Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/36

believed that the streets, in the immediate vicinity of the minister's house, contained more than ten thousand of the curious and idle men, women, and children, of the city and adjacent country.

"At about eight o'clock," says Dr. Rush, "our family, consisting of Mrs. Rush, our cousin, Susan Hall, our sister Sukey, and myself, with our good neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, entered the apartment provided for this splendid entertainment. We were received through a wide gate, by the minister, and conducted by one of his family to the dancing room. The scene now almost exceeded description. The numerous lights distributed through the garden, the splendor of the room we were approaching, the size of the company which was already collected, and which consisted of about seven hundred persons, the brilliancy and variety of their dresses, and the band of music, which had just begun to play, had together an effect which resembled enchantment. Sukey Stockton said, her mind was 'carried beyond and out of itself.' Here were ladies and gentlemen of the most ancient as well as of the most modern families. Here were lawyers, doctors, and ministers of the Gospel. Here were the learned faculty of the college, and among them many who knew not whether Cicero plead in Latin or in Greek, or whether Horace was a Roman or a Scotchman. Here were painters and musicians, poets and philosophers, and men who were never moved by beauty or harmony, or by rhyme or reason. Here were the president and members of Congress, governors of states, generals of armies, and the ministers of finance, war, and foreign affairs. The company was mixed, but the mixture formed the harmony of the evening. The whole assembly behaved to each other as if they had been members of the same family. It was impossible to partake of the joy without being struck with the occasion of it: it was to celebrate the birth of a Dauphin of France." The Doctor indulges in some agreeable reflections