Salons colonial and republican

Preface

THE interest felt in Colonial life in America has become deep and widespread, nor does it show signs of abatement. Indeed, the subject is almost inexhaustible, if we include under the term " Colonial " the settlements along the northern borders of the United States and the no less picturesque Spanish mission-life of the Pacific slope.

To treat in this volume of some phases of American life of a later date has been suggested to the writer by two or three incidents. While in W^ashington last spring, she had the pleasure of meeting several persons who distinctly remembered Mrs. Madison — the delightful " Dolly " — as she appeared in later years at a reception given by Mr. Webster in the house afterwards owned by Mr. Corcoran.

Again, while standing before a picture of Stenton, which hangs upon the walls of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, a lady entered the hall who recalled Mrs. Deborah Logan as she presided over her tea-table at Stenton, reviving pleasant impressions of the delectable crispness of the short-cakes which

PREFACE

the Quaker lady handed to her guests with a cup of tea, in her drawing-room, long before the fashion of afternoon tea prevailed in America. Another person, who was known to the writer in her childhood, delighted to relate to her grand-nieces a pleasing tale of being taken by her mother ta one of the windows of their home, which overlooked the State House in Philadelphia, and there being told to stand upon a chair and look at the tall gentleman who was entering the building opposite, as she might never again see so great a man. The tall gentleman was His Excellency President "Washington, who for nearly seven years, while the new^ capital on the banks of the Potomac w^as in course of erection, walked from his house on High Street to the State House and Congress Hall, and in and out among these buildings. These human links with a storied past lend a vividness and reality to the life of an earlier day that \vritten history fails to supply. It was with an idea of giving some of the recollections of those who could still recall incidents and persons in the early years of the fast fading century, that to the Colonial chapter of this book, and to those upon life in New York and Philadelphia soon after the Revolution, there have been added chapters upon the Federal City during the administrations of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, and upon Philadelphia life during the brilliant social reign of Mrs. James Rush.

PREFACE

The word "salon" has been used to designate the Republican dra\ving-rooms here described, because no other term so fitly represents social circles presided over by cultivated women as that which was first applied to the brilliant coteries gathered together by the famous French women of the seventeenth century, who knew so well how to combine intellectual ability with womanly grace and charm.

A. H. W.

Birdwood, York Road,

Philadelphia, November, 1899.

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MRS. CHARLES AUGUSTUS MURRAY (Miss Elizabeth Wadsworth). From portrait by Thomas Sully, in possession of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, This panel portrait bears on the reverse the monogram "T. S." Frontispiece

COLONEL WILLIAM RHETT, of Charleston, South Carolina. Miniature in possession of Mrs. Nephew West .... i8

MRS. CHARLES WILLING (Anne Shippen). From original portrait by Robert Feke, in possession of her great-grandson, Mr. Edward 'Willing, of Philadelphia. Dark hair and eyes, florid complexion ; gown of olive and black brocade . . 25

MRS. ADAMS (Sarah Eve). From original miniature by Charles B. J. F. de Saint Memin, owned by her niece, Mrs. Anna L. Eve Stevenson 33

COLONEL 'WILLIAM BRADFORD, born January ig, 1721 ; died September 15, 1791. Miniature owned by great-great-great-grandson, 'Willing Spencer, of Philadelphia 33

LADY CATHERINE DUER (Catherine Alexander). From original miniature, owned by Mr. 'William Alexander Duer, of New York 40

WILLIAM KING, first Governor of Maine. From original

miniature in possession of Mr. Edv^ard King, of New York . 40

COLONEL JEREMIAH WADSWORTH. From original crayon by James Sharpies, owned by Mr. Charles A. Brinley, of Philadelphia. The complexion delicate and fine ; the coat a dark blue 49

LADY TEMPLE (Elizabeth Bowdoin). Portrait by John Singleton Copley, painted about the time of her marriage to Mr. Temple, afterwards Sir John Temple, owned by Mrs. 'Winthrop Tappan 52

M. PIERRE HENRI, of Paris. Miniature painted by himself, owned by his granddaughter, Mrs Edward Y. Townsend, of Philadelphia 62

Page MRS. CHAUNCEY GOODRICH (Marianne Wolcott). From miniature by a S\vedish artist, owed by Mrs, Charles A. Brinley, of Philadelphia. Brilliant complexion, brown hair, through which a blue ribbon is tied ; blue gown of the same shade as the ribbon 62

HENRY PRATT. Original portrait by Gilbert Stuart, owned by Mrs. Joshua Lippincott, of Philadelphia. Dark eyes, florid complexion ; powdered wig, red waistcoat ; red curtain in the background 73

MRS. HENRY NIXON and MRS. JAMES MARSHALL, the daughters of Robert Morris. Portrait by Gilbert Stuart. Mr. Morris had ordered the picture and paid sixty guineas for it ; but when he ventured to make some criticism, Stuart was so angry that he cut the canvas and had the picture stowed away in his ov^rn garret. Mr. James Marshall afterwards bought the picture, at the original price, from Stuart or his daughter. It has been carefully restored and is now ov^^ned by the granddaughters of Mr. Marshall, the Misses Marshall of Happy Creek, Warren County, Virginia .... 97

COLONEL JOHN COX, of Bloomsbury, New Jersey. Miniature owned by great-granddaughter, Miss Mary Clapier Coxe, of Philadelphia 108

MAJOR-GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE. From miniature

by John Ramage, in possession of his great-grandson. Major '

William Wayne, of Paoli, Pennsylvania 108 L

JUDGE WILLIAM BARTON. Portrait by Charles Willson 1

Pes'i, owned by Dr. William Barton Hopkins, of Philadel- ,

phia no — i

MRS. "WILLIAM BARTON (Elizabeth Rhea). Portrait of Mrs.

Barton with her little daughter Betsy in her arms. Light t

brown hair ; dark background, the gown of rich brocade or velvet of a delicate old-rose shade 113

THE HONORABLE SAMUEL BRECK. From original portrait painted in France by Loubet, in possession of grand-nephew, Mr. Charles du Pont Breck, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Blue eyes and fair complexion. Mr. Breck is in court costume, ivith powdered hair ; his coat is of golden brown with large white buttons ; lace ruffles, white stock 138

MR. and MRS. HENRY PHILIPS. Copied from miniatures by »

Richard Cosway, owned by great-grandson. Colonel James 4

Eglinton Montgomery, of Philadelphia. Both of these miniatures are very beautiful in composition and color, with the background of blue sky and light clouds beloved by Cosway. 139

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MRS. WILLIAM BINGHAM (Anne Willing). From portrait

by Stuart, owned by Countess Jacques de Bryas, of Paris . . X41

MRS. W^ILLIAM BYRD, of Westover (Mary Willing), and daughter. From portrait by Cosmo Alexander, in possession of Mr. Edward Willing, of Philadelphia. Black hair, brown eyes, fair complexion ; white satin gown, the sleeves slashed with delicate pink satin.

The child has brown eyes and fair hair, and wears a blue dress, with flowers and a blue cockade in the hair 145

MRS. JOHN REDMAN COXE (Sarah Cox), Portrait by Thomas Sully, owned by Mrs. Edward Parke Custis Lewis, of Hoboken, New Jersey 168

MRS. THOMAS LAW (Eliza Parke Custis). Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, owned by Mrs. George Goldsborough, of Baltimore, granddaughter. This is one of the most beautiful of Stuart's portraits of \vomen, the flesh tints are fine, and the modelling of the face and arms is very good 174

MRS. JOSEPH HOPPER NICHOLSON (Rebecca Lloyd). Original miniature by Richard Cosway, owned by Mrs. Edward Shippen, of Baltimore, granddaughter 187

CHARLES HALL, of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Miniature owned by the descendants of Mr. Hall. Fair complexion, blue eyes, light hair, powdered ; the coat is of a delicate shade of violet or mauve, and the white waistcoat is dotted o^fer vfith _fieurs-iie-fys of the aame shads of violet 187

LADY ERSKINE (Frances Cadwalader). Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, owned by grand-nephew, Dr. Charles E. Cadwalader, of Philadelphia. Dark hair and eyes, delicate features ; simple white muslin gown, which contrasts wrell with the dark red background of the picture. This portrait was painted soon after Mrs. Erskine's marriage, when she was about eighteen years of age 195

DR. JOHN BULLUS, U. S. N. Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, in possession of granddaughters. Miss BuUus and Mrs. Taylor, of New York 199

MRS. JOHN BULLUS (Charlotte Jane Rumsey). Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, in possession of granddaughters, Miss Bullus and Mrs, Taylor of New York 200

MRS. JAMES H. CALLANDER (Jane Erskine). Portrait among celebrated beauties in the King of Bavaria's gallery at Munich ac6

MRS. JONATHAN DICKINSON SERGEANT. From original miniature, in possession of great-great-granddaughter, Mrs. John F. Hageman, Jr., of Philadelphia 214

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Page MRS. ALEXANDER ROBINSON (Angelica Peale), From original miniature painted by her father, Charles Willson Peale 314

MRS. BARNES (Priscilla Birch). Miniature on enamel, painted by her father, William Russell Birch, owned by Mr. Milton Birch, of Philadelphia, great-grandson of the artist 233

MRS. CHARLES IREN^E du PONT (Dorcas Montgomery Van Dyke), of New Castle, Delaware. Portrait by Thomas Sully, owned by daughter. Miss Mary Van Dyke du Pont, of ■Wilmington 227

MRS. LANGDON CHEVES (Mary Elizabeth Dulles). Miniature by Edward Greene Malbone, in possession of niece. Miss Mary C. Dulles, of Philadelphia 239

ISABEL BARRON, of Charleston, South Carolina. Miniature painted by Edward Greene Malbone, in 1806, cwned by Miss Augusta Bliss, of New York. The eyes and hair brown, the latter of a rich auburn shade, the complexion fair with a brilliant bloom on the cheeks ; the gown of deep red trimmed with black lace 339

MR. and MRS. RICHARD DANA, of Boston. From original miniatures by Edward Greene Malbone, in possession of grandson, General Charles W. Darling, of Utica, New York. These miniatures are beautiful and delicate in color, especially that of Mr. Dana. He wears a blue coat with fine lace ruffles. Mrs. Dana's gown is white with lace around the neck and a waistband of pale pink ribbon 331

MR. and MRS. FRANCIS MARTIN DREXEL. These two miniatures were painted by Mr. Francis Martin Drexel and are owned by his daughter, Mrs. John G. Watmough, of Philadelphia 333

"THE ANTWERP STRAWBERRIES," Susan and Phoebe Ann Ridgway. Portrait painted at Antwerp in 1805, owned by Mrs. Edward ^Villing, of Philadelphia 337

DR. and MRS. JAMES RUSH. Miniatures owned by the Ridgway Library Company, of Philadelphia 340

THOMAS FISHBOURN WHARTON. From crayon portrait by Vander Lyn, the inscription being " Done by Vander Lyn, Paris, Prairial, Aug. 7, 1799." Original portrait in possession of Miss Susan Fishbourn Wharton 343

MR. JAMES DUNDAS, of Philadelphia. Original portrait by Henry Inman, owned by niece, Mrs. Joshua Lippincott. Gray eyes, florid complexion, brown hair 347

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MRS. JAMES DUNDAS (Anna Pratt). Original portrait by Henry Inman, owned by Mrs. Joshua Lippincott. Dark blue eyes, light brown hair, fair complexion ; gown of Indian red 247

MRS. JOHN JACOB RIDGWAY (Elizabeth Willing). From

portrait by Alexandre Cabanel, of Paris 251

MRS. JOHN WILLIAM W^ALLACE, of Philadelphia (Dorothy Francis Willing). From 'an original miniature by George Freeman, in her own possession. Delicate complexion, brown hair ; white gown 254

MRS. JOHN BUTLER (Gabriella M. Morris), New York. Portrait by George Freeman, in possession of Miss Adele Biddle, of Philadelphia. Brown eyes and hair, white gown with lace bertha 26a

MRS. JAMES S. WADSWORTH (Mary Craig Wharton). From portrait by Thomas Sully, in possession of her son, Mr. Charles F. 'Wadsworth, of Geneseo, N. Y 263

NICHOLAS BIDDLE, of Philadelphia. Original portrait by Thomas Sully, owned by his son, the Honorable Craig Biddle, of Philadelphia 267

MRS. NICHOLAS BIDDLE (Jane M. Craig). Original portrait by Thomas Sully, owned by her son, the Honorable Craig Biddle. Eyes and hair dark, complexion florid; large hat with gray feathers, gown of salmon-colored silk, mantle of pinkish gray silk ; background sky effect with clear blue . . 269

Mrs. Rush and Her Salon 235

ix

SALONS

COLONIAL AND REPUBLICAN

Chapter I. A Colonial Salon

FOR some cause unknown to the mind of man, but better understood by those feminine processes that are said to take the place of the reasoning faculty in the other sex, it has always been the ambition and delight of a certain class of superior w^omen to rule and shin-e in a social atmosphere somewhat different from that of the conventional ball and dinner.

In France this taste early found expression in the salon. At the Hotel de Rambouillet, la belle ArtM7iice and her daughter Julie gathered around them the gay and the wise of Paris, proving, in that pleasure-loving age and city, that even the frivolous could at times yield gracefully to the claims of learning and eloquence.

Here, at the bidding of the hostess, whose mandates none might disobey, Corneille and Moliere read their dramas, Voiture and Chapelain recited their poems, or the ardent, inspired Bossuet preached a sermon to the gayest and the most critical hearers in Europe.

Among the guests of Madame de Rambouillet, listening, and taking notes for her beloved daughter in the provinces that were destined to be read with delight by future generations, is Madame de Sevigne, and by her side the beautiful and witty Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, Duchesse de Longueville, who conceals a yawn behind her fan and whispers to her neighbor that " Chapelain's • Z'?^^^//.? ' is doubtless a very beautiful poem, but also very tiresome," or admits that the productions of the great Conde, who sometimes courted the Muses, were "bad for a poet, but fairly good for a warrior."

The London salon of a later date, which was an adaptation from the French, always possessed certain Anglo-Saxon characteristics, and if less graceful, charming, and epigrammatic than that of Paris, was marked by deeper thought and perhaps by greater sincerity. Mrs. Montague, and other members of the Blue Stocking Club, held salons that were deemed not unworthy of the presence and conversation of Dr. Johnson and his literary confreres. These reunions of the literati of London were largely dominated by the autocratic lexicographer, w^hose gentle hostesses were ever ready to welcome him w^armly and give him a comfortable place by the fire, in which to imbibe his innumerable cups of tea and to utter for the edification of the company his dogmatic, racy strictures upon the world and the inhabitants thereof.

Although no salon could have been held in the New W^orld that in any degree approached these brilliant circles in Paris and London, there were not a few^ clever women in Colonial life, lovers of good literature and, especially in the Northern and Middle Colonies, women who wielded ready pens, like Mrs. Simon Bradstreet, Mrs. James V/arren, Mrs. John Adams, Mrs. Richard Stockton, and Elizabeth Graeme. It is not strange that the idea of a salon, of drawing together men and women of learning and conversational powers, should have suggested itself to the active and intelligent mind of Elizabeth Graeme, and that she should have gathered around her a circle of choice spirits at her father's home in Philadelphia and at his country-seat, Graeme Park, in Montgomery County.

Elizabeth Graeme, better know^n as Mrs. Hugh Ferguson,* was during the latter half of the last century easily the most learned w^oman in America. A chronicler of the period says : " A mind like hers, imbued with

* Although a fac-simile of the signature of Elizabeth Ferguson shows that she •wrote her name Fergusson, the above spelling is used by contemporary historians. Mrs. Ferguson is the "Cat Ferguson" at whose expense Dr. Mitchell's "Aunt Gainor " so frequently sharpened her wits. It is only fair to say that the author of " Hugh Wynne " has availed himself of a novelist's privilege and drawn a fanciful character, as Mrs. Ferguson was a woman of lovable and gentle nature, despite her keen wit and marked personality.

elegant literature, and herself a poetess, readily formed frequent literary coteries at her father's mansion ; so much so, as to make it the towntalk of her day."

Dr. Thomas Graeme was a leading physician and a man who held important positions in the government, while his wife, a stepdaughter of Sir W^illiam Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, had been reared in such luxury and refinement as the English life of her day afforded. A woman " possessed of a masculine mind, with all the female charms and accomplishments which render a woman agreeable to both sexes," Mrs. Thomas Graeme was described by an acute and discriminating observer of the time, to which it may be added, upon the authority of another writer, that she was deeply religious and devoted to all that was best in life and character. Young Francis Hopkinson, while upon a visit to Graeme Park, dedicated one of his earliest poetic efforts to a description of this lady's lovely and noble qualities. It is not, ho\vever, as an austere saint that Mrs. Graeme appears upon the pages of Colonial history. From her own letters, and from the descriptions of contemporaries, she seems to have been a warm-hearted, affectionate woman, loving her kind, and possessing the power, which her daughter inherited from her, of gathering around her certain choice spirits whom she elected as her associates.

In speaking of the Graemes and their country home in Montgomery County, Dr. Benjamin

Rush said : " This retreat was, moreover, consecrated to society and friendship. A plentiful table was spread daily for visitors, and two or three ladies from Philadelphia generally partook with Miss Graeme of the enjoyments which her situation in the country afforded." Mrs. Graeme, like her daughter, possessed a certain facility for verse-making, although she lacked the delicate fancy and nimble wit that characterize some of Elizabeth Graeme's writings, perhaps because the older w^oman's Muse was of a chastened and religious nature. Religion was then considered the only proper sphere for women in literature, no matter what frivolous or even naughty verses the Dean of St. Patrick's or Mr. Pope might be writing at the same time in England.

Although Mr. Joshua Francis Fisher wrote of Elizabeth Graeme's poems that " she cannot be said to be a favorite of the Muses, and her lines are not perfumed with that ' fragrant nectar' which those divinities are said to sprinkle over the verses of their friends," some of these lines possess a grace and charm found in few women's poems of the period. To the small circle of her own city. Miss Graeme ^vas known through her contributions to the Pennsylvania Packet and the Columbia Magazine. Her most extensive work was the translating of Fenelon's Aventures de Tde'maque into English verse, which was undertaken when the translator was about twenty-one years of age. This translation of Tdimaque was never

IS published, but the manuscript, carefully preserved, is in the possession of the Philadelphia Library Company, a lasting memorial to the industry and intelligence of this remarkable young woman. Instead of the classic French of the Abbe, " Calypso ne pouvait se consoler du dipart d' Ulysse,"" with its picture of the distracted Goddess roaming the shores of her island home in the hope of the return of the beloved wanderer, \ve read in Miss Graeme's manuscript volumes the following lines :

" No dawn of comfort could Calypso find, No balm to soften her distracted mind ; Eternal hope her tortured bosom pain'd, And immortality her anguish chain'd. A length of years appeared a train of woe; A dreadful channel for her griefs to flow. Ulysses gone, no place affords delight, The absent Hero haunts her anxious Sight : Her voice Mellifluous echo'd not around. No floating air returned the silver sound."

Whatever may be the faults of Miss Graeme's translation of Td^maque, it must be admitted that there were few women in America, or even in England, who would have attempted such a work, or who, having undertaken it, could have succeeded half as well. In 1764, when about twenty-five years of age, it was Miss Graeme's good fortune to spend a year in England under the care of the Rev. Richard Peters, rector of the united parishes of Christ Church and St. Peter's. In speaking of the advantages which the American girl

x6 enjoyed during her sojourn in the Old World, Dr. Rush wrote : " She was accompanied by the Rev. Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia, a gentleman of highly polished manners, and whose rank enabled him to introduce her to the most respectable circles of company. She sought, and was sought for by, the most celebrated literary gentlemen who flourished in England at the time of the accession of George the Third to the throne. She was introduced to this monarch, and particularly noticed by him. The celebrated Dr. Fothergill, whom she consulted as a physician, became her friend and correspondent as long as she lived."

While abroad, Miss Graeme visited Scotland, where she was warmly welcomed by her father's relatives. Dr. Graeme's nephew, Thomas Graeme, of Balgowan, gave his young American cousin the family coat-of-arms, and with it his own book-plate. This book-plate is to be found in some of Elizabeth Graeme's books, and is probably the first book-plate used by a woman in America.

In London Miss Graeme numbered among her friends the Honorable Thomas Penn and his wife, Lady Juliana Penn, both of whom had sho^vn their interest in the advancement of learning in Pennsylvania by sending gifts to a circulating library at Lancaster.* The

* From the records of this circulating library at Lancaster, established in 1759, to which Governor Hamilton, the Rev. Thomas Barton, Edward Shippen, and Judge William Henry gave generously of their means, it appears that 2 17 introductions which Miss Graeme enjoyed through her friendship with the Penns, Sir John Fothergill, and the Rev. Richard Peters gave her an entree to many interesting circles abroad. It is to be regretted that her diary, w^ritten for the entertainment of her parents and friends at home, has not been preserved. Dr. Benjamin Rush, in speaking of this record, w^hich it had been his privilege to read, said that it contained life-like and spirited pictures of personages and places, such as could only emanate from the mind and the pen of an intelligent and impressionable traveller. Portraits of some members of the famous " Blue Stocking Club " were doubtless sketched upon the pages of this diary, which w^as so eagerly looked for by Dr. and Mrs. Graeme in their Philadelphia home. Dr. Johnson himself may have been described by the young American, and Sir Joshua and Garrick and the great Burke, then a young man. A spirited account of Elizabeth Graeme's meeting with Laurence Sterne has come down to us from the pen of Dr. Rush, who said : " An accident attached

Thomas Penn and his wife, Lady Juliana, daughter of the Earl of Fermor, made a donation of books, globes, and astronomical apparatus. In testimony of the gratitude of the founders to this patroness the association was named The Juliana Library Company in Lancaster, and to further signify the honor in which this early patroness w^as held, the quaint seal of the company bears the figure of Minerva leading an illiterate person with one hand, while with the other she points to a shelf of books and a pair of globes.

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Colonel William Rhett Page 224 the sentimental and then popular author of * Tristram Shandy ' to her. She took a seat on the same stage with him at the York races. While bets were making on different horses, she selected a small horse that ■was in the rear of the coursers as the subject of a trifling wager. Upon being asked the reason for doing so, she said that the ' race w&s not always to the s^wift, nor the battle to the strong.' Mr. Sterne, who stood near to her, was struck with this reply, and turning hastily towards her, begged for the honor of her acquaintance. They soon became sociable, and a great deal of pleasant conversation took place between them, to the great entertainment of the surrounding company."

Although we have not the advantage of reading the notes taken by Miss Graeme abroad, it is quite evident that the literary gatherings to which she w^as introduced in London made a deep impression upon her mind, for soon after her return we find her presiding over a smaller circle in her own city modelled after the English fashion. This was after the death of Mrs. Graeme, when Dr. Graeme and his daughter were living in a large house on the north side of Chestnut Street above Sixth, which had been built by Joshua Carpenter for a country residence. This house, with its large garden reaching from Sixth to Seventh and from Chestnut to High Street, was the home of Governor Thomas from 1738 to 1747. It is quaintly recorded that the Governor's lady, with a kindly feeling for the boys in the neighborhood who cast longing looks towards her fine cherry-trees which overhung the sidewalk on Chestnut Street, sometimes allowed them to help themselves to the fruit, which was certainly as politic as it was generous. She also, upon June days when her roses were in bloom, frequently indulged the pretty girls who strolled past her garden with fragrant nosegays. Mr. John Ross afterwards lived in this house, and although it was within a square of the State House, his wife deemed it too remote for their family to live in. Here, despite the remoteness of her residence, Elizabeth Graeme gathered about her the best elements of the Philadelphia life of her day. Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was a literary man as ^vell as a physician of distinguished ability, delighted in the society of Dr. Thomas Graeme and his daughter, and was a constant habitui of their house. To the versatile ready pen of this writer we are indebted for a description of this earliest American salon and of its presiding genius :

" In her father's family she [Miss Graeme] now occupied the place of her mother. She kept his house and presided at his table and fireside in entertaining all his company. Such was the character of Dr. Graeme's family for hospitality and refinement of manners that all strangers of note who visited Philadelphia were introduced to it. Saturday evenings were appropriated, for many years during

Miss Graeme's winter residence in the city, for the entertainment, not only of strangers, but of such of her friends of both sexes as were considered the most suitable company for them. These evenings were, properly speaking, of the Attic kind. The genius of Miss Graeme evolved the heat and light that animated them. . . . She soon discovered, by the streams of information she poured upon her friends, that she had been ' all eye, all ear, and all grasp ' during her visit to Great Britain. . . . One while she instructed by the stores of knowledge contained in the historians, philosophers, and poets of ancient and modern nations, which she called forth at her pleasure; and again she charmed by a profusion of useful ideas, collected by her vivid and widely expanded imagination, and combined with exquisite taste and judgment into an endless variety of elegant and delightful forms. Upon these occasions her body seemed to evanish, and she appeared to be all mind. ... It was at one of these evening parties she first saw Mr. Henry Hugh Ferguson, a handsome and accomplished young gentleman, who had lately arrived in this country from Scotland. They w^ere suddenly pleased with each other. Private interviews soon took place between them, and in the course of a few months they were married. The inequality of their ages (for he was ten years younger) was opposed in a calculation of their conjugal happiness by the sameness of their attachment to books, retirement, and literary society."

Dr. Rush's pleasant augury with regard to the married life of Elizabeth Ferguson ■was not destined to be realized, as the ill-assorted union proved most unhappy, and as a climax to the sorrows of this woman, who was capable of writing good poetry herself, a versifier of the time penned some wretched lines upon her marriage :

*' Can the muse that laments the misfortune of love Draw a shade o'er the sorrowful tale, That Laura was cheated and fully could prove That Scotchmen have honor that sometimes may fail ? ****** " For pastoral changed to the tragedy style, And taught a hard lesson too late ; Though the rashness of youth in its folly may smile, Yet in tears must submit to its fate."

Laura was the pseudonym under which Miss Graeme carried on a rhymed correspondence, half gay, half serious, with the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, who was evidently deeply in love with his fair correspondent. It was in this merry war of words, especially in certain verses addressed to "The Country Parson," that she revealed the brilliancy of her mind and the delicacy of her wit. Many sorrow^s overtook the later years of Elizabeth Ferguson in consequence of her uncongenial marriage, and the unfortunate position in which she placed herself, during the War of the Revolution, by allowing herself to act as an intermediary between Governor Johnstone, a British Commissioner, and General Joseph Reed, of the Continental Army, with regard to a cessation of hostilities. By those who knew^ her best, Mrs, Ferguson has been estimated as a woman of elevated and unselfish character, who acted, whether wisely or unw^isely, according to the dictates of her conscience. Hers was a nature cast in a less heroic mould than were those of her sister poetesses, Mercy Warren and Annis Stockton, both of whom •were ardently patriotic, as were Mrs. John Adams, Mrs. David Bell,* Mrs. Philip Schuyler, Mrs. Clement Biddle, and many other ^vomen who, like Elizabeth Ferguson, had been reared amid English ideas and standards and with a certain love and loyalty for the mother country. The position taken by Mrs. Ferguson seems to have been prompted by her great sensibility and her sympathy for those who were suffering from a war that, as she thought, was desolating her country, rather than by any sentiment of loyalty toward Great Britain. She later sho-wed her patriotism and kindness of heart by ministering to the soldiers in her neighborhood, and when General Howe