ing for aid to the suffering women and children of the South. No public charity has ever been so popular. The winter of 1866-67 was crowded with amusements for it, and it is believed that none have been so unfeeling as to oppose its triumphs.

Mrs. Emmet is the widow of Thomas Addis Emmet, the son of the distinguished Irish patriot, and a lawyer of high standing in New York. She is the daughter of John Tom, one of the firm of Hoyt and Tom, noted East India merchants. Mrs. Emmet was an admired leader in the best social circles of the metropolis, as a youthful matron, and her influence was most useful in promoting public and private charities. She was the devoted benefactress of the poor, to whom she gave the time that could be spared from the cares of a large family. Their residence was a beautiful estate on Fifty-ninth Street, between the old Boston Post-road and Third Avenue. There was an elegant mansion, with extensive grounds and gardens, and a private cricket-ground. A fête was given there in 1844, which created a great sensation. For seventeen years Mr. Emmet's family lived at this beautiful country-seat, till the advancing city encroached upon it. Then they removed to New York.

XVIII.

It is not often that a celebrity which may be called historical is gained by leadership in the fashionable circles of a large city without beauty or attractive personal qualities, and without association with any great social event or institution. Such was the celebrity of Mrs. Rush in Philadelphia. Her attainment of preeminence in spite of many disadvantages argues rare powers of intellect. She was Ann Ridgway, the daugh. ter of Jacob Ridgway, who rivaled Girard in the acquisition of great wealth by commercial pursuits. Ann was born in Philadelphia, and inherited a goodly share of her father's fortune. Her income was a large one for that day; her husband having also an independent property. Her education was completed in Europe, where she spent several years, and acquired more than the usual share of accomplishments then deemed essential to a lady. In those days mental culture was more thorough than at present, if the facilities were less. Miss Ridgway mingled in the best society, and acquired that taste for the elegancies of life which was afterwards shown in her days of sovereignty over the society of Philadelphia. She was married to Dr. James Rush, the son of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the

Declaration of Independence, the fame of whose genius and scientific attainments spread throughout Europe; whose works were quoted by Lord Byron, and rewarded by the first Alexander of Russia. Having his origin in such noble intellectual stock, the son maintained the celebrity of the name by his original and profound work on "The Philosophy of the Human Voice," which has furnished material and guidance to so many treatises on elocution.

Though abroad a long time, Mrs. Rush passed most of her life in Philadelphia, and did not take the lead in social life till her return from Europe. Her latest residence was in West Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The building was erected about 1849, and was magnificent in its proportions, and the splendor of its internal plan and decorations. Here the mistress of the mansion was accustomed to dispense those enlarged hospitalities which "have given her an unsurpassed eminence in American society." She had a genuine love for the arts, and was invariably a liberal and impartial friend to artists of every grade. At her weekly receptions it was her delight to assemble them around her, to introduce them to persons who might appreciate their talents and promote their success; and not unfrequently to assist them in a more direct manner. Her annual balls were magnificent; the drawing-rooms of her house were more spacious and more sumptuously furnished than those of almost any other private residence in Philadelphia, and there was unstinted outlay in both the decorations and

the entertainment. A gentleman who was her guest, described, on one occasion, "her superb dress of Genoa velvet and lace, and the exquisite gems that adorned her person. Feathers drooped from her hair, and she carried in her hand a fan made of plumes of the richest dye, ornamented with a bird-of-paradise with diamond eyes and claws set with rubies." Mrs. Rush always gave her visitors a cordial greeting, with unaffected kindliness of manner. She was pleased to show her plants and the choice flowers in her conservatories. These, as well as the halls, dancing saloons, and corridors, were always thrown open-and the light, alternately brilliant and subdued, the clear, pealing music at intervals, from the band playing on the staircase, the company of splendidly dressed women, the dancing and promenading through the different rooms, the lavish and gorgeous supper, with the charming manner and lively conversation of the hostess, put the most timid at their ease, and made her parties ever agreeable. While she presided thus over the festive scene, her husband, it was said, often sat alone in his library, absorbed in study, or enjoying the contrast of perfect quiet with the bewildering gayety of the rest of the house.

Mrs. Rush was, by universal consent, acknowledged to be the queen of Philadelphia fashionable society. "This community," said a resident, "requires despotism to move it from its frigidity. There must be one sovereign-the appointed of fashion, the layer down of law. Partly from charity, partly from ambition, this large

hearted and energetic woman took into her own hands the reins of government, and has shown herself a second Semiramis." It was well for those over whom she reigned, that none could say she did not use her power with generosity. At the parties given by Mrs. Rush, the most prodigal splendor was exhibited in the services of china, glass, and gold and silver plate, and in the profusion of flowers. Yet in the more strictly artistic adornments such as pictures-there was rather a deficiency of the best works; and there were comparatively few antiques or articles of vertù.

A lady who had been entertained in the aristocratic circles of Europe, described one of Mrs. Rush's parties as excelling any she had seen in sumptuous appointments. The tables were set the entire length of the supper-room, with cushioned seats of blue damask, and a service of the costliest china, for the accommodation of two hundred and fifty out of the eight hundred guests invited. The servants at the foot of the tables, wearing broad blue ribbons, interdicted the entrance of more guests at a time. The hostess walked through her rooms, wearing a robe of pompadour velvet, with an under dress of white satin covered with lace; the robe looped with marabout feathers and diamonds; with low corsage.

Mrs. Rush seemed to consider her parties as a necessary duty to society, yielding her, however, little gratification. The attractions of intellectual cultivation had no play in such crowded reunions. It was a yearly sacrifice to fashion. She rarely gave small parties,