were more than balanced by -the terrors of the sea, which menaced him in the form of sea-sickness. -This gentleman, a surviving member of the Wistar Association of 1837, -recalls no social intercourse in Old-World cities more delightful than -that of this informal club.</p> - -<p>While on a visit to Philadelphia in 1825, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar makes -the following entry in his journal:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“At <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Walsh’s I found a numerous assembly, mostly of scientific and -literary gentlemen. This assembly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> is called ‘Wistar Party.’... The -conversation generally relates to literary and scientific topics. -I unexpectedly met <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> E. Livingston in this assembly. I was also -introduced to the mayor of the city, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> [Joseph] Watson, as well -as to most of the gentlemen present, whose interesting conversation -afforded me much entertainment.”</p> -</div> - -<p>This German nobleman, who was well “wined and dined” in old -Philadelphia, seems to have possessed a happy faculty of replying aptly -to the pretty compliments paid him and his country by Judge Peters, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Charles J. Ingersoll, and other social magnates of the period. To the -toast “Weimar, the native country of letters,” he replied, with ready -wit, “Pennsylvania, the asylum of unfortunate Germans.” Can we not -hear the laughter and applause that greeted that toast? They were not -allowed to subside, either, as the venerable Judge Peters followed the -toast with a song which he had composed the previous evening, and which -he sang with great vivacity and spirit. Are there any such gatherings -now, and do our octogenarians sing songs of their own composing with -vivacity?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span></p> - -<p>The Duke of Saxe-Weimar describes another Wistar Party, this at the -house of Colonel Clement C. Biddle, at which John Quincy Adams, then -President of the United States, was a guest. Of him he says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The President is about sixty years old, of rather short stature, with -a bald head, and of a very plain and worthy appearance. He speaks -little, but what he does speak is to the purpose. I must confess that -I seldom in my life felt so true and sincere a reverence as at the -moment when this honorable gentleman, whom eleven millions of people -have thought worthy to elect as their chief magistrate, shook hands -with me.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In the same year Chief Justice Tilghman records a Wistar Party held at -his house, at which were present such citizens as Roberts Vaux, Mathew -Carey, the Irish protectionist, his son Henry C. Carey, political -economist and writer, Joseph Hopkinson, the elder Peale, who had -studied at the Royal Academy in London and came home to paint portraits -of Washington and his generals, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Frederick Beasley, and many more, -with a sprinkling of foreigners,—<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Pedersen, Minister from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> Denmark -to the United States, the Prince de Canino, who was an enthusiastic -ornithologist, Colonel Beckwith, who had left a leg upon the field of -Waterloo, and several French chevaliers. The whole company, numbering -about one hundred, was regaled with chicken salad, oysters, ices, -wine, punch, and the like, at an expense of twenty-four dollars and -eighty-nine cents. This moderate sum, the accurate transcriber tells -us, included the whiskey for the punch, the spermaceti candles, oil for -the lamps, and extra fire in one room.</p> - -<p>Later in the history of the Wistar Club, after the good founders had -gone, and left it to its own devices, serious innovations were made in -the old sumptuary code, whereupon severe strictures were instituted -against the dainty fare set before the wise men, in the local journals -and elsewhere. One of these attacks upon the Wistarians appeared in the -then recently established <i>Daily Courier</i>, and is interesting not -only because the slashing editorial of the young writer ended the brief -career of his paper, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> because its demise is intimately connected -with the rise of two prominent journals of to-day. It happened that -many of the subscribers to the <i>Daily Courier</i> were members or -guests of the Wistar Parties. These persons instantly withdrew their -patronage. The <i>Courier</i> was shaken to its foundations, and the -unfortunate young Scotchman, James Gordon Bennett, whose pen had proved -too sharp for Philadelphia, sold his journal to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Jesper Harding, -upon which the <i>Daily Courier</i> was merged in the <i>Pennsylvania -Inquirer</i>, and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Bennett, having transplanted his talents to the -more congenial soil of New York, later employed them in founding the -<i>New York Herald</i>.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> - -<p>Written invitations to the Wistar Parties seem to have been used up to -1835, when <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan first speaks of a printed invitation. This bore -the quaint queued head of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar, and is in all respects similar to -that issued by the Wistar Association <i>redivivus</i> of 1886.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p> - -<p>In 1838 and 1839 printed lists appeared, naming the hosts of the -season, and giving the dates of the several entertainments. To these -were appended sumptuary regulations, which were of course born to die. -Just when the terrapin, game, croquette, and like dainties replaced -the original decanters, flanked with ice, cakes, and one substantial -course, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Tyson does not record. When the terrapin came, however, it -came to stay, until the hot discussions incident to the disturbances of -the late civil war routed it and the guests alike.</p> - -<p>Thackeray carried away from Philadelphia such pleasant recollections of -the Wistar Parties, and the mirth and good cheer there enjoyed, that -he thus refers to them in a letter written to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> William B. Reed from -Washington in 1853. He has just heard of the death of his friend <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -William Peter, British Consul to Philadelphia.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Saturday I was to have dined with him, and Mrs. Peter wrote saying he -was ill with influenza: he was in bed with his last illness, and there -were to be no more Whister parties for him. Will Whister himself, -hospitable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> pig-tailed shade, welcome him to Hades? And will they sit -down—no, stand up—to a ghostly supper, devouring the ιφθιμους ψυχας -of oysters and all sorts of birds?”</p> -</div> - -<p>Something else than the mighty oysters impressed the genial novelist, -and that was the face and figure of John Irwin, a well-known -head-waiter, who so resembled the terrapin over which he presided that -Thackeray has, in a few rapid pencil-strokes, put him down on paper as -a fine specimen of a diamond-back. Those who still remember Irwin’s -great paunch and shining face will recognize his portrait in <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Thackeray’s “Orphan of Pimlico.” Thus, this latter-day Bogle, although -there arose in his time no poet, like Nicholas Biddle, to embalm his -virtues in humorous verse, has, like the “colorless colored man,” been -immortalized by the hand of genius.</p> - -<p>The pleasing side of Philadelphia social life must have left its -impress upon the receptive mind of Thackeray, as he writes from -Switzerland in July of the same year,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Since my return from the West, it was flying from London to Paris, -and <em>vice versa</em>, dinners right and left,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> parties every night. -If I had been in Philadelphia I could scarcely have been more -feasted. Oh, you unhappy Reed! I see you (after that little supper -with McMichael) on Sunday at your own table, when we had that good -Sherry-Madeira, turning aside from the wine-cup with your pale face! -That cup has gone down this well so often (meaning my own private -cavity) that I wonder the cup isn’t broken, and the well as well as it -is.... I always remember you and yours, and honest Mac, and Wharton, -and Lewis, and kind fellows who have been kind to me and I hope will -be kind to me again.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The “Mac” is evidently <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Morton McMichael, to whose whiskey punch -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Thackeray alludes with tenderness in another letter, and who -is described by all who knew him as the most genial of men, a very -“king of good fellows.” So great were his social talents that, like -Shenstone’s Frenchwoman who could “draw wit out of a stone,” he -possessed the power to redeem from stagnation the dullest of dinners by -his happy faculty of giving his best and leading others to do the same.</p> - -<p>The “Lewis” alluded to by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Thackeray is <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> William D. Lewis, more -recently dead; another delightful dinner-talker.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span> Possessed of rare -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonhomie</i>, and furnished with a fund of anecdotes of travel,—for -he had lived some years in Russia,—he brought mirth and cheer into the -circles to which he was welcomed, and was even known, on occasions, -to sing some familiar household verses, as “Home, Sweet Home,” in the -Russian language, to the great amusement, if not to the edification, of -his hearers.</p> - -<p>In 1842, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Tyson records only two of the original members of 1818 -still surviving, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> R. M. Patterson and Robert Walsh. The kindly -face of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Vaughan (Johnny Vaughan, as his intimates called him), -first Dean of the Wistar Association, had only lately disappeared from -the circle. Although death had sadly thinned the ranks of original -membership, a number of honored names filled the blanks: among these, -Horace Binney, William M. Meredith, John Sergeant, Joshua Francis -Fisher, Judge Kane, Langdon Cheves, from South Carolina, Thomas Isaac -Wharton, and, there always being a large proportion of medical men, -such distinguished sons of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> the healing art as <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Robert Hare, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Thomas C. James, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John K. Mitchell, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Isaac Hays, physician and -writer, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin Bache and his friend <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> George B. Wood closely -associated with him in medical literature, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Charles D. Meigs, and -Moncure Robinson, Esq., who, among the many who have come and gone, -still [1887] recalls delightful evenings spent at the Wistar Parties. -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Isaac Lea was in 1843 Dean of the association, which office he held -until the stirring events of ’60 and ’61 scattered its members, not -again to unite until 1886, within a few months of his death, when he -was succeeded in this office by his son, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Henry C. Lea.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span></p> - -<p>Writing during this hiatus of many years, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> George B. Wood says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I have always regarded the Wistar Club not merely as an ornamental -feature of Philadelphia society, but as a very useful institution; -bringing as it did persons together of various pursuits, who would not -otherwise perhaps have met, thus removing prejudices and conciliating -friendly feeling; and, by a regulation regarding strangers which -gave each member the right to introduce one or more to the meetings, -facilitating their intercourse with citizens, and contributing to the -reputation of our city for hospitality.”</p> -</div> - -<p>It may be that these words hold something of a prophecy for the -future, as well as a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">résumé</i> of the past; and now that the -old-time invitation, bearing the “hospitable pig-tailed” head of the -founder, has once more begun to circulate, an important influence -may be exercised by it, in drawing together the best and ablest of -the various professions and callings of this city, and in affording, -as of old, a pleasant and informal means of entertaining stranger -guests. Such a club as this forecasts a meeting-ground where British -and Continental scientists and literati, professional men and men of -affairs, may clasp hands with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> American workers on the same lines; -where the large philanthropy of England may meet an even larger -New-World philanthropy; where, under some hospitable roof, questions in -social and political science, or the latest discovery in chemistry or -physics, may be discussed over croquettes and oysters, and with a dash -of hock or sherry (no sparkling wines are allowed) the seas that wash -widely-separated shores shall be bridged in an instant, and, meeting -on some congenial ground of knowledge, of thought, or of interest, Old -and New World denizens shall feel the delightful thrill of a common -brotherhood.</p> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img012"> - <img src="images/012.jpg" class="w25" alt="Shelves supported by pillars with jars on top" /> -</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Wistar married, in 1798, Elizabeth Mifflin, -granddaughter of John Mifflin, the Councillor.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Rush himself humorously related how his patriotism -had interfered with his practice, a number of persons refusing to be -treated by him for yellow fever for the very good reason that he had -signed the Declaration of Independence.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> Since writing the above, it appears upon the indisputable -authority of the first charter for the city of Philadelphia, discovered -in 1887 by Messrs. Edward P. Allinson and Boies Penrose, that the -honored name of Edward Shippen, which so long headed the list of -Philadelphia mayors, must be relegated to a second place, Humphrey -Morray having been the first mayor of Philadelphia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> Casper Souder’s History of Chestnut Street.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> The Saturday Night Parties, held during the war and for -some years after, have been spoken of as direct successors of the -Wistar Association. These, however, were not composed of members of the -Philosophical Society, and the discussions at the meetings naturally -partook of the heat and excitement of the hour, rather than of the -calmer literary and scientific debate for which the Wistar Parties were -designed. The only lineal descendants of the Wistar Association of 1818 -are the parties recently organized, which bear the name of the great -physician and scientist in whose honor they were founded.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_BUNDLE_OF_OLD_LOVE_LETTERS"><span class="hide">A BUNDLE OF OLD LOVE LETTERS</span><br /><span class="figcenter" id="img013"> - <img src="images/013.jpg" class="w50" alt="A BUNDLE OF OLD LOVE LETTERS" /> -</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_s.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">Strange</span> it is that the maiden meditations of more than two centuries -ago should have recently been brought to light in the love-letters of -Dorothy Osborne, so full of womanly tenderness, so humorous, so grave -and gay by turns, and so valuable for the spirited pictures they give -of the life and personages of the day.</p> - -<p>Among stacks of dry-as-dust manuscripts, awaiting the discriminating -inspection of the antiquarian, are doubtless other letters of sentiment -worthy of the world’s reading, even if there are few equal in grace -and style to those of the lovely mistress of Chicksands. A few such -unknown<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> or forgotten love-letters have come under the observation of -the writer,—among these some yellowed pages traced by the hand of -William Penn and addressed to Hannah Callowhill, whose name is now -handed down to Philadelphians by the street which bears her family -name, but who was known to her contemporaries as a woman of strong -character and noble qualities, well fitted to be a helpmeet to the good -Proprietary. These letters form pleasant reading for a leisure hour, -not only on account of their quaint simplicity, but also because of the -insight they give into the delicate and refined nature of the man who -wrote them.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> - -<p>We are wont to think of the founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania -as a man deeply immersed in religious questions, in legal business, -land surveys and titles,—indeed, in all that affected the welfare of -the little colony that he established on the banks of the Delaware. To -picture him as an ardent lover requires some imagination,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> especially -at a period when the early romance of his life was buried in the grave -of his beloved Gulielma, and he figures on the pages of history as a -widower, past middle age, with three children. Yet among his letters -to his betrothed are some that glow with all the warmth and ardor of -youthful affection, while, as befits a man of his years and position, -they contain wise reflections on life, and passages marked by the -prudence, the forethought, and the practical grasp that come with riper -age; and always they are deeply and sincerely religious.</p> - -<p>This Quaker lover does not write a sonnet to the eyebrows of his -mistress, nor does he say, like a modern widower whose <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">billet -doux</i> has come under our notice, that he has “lost his married -partner and would be glad to renew his loss.” He tells her, in grave -and simple language, that it is for the qualities of her heart and mind -that he loves her and desires to win her, as in the following written -from Worminghurst, Penn’s English home, in 1695:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“And now let me tell thee, my Dearest, that tho’ there are many -qualitys, for which I admire thee, as well as love thee, yet yt of -Compassionating the unhappy is none of the least. And whatsoever -pittys has love, for it springs out of the same soft ground; and can -never fail, as often as there is occasion to try it. That my Dearest -H. has been a Mourner, a Sympathizer, an inhabitant of Dust, and so -wean’d from the common tastes of pleasure, yt gratefy other Pallats, -does so much exalt her character with me, yt if this were all she -brought, she must be a treasure to yt happy man yt has a Title to her. -And since, by an unusual goodness, she has made it my Lot, it shall be -as much my pleasure as she has made it my duty to make her constantly -sensible how much I am so of my obligation to her.”</p> -</div> - -<p>One of the most tender of these missives includes some family details -about Billy’s<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> health, who “is lively yet tender” and has just had -his hair cut, and winds up with the following description of a most -unromantic hamper which was intended as an offering to the beloved one:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I presume by the next wagon, there comes an Hamper directed to thy -father, the Contents for thee.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> Viz 3 Gallons of light french Brandy, -one of wh’ pray present thy Mother. I ordered 2 lbs of Chocolate to -keep them company. My Daughter prays thee to accept of 3 small pots of -venson, yt she says will keep well & are of her own manufacture, as -were all the last. She is concerned her pig brawn was not ready wc’h -she fancys would not have been a disagreeable way of eating a pig, but -another season will do. These are little things and yet would express -tho’ meanly Love that is Great.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Was Letitia Penn’s brawn the same sort as that over which dear old Lamb -waxed so eloquent in a letter to his friend Manning? It had been sent -to him by the cook of Trinity Hall and Caius College, and he says of -it,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“’Tis of all my hobbies the supreme in the eating way. He might have -sent sops from the pan, skimmings, crumpets, chips, hog’s lard, the -tender brown judiciously scalped from a fillet of veal (dexterously -replaced by a salamander), the tops of asparagus, fugitive livers, -run-away gizzards of fowls, the eyes of martyred pigs, the red spawn -of lobsters, leverets’ ears, and such pretty filchings common to -cooks; but these had been ordinary presents, the every-day courtesies -of dish-washers to their sweethearts. Brawn was a noble thought.”</p> -</div> - -<p>At another time William Penn is concerned about the health of his -betrothed, and concludes his missive with an earnest recommendation to -her to take some pills,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> that he sends her, at certain hours of the -day, and a specified medicinal water, to be imbibed “three days before -the full and changes of the moon.”</p> - -<p>It appears to have been a not unusual practice among lovers of this -period to prescribe for their sweethearts, as we find Dorothy Osborne -writing about some infusion of steel in which she drinks Sir William -Temple’s health every morning. She vows that it makes her horribly ill, -says that it is a “drench that would poison a horse,” and declines to -continue its use unless her lover insists upon her doing so. In another -of her charming letters she gives Sir William many directions about the -care of his precious health, and even does a little quacking on his -behalf, sending him a new medicine for his cold, of which she says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“’Tis like the rest of my medicines: if it do no good ’twill do no -harm and ’twill be no great trouble to take a little on’t now and -then; for the taste on’t as it is not excellent, so ’tis not very ill.”</p> -</div> - -<p>It is well that some of these old letters of sentiment and domestic -life are left us,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> for did we not occasionally catch glimpses of the -great men of the past penning tender messages to beloved objects -(sometimes, indeed, spelling them very ill), writing about their -children and sending them trinkets and gewgaws, they would become to us -shadowy personages, very spectres, and hauntings of a dream.</p> - -<p>To those who are only acquainted with James Logan, William Penn’s young -secretary, through his official correspondence and endless business -letters, he must appear a very didactic and uninteresting personage; -yet reading between the lines, or scanning a stray letter addressed -to some friend or relative, we catch a sight of the real man, of like -passions with ourselves. Mrs. Hannah Penn, who survived her lover’s -generous hampers and curious medical prescriptions and became a -happy wife and the mother of a brood of sturdy young Penns, was well -qualified to be a lover’s <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">confidante</i>, and to her James Logan was -pleased to unburden his numerous and, it must be admitted, unsuccessful -love-affairs. A disappointed lover may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> not be the most attractive -object in every-day life, but for some indefinable reason it adds to -the historic interest of a man, especially to the feminine reader, to -know that he loved and wooed in vain and bewailed his fate in prose or -verse. Otherwise, why should generations of school-girls weep over the -sorrows of Werther? The young secretary was enamoured of Letitia Penn, -her of the pig’s brawn, and Rebecca Moore, and several others, if we -are to judge from his letters. Letitia married William Aubrey, for whom -James Logan’s admiration was ever after of the scantest. His allusion -to his rival’s rapacity in money-matters, saying that he was “a tiger -for returns,” by which he referred to quit-rents and the like, may not -have been high-minded, but was it not natural? and also that he should -have found few words in which to praise Governor Evans, whom the fair -Rebecca Moore made supremely happy? It was not, however, written in -the book of fate that this excellent Quaker youth should forever woo -in vain, and from some family<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> treasure-trove there comes a charming -letter that succeeded in bringing to his side the lady of his love, -with whom he lived as long and as happily as the princes and princesses -of fairy lore. After dwelling at length upon the “excellent virtues” -and qualifications of this adorable Quaker maiden, and upon his ardent -desire to claim them and her for his own, the writer says, with noble -self-abnegation,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Yet, my Dearest, I cannot press it further, than thou with freedom -canst condescend to it, and enjoy Peace and Satisfaction in thy own -mind, for without this, I cannot so much as desire to obtain thee. -I therefore here resign thee to that Gracious God, thy tender and -merciful father, to whom thy innocent life and virtuous inclinations -have certainly rendered thee very dear that He may dispose of thee -according to His divine Pleasure, and as it may best suit thy -happiness—humbly imploring at the same time, and beseeching His -divine Goodness, that I may be made worthy to receive thee as a holy -gift from his hands: and then thou wilt truly prove a Blessing, and we -shall forever be happy in each other.”<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> -</div> - -<p>This letter of the young secretary is in striking contrast to the -overloaded verbiage so prevalent in that day, which is exhibited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> in -another Colonial letter of a few years’ earlier date, and which reads -as if modelled on the style of Sir Charles Grandison. The writer of -this last effusion, who calls himself the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Elias Keach, apologizes -elaborately for “rushing his rude and unpolished lines into the Heroik -and most Excelent Presence” of his sweetheart, Mistress Mary Helm. -After defining his financial status, which is at a rather low ebb, and -giving forth as his opinion that “Pure Righteousness and Zeal exceeds a -portion with a wife, so also in a Husband,” <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Keach launches his bark -upon a troubled sea of rhetorical affection, in which he pleads the -advantages of his person, mind, and estate, of whose claims he never -loses sight, even when involved in the most high-flown metaphorical -descriptions of the charms of his mistress. The style of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Keach, -however, is not to be described. Like Charles Lamb’s favorite dish, -it must be tasted to be enjoyed. From the carefully pen-printed pages -before us, we transcribe the following passages:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Lady let me crave the mantle of your Virtue the which Noble and -generous favor will hide my naked and deformed fault altho: it seems -to be a renewed coldness to require such an incomparable favour from -your tender heart, from whom I have deserved so little Kindness. Mrs. -Mary: Solomon says Childhood and Youth are vanity; and if so you -cannot expect that in my youth which the gray hairs of our Age (or at -least of our wooden world) cannot afford; it is a common saying and -a true, love is stronger than death, & it is as true a proverb where -Love cannot go it will creep—you know Dear Lady, that the higher the -sun riseth by degrees from the East the more influence hath the power -and heat of its beams upon the Earth, so ever since I saw the sun-rise -of your comely and gracious presence the sunbeams of your countenance -and your discreet and virtuous behaviour, hath by degrees wroat such -a virtuous heat and such Ammorouse Effects in my disconsolate heart -that that which I cannot at present disclose in words in your gracious -presence I am forct (altho far distant from you) to discover in ink -and paper; trusting in god that this may be a Key to open the door of -your virtuous and tender heart against the time I do appear in person; -Dear Mistress: let me most submissively crave this favour of you among -your generrosities that you would not in the least Imagine that I have -any Bye Ends or reserves in writing these few lines to you: But that -I am Virtuously truly and sincerely, upon the word of a Christian; -and the main scope and intent of this letter is only and alone to -discover unto you, these Amorous impressions of a virtuous Love which -hath taken root or is Allready ingrafted in my heart; who have lifted -myself under the Banner of your Love;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> provided I can by any means -gain the honor to induce you to Acknowledge and account me your most -obligeing Servant: I must needs say this is not a common practice of -mine to write Letters of this nature but Love hath made that proper -which is not common; Mrs. Mary if I had foreseen when I saw you what -I have since experienced I would have foreshown a more Ample and -courteous behavior than I then did; Through my Stupidity and dullness -the reason then I could not tell: But the effects I now know and shall -be careful and industrious to improve, not to your disadvantage, and I -am persuaded to my exceeding comfort and contentment; as for my person -you have in a measure seen it, and as for my practice you do in a -measure Know it as for my parts the Effects of my Conversations will -show it. I know it is folly to speak in my own Praise, seeing I have -learnt this Leason Long ago wise is that man that speaks few words in -his own praise....</p> - -<p>“As for my parents I am obliged By the Law of god; to Honour them, & -thus I say in short (first) they are of no mean Family; (secondly) -they are of no mean Learning, & (thirdly) they are of no mean account -and note in the World: tho they are not of ye world But the truth & -certainty of this I Leave to be proved; By Severall of no mean note in -this Province and the next.”</p> -</div> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Keach evidently refers to the Provinces of Pennsylvania and New -Jersey. After several lines that it is impossible to decipher, we -extract the following hope:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“That the Silver Streams of my Dearest Affections and faithfull Love -will be willingly received into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> Mill Pond of your tender Virgin -Heart; by your halling up the flood gate of your virtuous Love and -Affections; which will completely turn the Wheeles of your Gracious -will and Understanding to receive the golden graines or Effects of -my Steadfast Love and unerring Affection which will be in Loyall -respective and Obliging Service so Long as Life Shall Last and such -a thrice Happy Conjunction; may induce Many to bring bags of Golden -graines of Rejoycing to our Mill and River of joy and contentment -and we ourselves will sing ye Epithalmy; this is the Earnest (yet -Languishing) Desire of his Soul who hath sent his heart with his -Letter:”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> -</div> - -<p>The foregoing epistle is connected with a curious chapter in the -religious life of the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The writer, -a son of the celebrated controversialist and Baptist divine of London, -Benjamin Keach, made himself notorious in the early days of the Colony -by passing himself off as a minister of the Baptist Church. “A very -wild spark,” one historian calls him, while even in Baptist annals -Elias Keach is spoken of as “an ungodly young man, who, to make -himself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> appear to be a clergyman, wore black clothing and bands.” He -carried his imposture so far as to undertake to conduct a service, in -the midst of which he broke down, and when the congregation gathered -about him, thinking that he was attacked by some sudden indisposition, -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Keach confessed, “with tears and much trembling,” that he was no -minister, nor a Christian. Whether this shady episode, which occurred -in 1686, the same year that the love-letter was written to Miss Helm, -prevented the mistress of his “Amorous and Virtuous Affections” from -favoring his suit, contemporaneous history does not reveal. It does, -however, establish the fact that Miss More, daughter of Chief Justice -Nicholas More, of Pennsylvania, and not Miss Helm, became the wife of -the polite letter-writer. It would be interesting to know with what -sort of a declaratory effusion this second love was favored. On this -point history is again silent. It states, however, what it is only just -to repeat with regard to the subsequent career of Elias Keach,—namely, -that he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> repented of his sins before he created further scandal in -clerical circles. Having confessed, and having received absolution and -ordination from one Elder Dungan, of Rhode Island, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Keach began -his life-work in earnest, which evidently bore good fruit, as he now -enjoys the reputation of having established the first Baptist church -in Philadelphia County, that of Pennepack, from which sprang a large -sisterhood of Baptist churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.</p> - -<p>Among later Colonial love-letters are those of Abigail Smith, -afterwards Mrs. John Adams, which are marked by the ready wit and -playful fancy that characterized all her writings. These qualities -she seems to have inherited from no stranger, as her father, the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> -William Smith of Weymouth, was one of the most facetious of divines. It -is said that when his eldest daughter, Mary, married Richard Cranch, -he preached from Luke x. 42: “And Mary hath chosen that good part, -which shall not be taken away from her.” Abigail also had her turn. -Some of the aristocratic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> parishioners of Weymouth objected to John -Adams because he was the son of a small farmer and himself a lawyer, -these two facts rendering him, they thought, ineligible to marry the -minister’s daughter, in whose veins flowed the bluest of New England -blue blood. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Smith accordingly favored his congregation with a -discourse on the text, “For John came neither eating bread nor drinking -wine; and ye say, He hath a devil,” the latter clause having reference -to the groom’s profession, the law, which was not then held in much -repute in New England.</p> - -<p>In a letter written by Miss Smith, from her village home, to John -Adams, who was undergoing the process of inoculation for small-pox in -Boston, she says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“By the time you receive this I hope from experience that you will be -able to say that the distemper is but a trifle. Think you I would not -endure a trifle for the pleasure of seeing you? Yes, were it ten times -that trifle, I would. But my own inclinations must not be followed. I -hope you smoke your letters well before you deliver them. Mamma is so -fearful lest I catch the distemper, that she hardly ever thinks the -letters are sufficiently purified. Did you never rob a bird’s nest?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> -Do you remember how the poor birds would fly round and round, fearful -to come nigh, yet not know how to leave the place? Just so they say I -hover round Tom whilst he is smoking my letters.”</p> -</div> - -<p>It is to be regretted that John Adams’s answers to these letters are -not preserved: they were probably burned up by the anxious mamma.</p> - -<p>All Abigail’s letters are love-letters in their tone of earnest -devotion, whether written before or after marriage. With the details -of the stir and excitement of military doings in and around Boston, -the arrival of General Washington, the scantiness of provisions, and -the cry for pins, which seem to have been as scarce as diamonds, there -abound such passages as this:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I wish I could come and see you. I never suffer myself to think you -are about returning soon. Can it, will it be? May I ask—may I wish -for it? When once I expect you——But hush! Do you know it is eleven -o’clock at night?... Pray don’t let Bass forget my pins. We shall -soon have no coffee, nor sugar, nor pepper here; but whortleberries -and milk we are not obliged to commerce for. I saw a letter of yours -to Colonel Palmer by General Washington. I hope I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> one too. -Good-night. With thoughts of thee I close my eyes. Angels guard and -protect thee; and may a safe return ere long bless thy Portia.”</p> -</div> - -<p>It was always Diana or Portia, after the romantic fashion of those -days; and who would not rather have been Portia than plain Abigail to -her lover?</p> - -<p>A curious literary and historical fact, not generally known, is that -General Benedict Arnold, who was notorious for his extravagance in -public and private life, was extremely parsimonious in the matter -of love-letters. By the infallible proof of an old letter, recently -discovered, it appears that he made the same amatory composition do -double duty, having used it in addressing at least two ladies of his -choice. The letter was first employed in a proposal to Miss A., whom -he did not marry, and with a few changes was used in offering himself -to the beautiful Miss Peggy Shippen, of Philadelphia, whom he married -in 1779. The letter, as addressed to Miss Shippen, is to be found in -Arnold’s “Life of Benedict Arnold,” and is undoubtedly a fine sample -of a love-letter of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> rather florid and bombastic style. If Miss -Shippen had realized that her suitor had written to an earlier love -that her “charms had lighted up a flame in his bosom which could never -be extinguished, that her heavenly image was too dear to be ever -effaced, and that Heaven’s blessing should be implored for the idol -and <em>only</em> wish of his soul,” she might with some reason have -hesitated to bestow her hand upon so trite a lover, who could find no -fresh adjectives to match her charms.</p> - -<p>Of interesting foreign love-letters we might speak at length: of a -manly and tender missive from the great Gustavus Adolphus to an early -love; of the Klopstock letters, than which in the whole literature of -love nothing more beautiful can be found; of those of Prosper Mérimée -to his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coquette Inconnue</i>, with their irresistible grace and -brilliancy enhanced by the air of mystery that surrounds them; or of -the exquisite metrical love-letters that Elizabeth Barrett addressed -to her “Most gracious singer of high poems.” We have chosen rather to -group together a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> Colonial love-letters, not only because most -of them are unknown to the reading world, but also with a thought of -drawing together in sympathy lovers of to-day with those of a past -generation, not wigged, capped, and spectacled, as we are wont to -picture our grandfathers and grandmothers, but with flowing locks and -flashing eyes, armed <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cap-à-pie</i> to enter in and conquer, or be -conquered, in that fair realm where victor and vanquished rejoice to -quit the lists hand clasped in hand.</p> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img014"> - <img src="images/014.jpg" class="w25" alt="Scroll of writing wrapped in a ribbon" /> -</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> From MS. letters in possession of the Historical Society -of Pennsylvania.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> William Penn, <abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, who grew up a gay young blade and -distinguished himself by beating the watch and otherwise scandalizing -the law-abiding citizens of old Philadelphia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> From MS. letter, written to Miss Sarah Read, of -Philadelphia, in possession of Miss F. A. Logan.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> Original owned by Miss Anna Peale, a grand-daughter of -Charles Willson Peale.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, which now form the State of -Delaware.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ASSEMBLIES"><span class="figcenter" id="img015"> - <img src="images/015.jpg" class="w50" alt="THE PHILADELPHIA DANCING ASSEMBLIES" /> -</span><br /> -THE PHILADELPHIA <br />DANCING ASSEMBLIES</h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_a.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">As</span> has been said, we are wont to think of our esteemed progenitors of -the Colonial and Revolutionary periods as performing valuable service -in their day and generation, “being good,” as some wit expresses it, -“but not having a very good time.” If our thoughts revert to the ladies -of the last century, we picture them spending their days in spinning, -knitting, or sewing, surrounded by their maid-servants, whom they are -instructing in these most useful arts, as the Mother of the Republic -is described by so many who visited her at Mount Vernon, rather than -in bedecking themselves for conquest in the gay world. The men of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> the -period seem to have spent so much of their time at assemblies, not -dancing assemblies, but those in which the laws of the Colonies were -discussed, and land-claims, quit-rents, and other dry affairs settled, -that we are surprised when a stray leaf from the note-book of some -public man floats down to us containing such entries as the following:</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -Diana for attendance -</td> -<td class="tdr"> -15<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">For candles -</td> -<td class="tdr">£1.12<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> “ snuffers -</td> -<td class="tdr">4<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> “ three dozen chairs -</td> -<td class="tdr">£7. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> “ 200 limes -</td> -<td class="tdr">14<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> “ 18 pounds milk bisket -</td> -<td class="tdr">9<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> “ 5 gallons rum and cask -</td> -<td class="tdr">£2.3<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> “ Musick -</td> -<td class="tdr">£1.10<i>s.</i> -</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>Learning that these items were among the expenses of an early -Philadelphia Dancing Assembly, and that the wives and daughters of -such ancient worthies as His Honor the Governor of Pennsylvania, Chief -Justice Shippen, Thomas Hopkinson, and the Bond brothers wore rich -imported silks, feathers, and flowers, and attended routs and balls, -life in the old Provincial city is suddenly lit up with brighter hues,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> -and gay scenes take their place upon the canvas of the past.</p> - -<p>History has treated with such dignified silence this more frivolous -side of Philadelphia life that it is only from old manuscript letters -and note-books, from such sprightly diaries as those of William Black, -of Virginia, Sarah Eve, and Sally Wister, and from Watson and other -annalists, that we learn that there was much gayety, as well as rare -good living, in this city in the last century. As early as 1738 we read -of a dancing class, instructed by Theobald Hackett, who engaged to teach</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“all sorts of fashionable English and French dances, after the newest -and politest manner practised in London, Dublin, and Paris, and to -give to young ladies, gentlemen, and children the most graceful -carriage in dancing and genteel behavior in company that can possibly -be given by any dancing-master whatever.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Certainly the dancing-master’s card is worded in the “politest manner,” -and his pupils in this city must have proved singularly apt in the -Terpsichorean art, as the Philadelphia women were noted, at an early -date, for their grace and social charm.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span></p> - -<p>Later, one Kennet taught dancing and fencing, as did also John Ormsby, -from London, “in the newest taste now practised in Europe, at <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Foster’s house, in Market Street, opposite the Horse and Dray.”</p> - -<p>These announcements sound strangely un-Quakerlike, and in 1749 such -alarming premonitory symptoms of gayety culminated in a regular series -of subscription balls, after the London fashion. The good Quakers -naturally looked askance at such festivities; consequently we find -the names of no Pembertons, Logans, Fishers, Lloyds, Whartons, Coxes, -Rawles, Norrises, Peningtons, Emlens, Morrises, or Biddles on the -original list of membership; but here are M’Calls, Francises, Burds, -Shippens, Barclays, Wilcockses, Willings, McIlvaines, Hamiltons, -Allens, Whites, and Conynghams.</p> - -<p>The clergy was represented in these early Assemblies by the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> -Richard Peters, of London, who held high positions in the State as well -as in the Church, and the Provincial Government by James Hamilton,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span> the -first American-born governor of Pennsylvania. A letter from Richard -Peters to Thomas Penn shows what a warm interest the reverend gentleman -took in the recently-formed Assembly. The letter is dated New Castle, -May 3, 1749, and reads as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“By the Governor’s encouragement there has been a very handsome -Assembly once a fortnight at Andrew Hamilton’s house and stores, -which are tenanted by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Inglis [and] make a set of rooms for such a -purpose, & Consists of eighty ladies and as many gentlemen, one-half -appearing every Assembly Night. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Inglis had the conduct of the -whole, and managed exceeding well. There happened a little mistake -at the beginning, which at some other times might [have] produced -disturbances. The Governor would have opened the Assembly with Mrs. -Taylor, but she refused him, I suppose because he had not been to -visit her. After Mrs. Taylor’s refusal, two or three other ladies, out -of Modesty and from no manner of ill design, excused themselves, so -that the Governor was put a little to his shifts when Mrs. Willing, -now Mrs. Mayoreas,<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> in a most Genteel Manner put herself into his -way, and on the Governor seeing this instance, he”</p> -</div> - -<p class="p0">here there occurs something illegible, but it appears from what follows -that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> Governor danced the first minuet with this amiable lady, who -showed her fine breeding by stepping in to prevent his being placed in -an awkward position.</p> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Peters adds, in judicial form, that “Mrs. Taylor was neither blamed -nor excused nor commended, and so it went off, and every person during -the continuance of the Assembly, which ended last week, was extremely -cheerful and good natured.”</p> - -<p>This Mrs. Abraham Taylor was the same Philadelphia Taylor who wrote a -little earlier of the exceeding dulness of Provincial life, and the -lack of all congenial amusement, sighing the while for an “English -Arcadia,” which she thus quaintly described: “The hight of my ambition -is to have us all live together in some pretty country place in a clean -and genteel manner.”</p> - -<p>It is pleasing to know that social life was beginning to come up to -this lady’s standard, even if her own manners did not rise with it. Her -rude treatment of Governor Hamilton was due to the fact of her husband -having some difficulty with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> Provincial authorities, which she -undertook to revenge upon the person who seems to have been the least -to blame in the matter.</p> - -<p>The managers of the first Assembly were John Swift, a successful -merchant, and Collector of the Port of Philadelphia; John Wallace, son -of a Scotch clergyman; John Inglis, whose name is not now represented -in Philadelphia, but from whom are descended Fishers, Cadwaladers, -Coxes, and Kanes; and Lynford Lardner, an Englishman, who came here -in 1740 to hold a number of honorable positions in the Province, and, -being addicted to learning as well as to gayety, was a director of -the Library Company and an early member of the American Philosophical -Society.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span></p> - -<p>Among the subscribers to the first Dancing Assembly was Andrew Elliot, -son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, then a young man recently arrived in the -Province. Although he married into two Philadelphia families, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -Elliot’s associations were much with New York, where he was sometime -Collector of Customs and Lieutenant-Governor. Mrs. Jauncey, Governor -Elliot’s daughter, writes from that city, in 1783, of a ball at -Head-quarters in honor of the Queen’s birthday, which her father -urged his wife to attend, yet we find him writing a few months later -of Mrs. Elliot being in Philadelphia, and warmly received by the -authorities there, “in high spirits and high frolic, with all her -best clothes; dancing with the French Minister, Financier-General, -Governor of the State, &c.,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> &c., all striving who shall show her most -attention.” This latter was after the preliminaries of peace had been -signed between Great Britain and the United States, when Governor -Elliot’s old friends, “Governor Dickinson, Bob. Morris,” and other -officials in the government, had begun to assume the more imposing -proportions of winning figures. Both Mrs. Jauncey and Elizabeth Elliot -married Englishmen. The latter, as Lady Cathcart, seems to have taken -particular delight in dazzling the eyes of her American relatives -with pictures of her own magnificent appearance in sable and diamonds -assisting at court functions, where she is pleased to find herself on -occasions the best dressed person in the company.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p>Mrs. Jekyll, whose name is to be found on the early Assembly lists, -and who is spoken of as “a lady of pre-eminent fashion and beauty,” -was a grand-daughter of the first Edward Shippen. Her husband, John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> -Jekyll, was Collector of the Port of Boston. In connection with this -lady’s gayety and social distinction, Watson gives some curious -information with regard to the invitations in early times, which, he -says, were printed upon common playing-cards, there being no blank -cards in the country, none but playing-cards being imported for sale. -“I have seen at least a variety of a dozen in number addressed to this -same lady [Mrs. Jekyll]. One of them, from a leading gentleman of that -day, contained on the back the glaring effigy of <em>a queen</em> of -clubs!”<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> - -<p>The first Assembly Balls were held in a large room at Hamilton’s wharf, -on Water Street, between Walnut and Dock. There seems to have been no -hall capable of accommodating so many persons, and as Water Street -skirted the court end of the town, it was a rather convenient locality -in which to hold a ball. A lady of the olden time has left a record of -going to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span> one of these balls at Hamilton’s Stores in full dress and -on horseback. What would the belles of that early time think if their -Rosinantes could land them at the Academy of Music for one of the -great routs of our days? The scene of enchantment now presented by the -corridors, foyer, and supper-room would certainly bewilder the brains -and dazzle the eyes of those beautiful great-grandmothers, for the -decorations were not then elaborate, and the entertainment was simple, -consisting, says one chronicler, “chiefly of something to drink.”</p> - -<p>In 1772 the Assembly Balls seem to have been held at the Freemasons’ -Lodge, while it is evident from notices in the <i>Pennsylvania -Journal</i> of 1784-85, that they were later held at the City Tavern. -In 1802 the managers gave notice to subscribers, in <i>Poulson’s -Advertiser</i>, that the first ball of the season would be held at -Francis’s Hotel, on Market Street.</p> - -<p>According to the early Assembly rules, tickets for strangers were to -be had on application to the managers, and were to be paid for at -the rate of seven shillings<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span> and sixpence,—this for gentlemen; for -ladies (such was the gallantry of the time) nothing was to be paid. -This old regulation remained in force until quite recently, when, in -consequence of the increasing number of guests from other cities and -in simple justice to the subscribers, it was decided that guests of -both sexes should be paid for at the same rates as residents. The old -subscription ticket was forty shillings, which moderate sum was levied -upon the gentleman, and of course included the lady who accompanied -him. It covered the expenses of a series of entertainments given upon -every Thursday evening from January until May. The rule was that the -ball “should commence at precisely six in the evening, and not, by -any means, to exceed twelve the same night.” Worthy and most moderate -ancestors! Your ball ended at the hour that the Assembly of our time -begins, and the fair Belindas and Myrtillas who had graced the scene -were sent off to their beds in time to get, if not beauty-sleep, -certainly some hours of good sleep before dawn. This was a fortunate -circumstance,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span> for those were days when mothers of families considered -it one of the cardinal sins to lie abed in the morning, and if Belinda -did not get her quantum of sleep at night there was little chance of -making it up at high noon.</p> - -<p>Although it was one of the regulations of the Assembly that none were -to be admitted without tickets, which were received at the door by one -of the directors, there appears to have been some laxity in enforcing -this regulation, as, in 1771, the following notice was inserted in the -<i>Pennsylvania Journal</i>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The Assembly will be opened this evening, and as the receiving money -at the door has been found extremely inconvenient, the managers think -it necessary to give the public notice that no person will be admitted -without a ticket from the directors, which (through the application of -a subscriber) may be had of either of the managers.”</p> -</div> - -<p>As card-playing formed an important part in the entertainment of the -time, rooms were provided for those who preferred cards to the dance, -furnished with fire, candles, tables, cards, etc.</p> - -<p>The dances were regulated according to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> very strict rules, “first come, -first served.” The ladies who arrived first had places in the first -set; the others were to be arranged in the order in which they arrived. -The ladies were to draw for their places, which made a little pleasant -excitement and raised a flutter of expectation in breasts masculine as -well as feminine. The directors always had the right to reserve one -place out of the set “to present to a stranger, if any, or any other -lady, who was thereby entitled to lead up that set for the night.”</p> - -<p>To break in upon the regular order of the dances seems to have been a -serious offence, as, in a letter of 1782, we read of a Philadelphia -belle, Miss Polly Riché, starting up a revolt against the established -authorities by “standing up in a set not her own.” By drawing the other -ladies and gentlemen, who formed the cotillon, into the rebellion, she -precipitated a rupture between the gentlemen, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Moore and Colonel -Armand, and the managers of the Assembly.</p> - -<p>Two Jewish names appear on this early list of 1749, Levy and Franks. -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Black,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> who was in Philadelphia in 1744, thus describes a Miss -Levy, probably a sister of Samson Levy, whose name is enrolled among -the subscribers to the Assembly:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“In the evening, in company with <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Lewis and <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Littlepage, I -went to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Levy’s, a Jew, and very Considerable Merch’t; he was a -Widdower. And his Sister, Miss Hettie Levy, kept his House. We staid -Tea, and was very agreeably Entertain’d by the Young Lady. She was -of middle Stature, and very well made her Complection Black but very -Comely, she had two Charming eyes full of Fire and Rolling; Eye Brows -Black and well turn’d, with a Beautiful head of Hair, Coal Black which -she wore a Wigg, waving in wanting curling Ringletts in her Neck; She -was a lady of a great Deal of Wit, Join’d to a Good Understanding, -full of Spirits, and of a Humor exceeding Jocose and Agreeable.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Another lady who inspired even more ardent admiration in the -susceptible breast of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Black was Miss Mollie Stamper, who married -William Bingham, and figures on the early lists of the Assembly as Mrs. -Bingham.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Of this young lady’s charms <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Black says,—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I cannot say that she was a Regular Beauty, but she was Such that -few could find any Fault with what Dame Nature had done for her.... -When I view’d her I thought all the Statues I ever beheld, was so much -inferior to her in Beauty that she was more capable of Converting -a man into a Statue, than of being Imitated by the Greatest Master -of that Art, & I surely had as much delight in Surveying her as the -Organs of Sight are capable of conveying to the Soul.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Few names were better known in the old-time social life than that of -Franks. David Franks was a brother of Phila Franks, afterwards Mrs. -Oliver De Lancey, and father of Rebecca Franks, who was a reigning -belle during the British occupation of Philadelphia, when General Howe -was in the habit of tying his horse before David Franks’s house and -going in to have a chat with the ladies, and probably to enjoy a laugh -at some of Miss Rebecca’s spirited sallies. Although the beautiful -Jewess shared the honors of belledom with fair Willings and Shippens, -no person seems to have disputed her title to be considered the wit -of the day among womankind. Abigail Franks, who became Mrs. Andrew -Hamilton, was another daughter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> of David Franks. It was to this sister -in Philadelphia that Miss Rebecca wrote a long gossipy letter from New -York in 1781, in which she contrasted the manners of the belles of that -city and her own very much to the advantage of those of the latter -place, always excepting the Van Hornes, with whom she is staying, -and whom she describes as most attractive, Miss Kitty Van Horne much -resembling the greatly admired Mrs. Galloway.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“By the way,” she writes, “few New York ladies know how to entertain -company in their own houses, unless they introduce the card-table. -Except this family, who are remarkable for their good sense and ease, -I don’t know a woman or girl that can chat above half an hour, and -that on the form of a cap, the color of a ribbon, or the set of a -hoop, stay, or jupon. I will do our ladies, that is in Philadelphia, -the justice to say they have more cleverness in the turn of an eye -than the New York girls have in their whole composition. With what -ease have I seen a Chew, a Penn, Oswald, Allen, and a thousand -others entertain a large circle of both sexes, and the conversation, -without the aid of cards, not flag or seem in the least strained or -stupid.”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span></p> -<p>In <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Joseph Shippen’s “Lines Written in an Assembly Room” we -find a graceful picture of the beauties of the ante-Revolutionary -period. “Fair, charming Swift,” the eldest daughter of John Swift, -who afterwards became Mrs. Livingston; “lovely White,” a sister of -Bishop White, who, as Mrs. Robert Morris, was the chosen friend of -Mrs. Washington while in Philadelphia; “sweet, smiling, fair M’Call;” -Katharine Inglis; Polly Franks, an elder daughter of David Franks; -Sally Coxe, who married Andrew Allen, the loyalist; and Chews so fair -that <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Shippen cannot decide which is the fairer. Two of these -bewildering sisters, Mary and Elizabeth Chew, married respectively -Alexander Wilcocks and Edward Tilghman. Another poet, of a period a -little later than this, happening to pick up a knot of ribbon dropped -by Miss Chew on the ball-room floor, thus descants upon her charms:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“If I mistake not—’tis the accomplish’d Chew,</span><br /> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To whom this ornamental bow is due;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its taste like hers, so neat, so void of art—</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Just as her mind and gentle as her heart.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I haste to send it—to resume its place,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For beaux should sorrow o’er a bow’s disgrace.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>It does not appear to have taken great inspirations to set the muse -to rhyming in those days. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> John Swanwick seems always to have -found his prompt to obey his call, and whether he is disappointed in -a walk with Miss Markoe, or whether he takes such a walk; whether it -is Miss Meredith’s canary-bird that dies or the great astronomer David -Rittenhouse, all alike give wings to his Pegasus. He lends Miss Abby -Willing his Biographical Dictionary, and with it encloses a dozen -verses or more on those inscribed in this “splendid roll of fame.” -Another occasion of poetic inspiration is when tears are observed to -stream down a young lady’s cheek on listening to a sermon from the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> -William White. Must it not have been delightful to possess such a fancy?</p> - -<p>As early as 1765 some of the good old Quaker names are to be found -on the Assembly lists, as Mifflin, Fishbourne,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span> Dickinson, Galloway, -Nixon, Powell, and Cadwalader, the latter family being, like the -Ingersolls, Montgomerys, Sergeants, Tilghmans, Wisters, and Markoes, -among later arrivals in Philadelphia from other States or from abroad. -Margaret Cadwalader married Samuel Meredith, first Treasurer of the -United States, while her elder sister Polly became the wife of Philemon -Dickinson, from Crosia-doré, Maryland, a brother of John Dickinson, -himself distinguished as a soldier and statesman, while General John -Cadwalader carried off one of the Meschianza belles, Miss Williamina -Bond.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Among names upon other Assembly lists, early and late, are -those of Clymer, Hazlehurst, Evans, Burd, Lewis, McMurtrie, McPherson, -Sims, Ross, Watmough, Biddle, Wharton, Meade, etc., while in that -of 1765 there is a curious record of “Miss Allen, alias Governess,” -which evidently refers to Ann Allen, who married Governor John Penn, a -grandson<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span> of the Proprietary. Of this fair lady the ever-ready Swanwick -sings,—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“When youthful Allen of majestic mien</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seems as she moves of every beauty queen—</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And by refinements of a polish’d mind,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To decorate a throne design’d.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>The regular Assembly balls seem to have been discontinued during the -War of the Revolution, although most of this time there was no lack -of gayety in Philadelphia, especially in Tory circles, as is shown by -contemporaneous letters. Miss Franks writes to Mrs. William Paca<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> in -1778, while the British were in possession of the city,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“You can have no idea of the life of continued amusement I live in. I -can scarce have a moment to myself. I have stole this while everybody -is retired to dress for dinner. I am but just come from under <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> J. -Black’s hands and most elegantly am I dressed for a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span> ball this evening -at Smith’s where we have one every Thursday. You would not Know the -room ’tis so much improv’d.</p> - -<p>“I wish to Heaven you were going with us this evening to judge for -yourself. I spent Tuesday evening at Sir Wᵐ Howes where we had a -concert and Dance. I asked his leave to send you a Handkerchief to -show the fashions. He very politely gave me leave to send anything you -wanted, tho’ I told him you were a Delegate’s Lady....</p> - -<p>“The Dress is more ridiculous and pretty than any thing I ever -saw—great quantity of different colored feathers on the head at a -time besides a thousand other things. The Hair dress’d very high in -the shape Miss Vining’s was the night we returned from Smiths—the Hat -we found in your Mother’s Closet wou’d be of a proper size. I have -an afternoon cap with one wing—tho’ I assure you I go less in the -fashion than most of the Ladies—no being dress’d without a hoop. B. -Bond makes her first appearance tonight at the rooms.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In B. Bond we recognize one of the Meschianza belles, while the Miss -Vining to whom Miss Franks refers was a Wilmington girl, whose beauty, -grace, and fluency in speaking their language made her a great favorite -with the French officers in America, who wrote home so enthusiastically -of her charms that her name became known at the court of France, -the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span> queen herself expressing a desire to meet the famous American -beauty.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“No loss for partners,” the lively lady continues, “even I am engaged -to seven different gentlemen for you must know ’tis a fix’d rule -never to dance but two dances at a time with the same person. Oh how -I wish <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> P. wou’d let you come in for a week or two—tell him I’ll -answer for your being let to return. I know you are as fond of a gay -life as myself—you’d have an opportunity of rakeing as much as you -choose either at Plays, Balls, Concerts or Assemblys. I’ve been but -3 evenings alone since we mov’d to town. I begin now to be almost -tired.”<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> -</div> - -<p>It is probably to the revival of the hoop about 1778, of which Miss -Franks speaks, that some humorous verses refer, in which the hoop and -anti-hoop factions are described as arraying themselves for battle -upon the floor of the Assembly room. The anti-hoop party was under the -leadership of Narcissa, who with her followers declared that it was -their opinion</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span></p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 9em;">“That unless</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They had it in their Power to dress</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As they thought proper, nought would be</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At last left to their Option free,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so concluded, one and all,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hoopless to go to the next Ball.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>The hoop party was conducted by Fribeto, the Nash of the time, a -miniature beau, who suggests to the mind Pope’s <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">dramatis personæ</i> -in the “Rape of the Lock:”</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 5em;">“A gayly brilliant thing</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That sparkled in the shining ring.</span><br /><br /><span style="margin-left: 4em;">* * * * *</span></p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This same Fribeto once was chose</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Director of the Belles and Beaux,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When’er in full Assembly they</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Should meet to dance an hour away.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Indeed, the scheme and treatment of this rhymed <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bataille de -Dames</i> are evidently borrowed from Pope’s brilliant satire, and -some verses seem not unworthy the pen of Francis Hopkinson, as, for -instance, a description of the two factions upon the Assembly night:</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Here walks a Fair, from Head to toe</span><br /> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">As straight as ever she can go;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And here a Dame with wings so wide,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Three Yards at least from side to side.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Hoops and no Hoops dividing stand</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In dread array on either Hand,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Resolved to try th’ important Cause</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By that Assembly’s fixed Laws.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>In the conflict which ensues, Fribeto is worsted by the slim damsels, -and takes refuge under Melisinda’s ample wing, from whose pocket he -surveys the field of battle. Enraged by the impertinent popping up of -the dandy’s head from Melisinda’s pocket, Narcissa aims a blow at him, -which glances aside and falls upon the bosom of his protectress, who -starts up with a cry of pain and makes her escape, leaving Fribeto -prone upon the ball-room floor, a pitiable object.</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“One peal of laughter fills the place.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Hoops their Hero now despise,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And view him with disdainful Eyes,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with one Voice at once agree</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To cry aloud for Liberty”—</span><br /> -</p> - -<p class="p0">declaring</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 8em;">“That Women still</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In dress at least should have their will.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span></p> - -<p>Upon which the humiliated Fribeto announces,—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0"> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">“My office and my Right</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To govern, I resign this Night,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor will I meddle should you come</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In greasy night Caps to this Room,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or sit in Rows in yonder Benches,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As black with Dirt as Cynder-wenches.”</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>This important battle probably occurred after the British evacuation -of the city, as Philadelphia gayety did not cease with the departure -of the red-coats, an article of apparel that General Knox declared -the American girls loved too well. Arnold’s advent as Commandant, we -know, was inaugurated by a series of festivities from which the Tory -belles were not excluded. Indeed, when such a measure was contemplated -in connection with a grand ball to be given to the French and American -officers, it was found impossible to make up the company without -them, consequently they appeared in full feather, at this and other -entertainments, it being alleged by more than one authority that far -from being slighted these loyalist ladies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span> were given the preference -over Whig belles. Among leading Tory women were Miss Polly Riché, her -friend Miss Christian Amiel, the Bards, Bonds, Odells, Oswalds, and -Cliftons. It has been whispered that Miss Amiel was the fair lady to -whom General Arnold was engaged in writing amatory epistles before -Miss Shippen’s charms conquered the hero of many battles. A note from -the Commandant to Miss Riché is still extant, in which he thanks her -for a picture conveyed to him, in language so guarded that no reading -between the lines serves to reveal the original of the miniature, -although there are those who shrewdly suspect that it was a picture of -General Arnold, which, for reasons best known to herself, Miss Amiel -returned to him through Miss Riché. Miss Amiel afterwards married -Colonel Richard Armstrong who was in America with Major Simcoe’s -British Foot, while her friend Miss Riché became the wife of Charles -Swift. It is evidently to her approaching marriage that Miss White -refers in a letter written in 1785, in which she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> relates the disasters -that have befallen the wardrobes of several mutual friends, among them -Miss B. Lawrence, who has lost “three elegant lisk robes, and seventy -yards of Lace, beside the rest of her Cloaths. There is,” she adds, -“no dependence on these stage boats, pray be careful how you send -your wedding Cloaths up when you come to Town for it must be horribly -mortifying to lose them.”</p> - -<p>It is evident that the Assembly Balls were revived soon after peace -was declared, and held occasionally, if not regularly, as Mrs. John -Adams speaks of attending an Assembly while in Philadelphia during the -administration of President Washington. The dancing she pronounces -“very good and the company of the best kind,” adding that the ladies -are more beautiful than those she has seen at foreign courts. Mrs. -Adams must have been subject to variable moods at this time, as she -writes to her daughter one week of the dazzling brilliancy of Mrs. -Washington’s drawing-room, concluding that Mrs. Bingham had given -laws to the Philadelphia women in fashion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> and elegance, while in -another letter she says of an Assembly Ball, “the room despicable; the -etiquette,—it was difficult to say where it was to be found. Indeed, -it was not New York; but you must not report this from me.” This was -probably written after one of their long drives to town over muddy -roads, which made Bush Hill seem so undesirable a residence to the -Vice-President and his wife. Mrs. Adams writes in more amiable mood -upon another occasion, and is pleased to find “Mrs. Powell of all the -ladies she has met the best informed, beside which she is friendly, -affable, good, sprightly, and full of conversation.” This lady who -combines so many charms is Mrs. Samuel Powel, born Elizabeth Willing, -the aunt of Mrs. Bingham, who also came in for a large share of the -New England lady’s admiration, being included in her “constellation of -beauties,” with her sister Elizabeth, soon to become the wife of Major -William Jackson, whose portrait represents one of the handsomest men -of the time. The Chews of whom Mrs. Adams speaks are younger sisters -of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> the Meschianza belles, little Sophia, Juliana, and Maria, grown up -to take their sisters’ places. Old Chief Justice Benjamin Chew had a -host of pretty daughters, and in the gay world of society, as in court -circles, there is always a laudable disposition to hail the rising -sun. Instead of Mrs. Benedict Arnold, her sisters, the Redmans, the -Bonds, and Miss Wilhelmina Smith, who has gone off to Maryland with her -husband Charles Goldsborough, we find a new bevy of beauties, Sally -McKean, who afterwards married the Marquis de Yrujo, and whose languid -beauty seemed made for a Southern court, Mrs. Walter Stewart, born -Deborah McClenachan, Mrs. Henry Clymer, Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, from -Massachusetts, and Miss Wolcott, from Connecticut, whom New England -gentlemen were wont to boast equal in beauty and grace to Mrs. Bingham. -Mrs. Adams comments upon the gayety and prodigality of Philadelphia -living at this period, as General Greene had done a little earlier, the -latter having declared the luxury of Boston “an infant babe” to that -of the Quaker City. Much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span> of the extravagance which prevailed for some -years in Philadelphia was an outcome of the speculation and the pursuit -of private gain induced by the enormous inflation of the Continental -currency. “Wealth thus easily acquired was as freely squandered,” says -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> F. D. Stone in his admirable paper on Philadelphia society during -the period of the new tender, “and while luxuries were being enjoyed by -one class of citizens, the expenses and burdens of others were greatly -increased.” In the diary of the moderate and abstemious Washington we -read of a number of entertainments and numerous dinners attended by him -at the Ingersolls’, Morrises’, Chews’, Rosses’, Willings’, Hamiltons’, -and Binghams’; at the latter place “I dined in great splendor,” writes -the President, who was well content with one dish of meat and one or -two glasses of wine at his own table. Again, in a letter written from -Philadelphia to General Wayne by a brother officer we read,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Permit me to say a little of the dress, manners, and customs of -the town’s people. In respect to the first,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span> great alterations have -taken place since I was last here. It is all gayety, and from what I -can observe, every lady and gentleman endeavors to outdo the other -in splendor and show.... The manner of entertaining in this place -has likewise undergone its change. You cannot conceive anything more -elegant than the present taste. You can hardly dine at a table but -they present you with three courses, and each of them in the most -elegant manner.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Miss Sally McKean, in writing to a friend in New York of Mrs. -Washington’s first levee, says,—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“You never could have such a drawing-room; it was brilliant beyond -anything you can imagine; and though there was a great deal of -extravagance, there was so much of Philadelphia taste in everything -that it must be confessed the most delightful occasion of the kind -ever known in this country.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Some of the old names run down the Assembly list through all the years -to our own time, as Chew, Shippen, M’Call, Hopkinson, McIlvaine, -White, Barclay, Cadwalader, Coxe, Lardner, and many more, while others -have quite disappeared from Philadelphia society. There are no more -Hamiltons, Oswalds, Cliftons, Plumsteds, Allens, Swifts, Inglises, or -Francises<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span> to be found on the lists of to-day. Some of these families -are no longer represented in the male line, while others have married -and settled abroad, notably the Binghams, Allens, Hamiltons, and -Elliots. Into the social circles where they once held sway have come -such Southern names as Randolph, Byrd, Page, Robinson, Carter, Hunter, -and Neilson from Virginia, and Tilghman, Cheston, Murray, and many -other well-known names from that Eastern Shore of Maryland famed for -its good cheer, and for its hospitable Colonial mansions presided over -by beautiful matrons.</p> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img016"> - <img src="images/016.jpg" class="w25" alt="Decorative image" /> -</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes nobreak"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Evidently intended for Mrs. Mayoress, as Charles Willing -was elected Mayor of Philadelphia in 1748.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Richard Penn Lardner, a descendant of this Lynford -Lardner, in 1878, owned the original list of the subscribers to the -Assembly of 1749, and the manner in which this list and the rules for -its government came into the possession of the Historical Society -of Pennsylvania is in itself an interesting bit of local history. -The rules were the property of <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Charles Riché Hildeburn, a direct -descendant of John Swift. He offered to give them to the society if -the old list should also be forthcoming. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Lardner signified his -willingness to donate the list, and the formal presentation was made -by the late President of the Historical Society, the Hon. John William -Wallace. Thus, after a separation of one hundred and thirty years, the -old documents came together through the agency of descendants of three -of the managers of the very Assembly to which they pertained.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Chronicles of the Plumsted Family, by Eugene Devereux.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> Some of these old playing-cards, with invitations to -the Assembly printed on the backs, are still in the possession of a -descendant of the first Edward Shippen.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> This Mrs. Bingham was the mother of William Bingham, who -married a daughter of Thomas Willing, whose wife, Anne McCall, may well -be spoken of as “the beautiful mother of a beautiful race.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> From manuscript letter in possession of the Historical -Society of Pennsylvania.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> The name Williamina was inherited from a beautiful -grandmother, Williamina Wemyss Moore.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> This letter was forwarded by Edward Tilghman, who was -“out on his parole,” with the gauze handkerchiefs, ribbons, etc, to -Mrs. Paca, born Anne Harrison, the second wife of William Paca, of -Wye Island, Maryland, who was a delegate to Congress. (Pennsylvania -Magazine, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 216.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> This story, on the authority of Thomas Jefferson, -is related by Miss Elizabeth Montgomery in her “Reminiscences of -Wilmington.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote nobreak"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> Pennsylvania Magazine, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xvi. pp. 216, 217.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> - - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img017"> - <img src="images/017.jpg" class="w10" alt="Decorative image" /> -</span></p></div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX.</h2> -</div> - - -<h3 class="center p0"> -A.</h3> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Abercrombie, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> James, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Adams, John, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Adams, Mrs. John, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Adams, John Quincy, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Agassiz, Louis, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Agassiz, Mrs. Louis, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Alexander, General William, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Allen, Andrew, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Allen, Ann, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Allinson, Edward P., <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Alsop, Mary, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>. (Mrs. Rufus King.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">American Philosophical Society, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Amiel, Christian, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">André, Major John, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Armand, Colonel, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Armstrong, Colonel Richard, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arnold, General Benedict, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arnold, Mrs. Benedict, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>. (Peggy Shippen.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Atlee, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> W. F., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Aubrey, William, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Auchmuty, Miss, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Auchmuty, <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Samuel, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">B.</h3> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Bache, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Franklin, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bache, Mrs. Richard, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barclay, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bard, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barton, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Benjamin S., <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bartram, John, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bartram, William, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bayard, The Misses, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Beasley, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Frederick, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Beckwith, Colonel, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Beekman, Colonel Henry, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Beekman, Mrs. James, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Biddle, Clement C., <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Biddle, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bingham, William, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bingham, William, United States Senator, <a href="#Page_211">211</a> (note).</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bingham, Mrs. William, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Binney, Horace, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Black, William, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bleecker, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Blended Rose, Ladies of the, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bonaparte, Charles Lucien, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bonaparte, Joseph, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bond, Becky, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bond, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Phineas, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bond, Williamina, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Boudinot, Elias, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bowers, Mrs. John M., <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Breck, Samuel, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bunker’s Hotel, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burd, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burgoyne, General, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burning Mountain, Ladies of the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burr, Aaron, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bush Hill, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Byrd, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">C.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Cadwalader, General John, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cadwalader, Margaret, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cadwalader, Polly, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cadwalader, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Thomas, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Calder, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Callowhill, Hannah, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>. (Hannah Penn.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Canino, Prince de, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carey, Henry C., <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carey, Mathew, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carey Vespers, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carter, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cathcart, Lady, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cathcart, Lord, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chapman, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Nathaniel, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chastellux, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cheston, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cheves, Langdon, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chew, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chew, Mary, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chew, Peggy, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chew, Sally, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clarkson, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clifton, Eleanor, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clinton, Governor George, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clinton, Mrs. George, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clinton, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clymer, George, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clymer, Mrs. Henry, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Coffin, Eleanor, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Colden, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Cadwallader, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Collins, Zacheus, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Conyngham, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Coxe, Sally, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Craig, Janet, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">D.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Daschkof, Princess, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Deane, Silas, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Lancey, Mrs. Oliver, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Peyster, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dickinson, John, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Digby, Admiral Robert, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Draper, Sir William, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Drayton, Colonel, of South Carolina, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Drinker, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Duane, Mrs. James, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Duer, Colonel William, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Duer, Lady Kitty, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dulany, Daniel, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Du Ponceau, Peter S., <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">E.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Elliot, Governor Andrew, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Elliot, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Emlen, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Evans, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Evans, Governor John, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eve, Sarah, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span></li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">F.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Fishbourne, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fisher, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fisher, Joshua Francis, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Foulke, Liddy, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Francis, Anne, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Francis, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John W., <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Francis, Sir Philip, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Francis’s Hotel, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franklin, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">founder of Philosophical Society, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franklin, Samuel, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franklin, Sarah, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>. (Mrs. Richard Bache.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franklin, Walter, house of, New York residence of General Washington, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franks, Abigail, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franks, David, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franks, Phila, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franks, Polly, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Franks, Rebecca, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fraser, Caroline, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Furness, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> William H., <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">G.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Gallatin, Albert, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Galloway, Mrs., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gerry, Elbridge, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gerry, Mrs. Elbridge, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gliddon, George Robins, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Goldsborough, Charles, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greene, General Nathaniel, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Griffin, Lady Christiana, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Griffin, Cyrus, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Griffitts, Hannah, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Griffitts, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Samuel Powel, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Grouchy, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">H.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Haines, Reuben, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hale, Captain Nathan, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hamilton, Alexander, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hamilton, Andrew, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hamilton, Mrs. Andrew, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hamilton, Governor James, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hamilton’s Wharf, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hancock, John, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Harrison, Anne, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hays, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Isaac, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hazlehurst, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Heckewelder, John, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Helm, Mary, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Helvetius, Madame, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hildeburn, Charles Riché, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hopkinson, Francis, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hopkinson House, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hopkinson, Joseph, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hopkinson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hosack, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Howard, Colonel John Eager, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Howe, Admiral Lord Richard, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Howe, General Sir William, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Humboldt, Baron von, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hunter, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Huntington, Daniel, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">I.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Ingersoll, Bertha, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ingersoll, Charles J., <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ingersoll, Jared, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Inglis, John, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Inglis, Katharine, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Izard, Mrs. Ralph, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">J.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Jackson, Major William, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">James, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Thomas C., <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jauncey, Mrs., <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jay, John, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jay, Mrs. John, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jefferson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jekyll, John, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Johnson, Lady, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>. (Rebecca Franks.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Johnson, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Junto, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">K.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Kane, Judge, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Keach, <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Elias, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Keteletas, Jane, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Keyes, Miss, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">King, Rufus, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">King, Mrs. Rufus, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kinnersley, Ebenezer, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kissam, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Knight’s Wharf, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Knox, General, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Knox, Mrs. General, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Knyphausen, General, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kuhn, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Adam, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">L.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Lafayette, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lardner, Lynford, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lardner, Richard Penn, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lawrence, Becky, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lawrence, Colonel Elisha, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lea, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Isaac, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lea, Henry C., <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Leather Apron Society, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lee, General Charles, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Leidy, Joseph, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Levy, Hettie, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Levy, Samson, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lewis, Lawrence, <abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lewis, Morgan, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lewis, William D., <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Livingston, Mrs. Robert R., <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Livingston, Mrs. Walter, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lloyd, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Logan, Deborah, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Logan, James, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lynch, Mrs. Dominick, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">M.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Macomb’s House occupied by President Washington, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Madison, James, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Marbois, Barbé-, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Markoe, Miss, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Maxwell, Mrs. James Homer, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">M’Call, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McIlvaine, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McKean, Henry Pratt, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McKean, Sally, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McLane, Captain Allan, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McMaster, John Bach, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McMichael, Morton, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McMurtrie, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">McPherson, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Meade, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Meigs, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Charles D., <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Meredith, Samuel, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Meredith, William M., <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Meschianza, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Michaux, André, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mifflin, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mifflin, John, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mitchell, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John K., <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mitchell, Maria, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Montgomery, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">More, Chief Justice Nicholas, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morgan, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morgan, Mrs. John, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morray, Humphrey, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morris, Robert, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morris, Mrs. Robert, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Montrésor, Colonel, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moustier, Comte de, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">N.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Neilson, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">New York Balls and Receptions, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nixon, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Norris, Deborah, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">O.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Odell, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">O’Hara, Colonel, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ord, George, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Osgood, Samuel, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Oswald, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">P.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Paca, Mrs. William, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Page, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Parton, James, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Patterson, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Robert, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Patterson, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Robert M., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peale, Charles Willson, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peale, Franklin, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pegg’s Run, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pemberton, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penington, Edward, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, Governor John, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, Hannah, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, Letitia, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, Thomas, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, William, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, William, <abbr title="junior">Jr.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penrose, Boies, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peter, William, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peters, Judge Richard, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peters, Richard, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Philadelphia Dancing Assemblies, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>-<a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Philipse, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Philipse, Miss, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Plumsted, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pool’s Bridge, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Powel, Mrs. Samuel, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Priestley, <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Joseph, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Provoost, Mrs. Samuel, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">R.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Randolph, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rawdon, Lord, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rawle, William, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Read, Sarah, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Redman, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> John, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Redman, Nancy, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Redman, Rebecca, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Reed, William B., <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Riché, Polly, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rittenhouse, David, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Roberdeau, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Robinson, Moncure, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Robinson, Mrs. William T., <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ross, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rush, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Benjamin, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rutherfurd, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">S.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Saxe-Weimar, Duke of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Schuyler, Madame Philip, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Schweinitz, <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Lewis D. de, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sedgwick, Mrs. Theodore, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sergeant, John, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Serra, Abbé Correa de, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shewell, Betty, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>. (Mrs. Benjamin West.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shippen, Chief Justice Edward, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shippen, Joseph, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shippen, Peggy, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shippen, William, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shipton, Betty, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Short, William, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Simcoe, Major, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sims, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Abigail, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>. (Mrs. John Adams.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Williamina, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smythe, Hon. Lionel, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sneyd, Honora, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Somerville, Mary, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Southgate, Eliza, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sparks, Jared, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stamper, Mollie, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">State in Schuylkill, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Steuben, Baron, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Steward, Lieutenant-Colonel Jack, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stewart, Mrs. Walter, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stirling, Lady, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stoddert, Major, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stone, Colonel William Leet, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Strickland, William, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Swanwick, John M. P., <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Swift, Charles, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Swift, John, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">T.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Tarleton, Major, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Taylor, Mrs. Abraham, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Temple, Lady, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Temple, Sir John, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thackeray, William M., <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tilghman, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tilghman, Edward, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tilghman, Richard, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Twisleton, Hon. Edward, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tyson, Job R., <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">V.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Cortland, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Horne, Kitty, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Rensselaer, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Zandt, Catharine, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vaughan, Benjamin, M. D., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vaughan, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> John, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vaughan, Samuel, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vaux, Roberts, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Verplanck, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vining, Miss, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">W.</h3><ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Wallace, John, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Walnut Grove, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>. (Meschianza House.)</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Walsh, Robert, LL. D., <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ware, <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> William, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Washington, George, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Washington, Martha, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Watmough, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Watson, Joseph, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Watts, Lady Mary, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wayne, General Anthony, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">West, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wharton, Joseph, Sr., <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wharton, Mayor Robert, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wharton, Thomas Isaac, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">White, Bishop, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">White, Nancy, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wilcocks, Alexander, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Willing, Abby, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Willing, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Willing, Mrs. Charles, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Willing, Mrs. Thomas, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wistar, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Caspar, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wistar, Mrs. Caspar, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wistar, Kitty, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wistar Parties, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wister, Sally, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wolcott, Miss, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wood, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> George B., <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wrottesley, John, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wüster, Katerina, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> - -</ul> -<h3 class="center">Y.</h3> -<ul class="index"> - -<li class="ifrst">Yates, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> -</ul> - - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img018"> - <img src="images/018.jpg" class="w50" alt="THE END" /> -</span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - - -<p>Obvious errors in punctuation have been corrected.</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_31">Page 31</a>: “entered the oom” corrected to “entered the room”</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_42">Page 42</a>: “Miss Achmuty’s honor” changed to “Miss Auchmuty’s honor”</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_47">Page 47</a>: “Major Gywnne rode in” changed to “Major Gwynne rode in”</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_66">Page 66</a>: “removal of her household gods” changed to “removal of her -household goods”</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_81">Page 81</a>: In the footnote, “Diary of Ewala” changed to “Diary of Ewald”</p> - -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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