with care to convey her to the Bermudas. On her departure, carried on a palanquin from her superb mansion to this vessel, her friends gathered around her to bid farewell, and hundreds thronged to see her. The hope of restoration was vain; after months of gradual decline, Mrs. Bingham died in the Bermuda Islands, May 11th, 1801, in the thirty-seventh year of her age. Mr. Bingham went to England, where he died at Bath three years later. His eldest daughter, Anne, married Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton. Maria married the Count de Tilly; afterwards Henry Baring, and the Marquis de Bluisel.

In the winter of 1795-6, Robert Morris, the great financier, was in the splendor of his prosperity. He had laid the foundation of a palatial residence on the south side of Chestnut Street, just above Seventh, intending to have the building occupy the whole space. His home was ever the abode of generous and cordial hospitality, and was rendered delightful by his simple and affable manners. Mrs. Adams says, in Philadelphia, "I should spend a very dissipated winter if I were to accept one-half the invitations I receive, particularly to the routs and tea and cards." A passion for gambling prevailed at the time, and it was not uncommon to lose three or four hundred dollars at a sitting.

Chastellux thus describes a dinner in the then Amer ican fashion: "There are two courses, one comprehend

ing the entrées, the roast meat and warm side-dishes ; the other, sweet pastry and confectionery. The cloth is then taken off, and apples and nuts are produced; healths are drunk; and coffee is the signal to rise. It is an absurd and barbarous practice to call out to each individual that you drink his health! it causes confusion. Also, the asking to take wine with one; the ridiculous custom borrowed from England and laid aside by her."

At the balls given in Philadelphia Mrs. Morris was always led in first to supper; the visitor remarks, "as the richest woman in the city; all ranks here being equal, and men following their natural bent by giving the preference to riches."

VI.

SOME writers of the day comment on the addiction of American women to extravagance in dress at this period. Count de Rochambeau observed, at the close of the war, that "the wives of merchants and bankers were clad to the tip of the French fashions, of which they were remarkably fond;" and the Duc de Liancourt says: "Ribbons please young Quakeresses as well as others, and are the great enemies of the sect."

The women in 1800 wore hoops, high-heeled shoes of black stuff, with silk or thread stockings, and had their hair tortured four hours at a sitting to get the curls properly crisped. The hoops were succeeded by "bishops" stuffed with horse-hair. In the early days, ladies who kept their coaches often went to church in check aprons; and Watson mentions a lady in Philadelphia who went to a ball in full dress, on horseback.

Brissot wrote: "If an idle man could come into existence in Philadelphia, on having constantly before his eyes the three amiable sisters-Wealth, Science, and Virtue, the children of Industry and Temperance-he would soon find himself in love with them, and endeavor to obtain them from their parents." The Duc de Liancourt observes: "The Americans have an excessive

avidity of becoming rich," and thinks it a mistake to suppose pure republican manners prevalent. Perhaps as a consequence of enervating luxury, the Abbé Robin remarks: "At twenty the American women have no longer the freshness of youth; at thirty-five or forty they are wrinkled and decrepit. The men are almost as premature." And Chevalier Felix de Beaujour: "The beauty of American women fades in a moment. At the age of twenty-five the form changes; and at thirty all the charms have disappeared. As long as they are unmarried they enjoy great liberty; but as soon as they have entered the conjugal state they bury themselves in the bosom of their families, and appear no longer to live but for their husbands." "The manners have there established in society distinctions more marked than anywhere else; distinctions rendered the more odious for being founded on riches, without any regard to talents, or even to public functions. There the rich blockhead is more considered than the first magistrate; and the influence of gold is counterbalanced by no illusion or reality."

Towards the close of the century, it was noticed that the forms of society underwent some change, as the leveling process of France began to be felt. Powder became unfashionable; a looser dress was adopted for the legs; the fashion of wearing the hair tied gave place to short locks. Dark or black cloth was substituted for colored coats, and buckles disappeared. But the style of living was not less expensive. Parties were more

crowded, and more form and display were seen, with less freedom of sociability than ever.

The Wistar parties, for gentlemen, were commenced by Dr. Caspar Wistar, in 1799. He was accustomed to call the members of the Philosophical Society once a week to his house during the winter. The parties were continued till his death, in 1818, and were kept up by members afterwards at their several houses.

The fete of the Mischianza had been the most celebrated that ever took place in Philadelphia. It was given by the British officers to Sir William Howe, just before he relinquished the command to Sir Henry Clinton, May 18, 1778. It commenced with a grand regatta, followed by a tilt and tournament, wherein the knights of the Burning Mountain and the Blended Rose vindicated the charms of the ladies in whose honor they appeared; a ball and fireworks closing the evening.*

The next entertainment in order of pre-eminence was given on the birthday of the Dauphin, by the French Minister, after the close of the war. Weeks of preparation preceded it, and hundreds came to see the building erected for dancing, fronting sixty feet, the roof supported by lofty pillars, painted and festooned. There were banners and pictures for internal decorations; and a garden surrounded the building, with walks, seats, groves, and fountains. Nothing else was talked of in the city for ten days.

At an early hour a corps of

* For the particulars of this fête, see "Women of the American Rev. olution."