She was the first representative of her sex from the United States at the court of Great Britain.

The impressions made upon her mind were, therefore, received when it was uncommonly open and free from ordinary restraints, which an established routine of precedents is apt to create. Her residence in France during the first year of her European experience, appears to have been much enjoyed, notwithstanding the embarrassment felt by her from not speaking the language. That in England, which lasted three years, was somewhat affected by the temper of the sovereign: George and his queen could not get over the mortification at tending the loss of the American Colonies, nor at all times suppress the manifestation of it, when the presence of their minister forced the subject on their recollection. An extract from a letter describing her presentation to the court is too characteristic to be passed

over.

"The ceremony of presentation here is considered as indispensable. There are four minister-plenipotentiaries' ladies here, but one ambassador, and he has no lady. One is obliged here to attend the circles of the queen, which are held in summer once a fortnight, but once a week the rest of the year; and what renders it exceedingly expensive is, that you cannot twice the same season in the same dress, and a court dress you cannot make use of anywhere else. I directed my mantua-maker to let my dress be elegant, but plain as I could possibly appear with decency; accordingly it is white lutestring, covered and full trimmed with white festooned with lilac ribbon and mock point lace.

crape,

go

At two

over a hoop of enormous extent. o'clock we went to the circle, which is in the drawingroom of the queen. We passed through several apartments, lined as usual with spectators upon these occasions. As I passed into the drawing-room, Lord Carmarthen and Sir Clement Cotterel Dormer were presented to me. The Swedish and Polish ministers made their compliments, and several other gentlemen; but not a single lady did I know until the Countess of Effingham came, who was very civil. There were three young ladies, daughters of the Marquis of Lothian, who were to be presented at the same time, and two brides. We were placed in a circle round the drawing-room, which was very full, I believe two hundred persons present. Only think of the task. The royal family have to go round to every person, and find small talk enough to speak to all of them, though they very prudently speak in a whisper, so that only the person who stands next you can hear what is said. The king enters the room, and goes round to the right; the queen and the princesses, to the left. The lord-in-waiting presents you to the king; and the lady-in-waiting does the same to her majesty. The king is a personable man; but, my dear sister, he has a certain countenance, which you and I have often remarked: a red face and white eyebrows. The queen has a similar countenance; and the numerous royal family confirm the observation. Persons are not placed according to their rank in the drawing-room, but promiscuously; and when the king comes in, he takes persons as they stand. When he came to me, Lord Onslow said, 'Mrs. Adams;' upon

which I drew off my right-hand glove, and his Majesty saluted my left cheek; then asked me if I had taken a walk to-day. I could have told his Majesty that I had been all the morning preparing to wait upon him; but I replied, 'No, Sire.' 'Why, don't you love walking?' says he. I answered, that I was rather indolent in that respect. He then bowed and passed on.

"It was more than two hours after this before it came to my turn to be presented to the queen. The circle was so large that the company were four hours standing. The queen was evidently embarrassed when I was presented to her. I had disagreeable feelings, too. She, however, said, 'Mrs. Adams, have you got into your house? Pray, how do you like the situation of it?' whilst the Princess Royal looked compassionate, and asked me if I was not much fatigued; and observed that it was a very full drawing-room. Her sister, who came next, Princess Augusta, after having asked your niece if she was ever in England before, and her answering 'yes,' inquired of me how long ago, and supposed it was when she was very young. And all this is said with much affability, and the ease and freedom of old acquaintance. The manner in which they make their tour round the room is, first, the queen, the lady-in-waiting behind her, holding up her train; next to her, the Princess Royal; after her Princess Augusta, and their lady-in-waiting behind them. They are pretty rather than beautiful, well-shaped, with fair complexions, and a tincture of the king's countenance.

"The two sisters look much alike: they were both dressed in black and silver silk, with a silver netting

upon the coat, and their heads full of diamond pins. The queen was in purple and silver. She is not wellshaped nor handsome. As to the ladies of the court, rank and title may compensate for want of personal charms; but they are, in general, very plain, ill-shaped, and ugly."

The subsequent conduct of the queen was hardly as good as on this first occasion, and Mrs. Adams appears never to have forgotten it, for, at a much later period, when, in consequence of the French Revolu tion, the throne of England was thought to be in danger, she writes to her daughter with regret at the prospect for the country, but without sympathy for the queen. "Humiliation for Charlotte," she says, "is no sorrow for me; she richly deserves her full portion for the contempt and scorn which she took pains to discover."

Mrs. Adams' penetrating eye and discerning mind protected her against the fault so fashionable now, of preferring foreign luxuries and elegancies, to her more humble home in the United States, and she writes to her sister, that she should quit Europe with more pleasure than she came into it, uncontaminated, she says, with its vices and manners. "I have learned,"

she continues, "to know the world and its value; I have seen high life; I have witnessed the luxury and pomp of state, the power of riches and the influence of titles, and have beheld all ranks bow before them as the only shrine worthy of worship. Notwithstanding this, I feel that I can return to my little cottage, and be happier than here; and, if we have not wealth,

we have what is better-integrity. As to the ladies of this country, their manners appear to be totally depraved. It is in the middle ranks of society that virtue and morality are yet to be found. Nothing does more injury to the female character than frequenting public places; and the rage which prevails now for the watering-places, and the increased number of them, are become a national evil, as they promote and encourage dissipation, mix all characters promiscuously, and are the resort of the most unprincipled female characters who are not ashamed to show their faces wherever men dare to go. Modesty and diffidence are called ill-breeding and ignorance of the world; an impudent stare is substituted in lieu of that modest deportment and that retiring grace which awes while it enchants.

"To derive a proper improvement from company, it ought to be select, and to consist of persons respectable both for their morals and their understanding; but such is the prevailing taste, that provided you can be in a crowd, with here and there a glittering star, it is considered of little importance what the character of the person is who wears it.

"Few consider that the foundation-stone and the pillar on which they erect the fabric of their felicity, must be in their own hearts, otherwise the winds of dissipation will shake it, and the floods of pleasure overwhelm it in ruins. What is the chief end of man? is a subject well worth the investigation of every rational being. What, indeed, is life, or its enjoyment, without settled principles, laudable purposes,