tract numerous emigrants, who will gradually change its customs and manners; but, whatever changes take place, never forget the cordial and cheerful observance of New-year's-day." Mrs. Washington stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and when the clock in the hall struck nine she advanced and said, with a pleasant smile, "The General always retires at nine, and I usually precede him," upon which the company made their parting salutations, and said good-night. This was the second session of the First American Congress, and the last ever held in New York. It was closed on the 12th of August, 1790, and on the 30th the President set out for Virginia.

The population of Boston at this time was about eighteen thousand, that of New York thirty-three thousand, of whom twenty-three hundred were slaves, and that of Philadelphia fortytwo thousand, of whom less than three hundred were slaves. One of the great questions of the day was in which of the cities or sections the capital of the nation should be fixed. It is amusing to note the efforts made to retain it in New York and to prevent its transfer to Philadelphia, and to compare them with the late endeavor of the gentle Mr. Reavis, of St. Louis, and his very few associates, against keeping the seat of the National Government where it is to-day. The first Congress had just closed at New York, and Washington prepared, in accordance with the decision of that body, to fix his new residence at Philadelphia, where the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Departments were to be retained until the close of the century. It was known that Washington and the Southern men generally were anxious that the political centre of the Republic should be on the River Potomac, while Pennsylvania wished it on the banks of the Delaware, and New York vainly tried to keep it on the Hudson. Dr. Rush, in a letter to General Muhlenberg, said, "I rejoice in the prospect of Congress leaving New York. It is a sink of political vice. Do as you

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please, but tear Congress away from New York in any way. Do not rise without effecting this business." But the NewYorkers did not hesitate to retort upon Philadelphia. Captain Freneau, afterward Mr. Jefferson's great editorial advocate, and the assailant of General Washington in the Philadelphia National Gazette, wrote some verses, in which he made a Philadelphia house-maid, in a letter to her friend in New York, speak of Philadelphia as follows:

"Six weeks my dear mistress has been in a fret,

And nothing but Congress will do for her yet.

She says they must come, or her senses she'll lose ;
From morning to night she is reading the news,
And loves the dear fellows that vote for our town,
Since no one can relish New York but a clown.

"She tells us as how she has read in her books

That God gives the meat but the devil the cooks;
And Grumbleton told us, who often shoots flying,
That fish you have plenty, but spoil them in frying;
That your streets are as crooked as crooked can be,
Right forward three perches he never could see;
That his view was cut short with a house or a shop
That stood in his way and obliged him to stop."

To which the New York maid responds to her friend:
“Well, Nannie, I'm sorry to find, since you writ us,
That Congress at last has determined to quit us;
You now may begin with your dish-cloths and brooms,
To be scouring your knockers and scrubbing your rooms.

"As for us, my dear Nannie, we're much in a pet,
And hundreds of houses will be "To be Let ;"

Our streets, that were just in a way to look clever,

Will now be neglected and nasty as ever.

This Congress unsettled's a very sad thing,

Seven years, my dear Nannie, they've been on the wing,

My master would rather saw timber or dig,

Than to have it removed to Conogocheague,

Where the houses and kitchens are yet to framed,

The trees to be felled, and the streets to be named."

Then came the hurry and excitement of moving the different Departments of the Government, complaints on the part of members of Congress of high prices of rents and provisions, and all the numerous intrigues incidental to such a transition. The appearance of Philadelphia was monotonous enough, though Christ Church had quite a cathedral air, and the Dutch church was magnificent. But the city, plain and unpretending, was chiefly attractive to visitors by its markets, which were declared to be the best in the world. The Pennsylvania politicians, including such men as Robert Morris, felt that if they could make Congress, the President, and the Departments comfortable in Philadelphia, the project of removing to the South would be abandoned, and therefore some amusing expedients were resorted to, especially to propitiate the President, but without effect. He was exceedingly careful about committing himself, would receive no favors of any kind, and scrupulously paid for every thing. The house of Mr. Robert Morris had been taken by the corporation for his residence. "It is," said Washington to his private secretary, Mr. Lear, "the best they could get, and is, I believe, the best single house in the city." A larger house was set apart for him on Ninth Street, on the grounds now covered by the Pennsylvania University, which he refused to accept.

The house he occupied while he was President was a large double house, on the south side of High Street, near Fifth, was three stories, thirty-two feet wide, four windows in the second as well as in the third story, and three in the first, approached by three heavy steps of gray stone to a single door. It was situated in a vacant lot, used as a garden, and surrounded with trees and shrubbery.

On Saturday, the 28th of November, 1790, the President and Mrs. Washington arrived from Mount Vernon, and took possession of this their new mansion, and on Christmas-day, the 25th of December, they gave their first formal levee. The President was surrounded by members of his Cabinet or other distinguished

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men, his hair powdered and gathered behind in a silk bag, coat and breeches of plain black silk velvet, white or pearl-colored vest, yellow 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. Every name was distinctly announced, and he rarely forgot it after the owner had been introduced. At Mrs. Washington's receptions the President appeared as a private gentleman, without hat or sword, conversing without restraint, generally with the ladies, who had few other opportunities of meeting him.

The winter of 1790-91, including the New-year's receptions and levees, was unusually brilliant in Philadelphia. "I should spend a very dissipated winter," writes Mrs. John Adams, "if I were to accept one half the invitations I receive." Another correspondent wrote as follows: "I never saw any thing like the frenzy which has seized upon the inhabitants here. They have been half mad ever since this city became the seat of Government, and there is no limit to their prodigality, and, Ellsworth might say, profligacy. The probability is that some families. will find they can not support their dinners, suppers, and losses at loo a great while; but generally, I believe, the sharp citizens manage to make the temporary residents pay the bills, one way or another. They have given a good many delightful parties, and I have been at Chew's, McKean's, Clymer's, Dallas's, Bingham's, and a dozen other houses lately. Among your more particular friends there is more quiet and comfort, and it is not impossible that the most truly respectable people are least heard of."

Few will think of the New-year of 1790-91 as they greet to-morrow; and yet, though eighty years have gone, it is not difficult, after a little reading and reflection, to recall it. "The belle of the period" was Anne Willing, afterward Mrs. William

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Bingham. She was the princess of society before whom Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay, and John Adams gladly bowed. Of rare personal attractions, fine intelligence, and unlimited resources, supplied by husband and father, she dazzled society in both continents. Dying at thirty-seven, she has left a deathless reputation for loveliness of person and of mind. A chief favorite of Washington, who saw her alike at her town and country home -the latter the famous Lansdowne on the Schuylkill, the glory of the great Fairmount Park-she was the star of Mrs. Washington's levees. It is not difficult to picture her now, the queen of the ladies of her own age and sphere, and the admired of the great leaders of the time. There will be lovely women and eminent men to-morrow at the White House in Washington, and in the many great houses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Charleston, Baltimore, and Richmond; but will the women be more attractive than those who attended the first levee of President Washington in Philadelphia in 1790-91? There were Mrs. Vice-President John Adams, the dazzling Mrs. Bingham and her beautiful sisters, the Misses Allen, the Misses Chew, and a constellation of others. The eldest of the Allens became the lovely Mrs. Greenleaf. Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, and Miss Wolcott, of New England, added singular grace to the scene. Miss Sally McKean, afterward the Marchioness d'Yrujo (wife of the Spanish Minister), whose portrait, by Gilbert Stuart, is still in possession of Pratt McKean, in Philadelphia, wrote to a friend in New York: "You never could have had such a drawing-room; it was brilliant beyond any thing you can imagine, and though there was a great deal of extravagance, there was so much of Philadelphia taste in every thing that it must be confessed the most delightful occasion ever known in this country." In fact, all the great women of this country, North and South, and of the foreign legations, figured in the decade between 1790 and 1800 in these historical assemblies.