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 puff of gauze in the form of a globe, the head-piece of which was composed of white satin, having a double wing in large plaits, and trimmed with a wreath of artificial roses, falling from the left at the top to the right at the bottom in front, the reverse behind. 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."

Some of the ladies wore hats of white satin, with plumes and cockades. A plain gauze handkerchief, sometimes striped with satin, was worn on the neck, the ends tied under the bodice.

In the evening of the inauguration, the house of Count de Moustier-near Bowling Green, in Broadwaywas brilliantly illuminated, the doors and windows displaying borderings of lamps that shone on paintings suggestive of the past, present, and future in American history. There were large transparencies over the front of the house, said to be painted by Madame de Brehan, sister to the Count.

The subject of the President's title had caused much discussion in society. Madison recommended that he be spoken of simply as "The President," or "The Chief Justice;" McKean proposed "His Serene Highness," without the "most," as a title that had not been appropriated in Europe. General Muhlenberg thought Washington would like the title "High Mightiness," used by

the Stadtholder of Holland. The General, dining with Washington, observed on the subject: "If the office could always be held by men as large as yourself or Wynkoop, it would be appropriate; but if by chance a president as small as my opposite neighbor were elected, it would be ridiculous." He therefore voted against any title.

Her

More than a month after the inauguration, Mrs. Washington set out for New York with her grandchildren, Eleanor Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, traveling in her private carriage, with a small escort on horseback. She was received at Hammond's Ferry by a deputation of citizens; and fireworks, a supper, and a serenade celebrated her arrival. dress was entirely of American manufacture. Information being sent to Philadelphia that she would breakfast in Chester, two troops of dragoons, under Captains Miles and Bingham, left town early, with a numerous cavalcade of citizens, and halted at ten miles distance to await her appearance. The military formed and received her with honors, the procession defiling on either side for her carriage to pass. At Darby, seven miles from Philadelphia, she was met by a brilliant company of ladies in carriages, who escorted her to Gray's Ferry, on the Schuylkill. At that favorite resort a collation. was prepared, at a fashionable inn, for more than a hundred persons.

Mrs. Robert Morris, who was to entertain Mrs. Washington, here took a seat in her carriage, resigning

her own to young Custis. About two o'clock the procession entered High Street, amid the ringing of bells, the firing of thirteen guns, and shouts of joy from the people. Mrs. Washington thanked them, and dismissed her escort. The doors of Mrs. Morris were thronged with visitors next day.

Such a reception may have recalled to the memory of Mrs. Washington the disaffection shown her on an earlier visit to Philadelphia, during the war, when she was waited on with a request that she would not attend a ball in preparation.

Mrs. Morris accompanied her when she left Philadelphia. The party slept at Trenton, and at Elizabethtown were the guests of the venerable Mr. Livingston. The President left New York at five o'clock, in his barge, manned by thirteen pilots in rich white dresses, to meet his wife. A crowd gathered on the wharves to greet the returning vessel, and a salute of thirteen guns was fired as it approached the Battery.

The winter of 1787-88 had been remarkably gay in New York. William Livingston, in a letter written in March, 1787, alludes to the extravagance and dissipation of fashionable life in that city. "My principal secretary of state," he says, "who is one of my daughters, is gone to New York, to shake her heels at the balls and assemblies of a metropolis which might as well be more studious of paying its taxes than of instituting expensive diversions."

The residence of President Washington was on the

spot now known as the corner of Cherry Street and Franklin Square. The house had plain furniture. The family plate had been melted and renovated. The state coach was the finest carriage in the city, and was drawn by four horses; by six, when it conveyed the President to Federal Hall. The coach-body was in the shape of a hemisphere, cream-colored, and ornamented with cupids supporting festoons, with borders of flowers around the panels.

The principal ladies of New York, at the time the "Republican Court" was established there, were Mrs. George Clinton, Mrs. Montgomery, Lady Stirling, Lady Kitty Duer, Lady Mary Watts, Lady Temple, Lady Christiana Griffin, the Marchioness de Brehan, Madame de la Forest, Mrs. John Langdon, Mrs. Tristram Dalton, Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Robert R. Livingston, of Clermont, the Misses Livingston, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Gerry, Mrs. McComb, Mrs. Edgar, Mrs. Lynch, Mrs. Houston, Mrs. Provost, Mrs. Beekman, the Misses Bayard, &c.

Mr. Wingate describes the dinner given at Washington's house the day after his wife's arrival, as the least showy of any he ever saw at the President's table. The Chief said grace and dined on boiled leg of mutton. After dessert one glass of wine was offered to each guest, and when it had been drunk, the President rose and led the way to the drawingroom. Two days afterwards Mrs. Washington held her first levee, the President continuing to receive every Tuesday afternoon. Mrs. Washington received

from eight to ten every Friday evening. The levees were numerously attended by all that was fashionable, elegant, or refined in society; but "there were no places for the intrusion of the rabble in crowds, or for the mere coarse and boisterous partisan, the vulgar electioneerer, or the impudent place-hunter, with boots, frock-coats, or roundabouts, or with patched knees and holes at both elbows. On the contrary, they were select and more courtly than have been given by any of the President's successors." Mrs. Washington was careful, in her drawing-room, to exact those courtesies to which she knew her husband entitled.. "Democratic rudeness had not then so far gained the ascendency as to banish good, manners." "None were admitted to the levees but those who had either a right by official station or by established merit and character; and full dress was required of all.”

The journals of the day especially noted a magnificent ball given by Count de Moustier at his house. A lady said she heard the Marchioness declare she had exhausted every resource to produce an entertainment worthy of France, and Elias Boudinot calls it "a most splendid ball indeed. After the arrival of the President, a company of eight couples formed, and, entering the room, began a curious dance called en ballet. Four of the gentlemen were dressed in French regimentals, and four in American uniforms; four of the ladies had American flowers with blue ribbons round their heads, and four had red roses and the flowers of France."