Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/314

gloves, a cocked hat in his hand, silver knee and shoe-buckles, and a long sword, with a finely wrought and glittering steel hilt, the coat worn over it, and its scabbard of polished white leather. On these occasions he never shook hands, even with his most intimate friends. The name of every one was distinctly announced, and he rarely forgot that of a person who had been once introduced to him. The visitor was received with a dignified bow, and passed on to another part of the room. At a quarter past three the door was closed, the gentlemen present moved into a circle, and he proceeded, beginning at his right hand, to exchange a few words with each. When the circuit was completed he resumed his first position, and the visitors approached him in succession, bowed, and retired.

At the levees of Mrs. Washington he did not consider any visits made to himself, and he appeared as a private gentleman, with neither hat nor sword, conversing without restraint, generally with women, who rarely had other opportunities of meeting him.

The first levee in Philadelphia was on the evening of Friday, the twenty-fifth of December. Mrs. Adams went, attended by her son, Mr. Charles Adams, and she mentions "the dazzling Mrs. Bingham and her beautiful sisters, the Misses Allen, the Misses Chew, and, in short, a constellation of beauties." The eldest of these Allens became Mrs. Greenleaf, and according to tradition was one of the most splendid beauties this country ever produced. Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, in whom were combined the finest graces of the New England matron, was conspicuous for a charming face, and an air and manner of singular refinement and elegance; the magnificent Miss Wolcott, from Connecticut, was the boast of gentlemen from the eastern states, who would not admit that even Mrs. Bingham was her equal; and Mrs. Knox, of course, was observed of all observers. Miss Sally McKean wrote to a friend in New York, "You never could have had such a drawing-room; it was brilliant beyond