THE QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.

I.

ANY view of society in the United States must, of necessity, take in a variety of aspects. During the existence of the Republic, there has been no period when its social condition was like that of a compact. nation which had been a unity in its origin, growth, and development. In the early colonial days, the leading society in the North, in the East, and in the South was composed of diverse elements; in each section differing from that of others. Virginia-the first colony that could boast an aristocracy-traced her proud and gentle blood to ancient families of England; in Pennsylvania, and farther south, the best society came of that stock of continental Protestantism-the French and Flemish refugees-whom the bigotry of Philip the Second in one century, and of Louis XIV. in the next, drove from their homes and places of worship, to seek, in the wild solitudes of a new world, "freedom to worship God." To these, in Pennsylvania, were

added the Quakers, who came to the country with William Penn. In New England, the Puritan element mingled with an aristocracy created by prosperity and growing wealth. Thus the social phases presented had various aspects, modified, in the progress of years, by the various modes of living. The unity of feeling produced by the Revolution caused some change and assimilation, so far as the great cities were concerned; in other portions of the Union social differences not only continued to exist, but developed into more marked peculiarities. We cannot help observing this in the most general survey.

About the middle of the last century we find a ruling class in families of wealth and distinction living hundreds of miles apart. We note this when we read of George Washington being entertained at the house of Beverley Robinson, and being captivated by the charms of his host's fair sister-in-law, Mary Philipse. She was the daughter of the lord of the old manor of Philipsborough, who owned an immense estate on the Hudson. Her marriage afterwards with Captain Roger Morris, and the confiscation of that portion of the Philipse estate, led to the formation of a home of another character. Both Mrs. Morris and her sister, Mrs. Robinson, who shared in the outlawry and attainder, were leaders in the society of that period, and remarkable for graces and accomplishments.

About 1749 Mrs. Jeykell was leading lady of the ton in Philadelphia, pre-eminent in beauty and fashion. She

THE FIRST BALL-LADY FRANKLAND.

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was the grand-daughter of the first Edward Shippen, and married a brother of Sir Joseph Jeykell, secretary to Queen Anne.

The first dancing assembly, said to have been held in Philadelphia in 1748, had its subscription list mostly filled with names of English families attached to the Church of England. The list was under the direction. of John Inglis and other gentlemen, and each subscrip tion was forty shillings. The custom was universal among men, of wearing the hair tied up with ribbon, in a long bunch, in a form called a queue. Gentlemen's coats were made of cloth or velvet, of all colors; the collar being sometimes of a different hue from the coat. In the Supreme Court the Judges, in winter, wore robes of scarlet faced with black velvet; in the summer, full black silk gowns.

Agnes, Lady Frankland, was the wife of Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Baronet, who was buried alive at the great earthquake at Lisbon; and being rescued through the efforts of the young girl, married her in 1755. Lady Frankland came to America after his death in 1768, and was allowed an escort to Boston by the Provincial Congress, and to take "seven trunks, beds and bedding, boxes, crates, a basket of chickens, some ham and veal, two barrels and a hamper, two horses and chaises, one phæton, and small bundles."

The biography of Catalina Schuyler, written by Anne McVickar, well known as Mrs. Grant, is an interesting memorial of early times. Catalina was the niece