Part 11
It is evident that the Assembly Balls were revived soon after peace was declared, and held occasionally, if not regularly, as Mrs. John Adams speaks of attending an Assembly while in Philadelphia during the administration of President Washington. The dancing she pronounces “very good and the company of the best kind,” adding that the ladies are more beautiful than those she has seen at foreign courts. Mrs. Adams must have been subject to variable moods at this time, as she writes to her daughter one week of the dazzling brilliancy of Mrs. Washington’s drawing-room, concluding that Mrs. Bingham had given laws to the Philadelphia women in fashion and elegance, while in another letter she says of an Assembly Ball, “the room despicable; the etiquette,--it was difficult to say where it was to be found. Indeed, it was not New York; but you must not report this from me.” This was probably written after one of their long drives to town over muddy roads, which made Bush Hill seem so undesirable a residence to the Vice-President and his wife. Mrs. Adams writes in more amiable mood upon another occasion, and is pleased to find “Mrs. Powell of all the ladies she has met the best informed, beside which she is friendly, affable, good, sprightly, and full of conversation.” This lady who combines so many charms is Mrs. Samuel Powel, born Elizabeth Willing, the aunt of Mrs. Bingham, who also came in for a large share of the New England lady’s admiration, being included in her “constellation of beauties,” with her sister Elizabeth, soon to become the wife of Major William Jackson, whose portrait represents one of the handsomest men of the time. The Chews of whom Mrs. Adams speaks are younger sisters of the Meschianza belles, little Sophia, Juliana, and Maria, grown up to take their sisters’ places. Old Chief Justice Benjamin Chew had a host of pretty daughters, and in the gay world of society, as in court circles, there is always a laudable disposition to hail the rising sun. Instead of Mrs. Benedict Arnold, her sisters, the Redmans, the Bonds, and Miss Wilhelmina Smith, who has gone off to Maryland with her husband Charles Goldsborough, we find a new bevy of beauties, Sally McKean, who afterwards married the Marquis de Yrujo, and whose languid beauty seemed made for a Southern court, Mrs. Walter Stewart, born Deborah McClenachan, Mrs. Henry Clymer, Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, from Massachusetts, and Miss Wolcott, from Connecticut, whom New England gentlemen were wont to boast equal in beauty and grace to Mrs. Bingham. Mrs. Adams comments upon the gayety and prodigality of Philadelphia living at this period, as General Greene had done a little earlier, the latter having declared the luxury of Boston “an infant babe” to that of the Quaker City. Much of the extravagance which prevailed for some years in Philadelphia was an outcome of the speculation and the pursuit of private gain induced by the enormous inflation of the Continental currency. “Wealth thus easily acquired was as freely squandered,” says Mr. F. D. Stone in his admirable paper on Philadelphia society during the period of the new tender, “and while luxuries were being enjoyed by one class of citizens, the expenses and burdens of others were greatly increased.” In the diary of the moderate and abstemious Washington we read of a number of entertainments and numerous dinners attended by him at the Ingersolls’, Morrises’, Chews’, Rosses’, Willings’, Hamiltons’, and Binghams’; at the latter place “I dined in great splendor,” writes the President, who was well content with one dish of meat and one or two glasses of wine at his own table. Again, in a letter written from Philadelphia to General Wayne by a brother officer we read,--
“Permit me to say a little of the dress, manners, and customs of the town’s people. In respect to the first, great alterations have taken place since I was last here. It is all gayety, and from what I can observe, every lady and gentleman endeavors to outdo the other in splendor and show.... The manner of entertaining in this place has likewise undergone its change. You cannot conceive anything more elegant than the present taste. You can hardly dine at a table but they present you with three courses, and each of them in the most elegant manner.”
Miss Sally McKean, in writing to a friend in New York of Mrs. Washington’s first levee, says,--
“You never could have such a drawing-room; it was brilliant beyond anything you can imagine; and though there was a great deal of extravagance, there was so much of Philadelphia taste in everything that it must be confessed the most delightful occasion of the kind ever known in this country.”
Some of the old names run down the Assembly list through all the years to our own time, as Chew, Shippen, M’Call, Hopkinson, McIlvaine, White, Barclay, Cadwalader, Coxe, Lardner, and many more, while others have quite disappeared from Philadelphia society. There are no more Hamiltons, Oswalds, Cliftons, Plumsteds, Allens, Swifts, Inglises, or Francises to be found on the lists of to-day. Some of these families are no longer represented in the male line, while others have married and settled abroad, notably the Binghams, Allens, Hamiltons, and Elliots. Into the social circles where they once held sway have come such Southern names as Randolph, Byrd, Page, Robinson, Carter, Hunter, and Neilson from Virginia, and Tilghman, Cheston, Murray, and many other well-known names from that Eastern Shore of Maryland famed for its good cheer, and for its hospitable Colonial mansions presided over by beautiful matrons.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] Evidently intended for Mrs. Mayoress, as Charles Willing was elected Mayor of Philadelphia in 1748.
[36] Mr. Richard Penn Lardner, a descendant of this Lynford Lardner, in 1878, owned the original list of the subscribers to the Assembly of 1749, and the manner in which this list and the rules for its government came into the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is in itself an interesting bit of local history. The rules were the property of Mr. Charles Riché Hildeburn, a direct descendant of John Swift. He offered to give them to the society if the old list should also be forthcoming. Mr. Lardner signified his willingness to donate the list, and the formal presentation was made by the late President of the Historical Society, the Hon. John William Wallace. Thus, after a separation of one hundred and thirty years, the old documents came together through the agency of descendants of three of the managers of the very Assembly to which they pertained.
[37] Chronicles of the Plumsted Family, by Eugene Devereux.
[38] Some of these old playing-cards, with invitations to the Assembly printed on the backs, are still in the possession of a descendant of the first Edward Shippen.
[39] This Mrs. Bingham was the mother of William Bingham, who married a daughter of Thomas Willing, whose wife, Anne McCall, may well be spoken of as “the beautiful mother of a beautiful race.”
[40] From manuscript letter in possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[41] The name Williamina was inherited from a beautiful grandmother, Williamina Wemyss Moore.
[42] This letter was forwarded by Edward Tilghman, who was “out on his parole,” with the gauze handkerchiefs, ribbons, etc, to Mrs. Paca, born Anne Harrison, the second wife of William Paca, of Wye Island, Maryland, who was a delegate to Congress. (Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. xvi. p. 216.)
[43] This story, on the authority of Thomas Jefferson, is related by Miss Elizabeth Montgomery in her “Reminiscences of Wilmington.”
[44] Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. xvi. pp. 216, 217.
INDEX.
A.
Abercrombie, Dr. James, 119.
Adams, John, 11, 66, 88, 130, 148, 192.
Adams, Mrs. John, 13, 16, 65, 191, 224.
Adams, John Quincy, 70, 125, 167.
Agassiz, Louis, 145.
Agassiz, Mrs. Louis, 140.
Alexander, General William, 70.
Allen, Andrew, 214.
Allen, Ann, 216.
Allinson, Edward P., 154.
Alsop, Mary, 85. (Mrs. Rufus King.)
American Philosophical Society, 97-147.
Amiel, Christian, 223.
André, Major John, 26, 33, 44, 52, 84.
Armand, Colonel, 210.
Armstrong, Colonel Richard, 223.
Arnold, General Benedict, 63, 194, 223.
Arnold, Mrs. Benedict, 44. (Peggy Shippen.)
Atlee, Dr. W. F., 68.
Aubrey, William, 184.
Auchmuty, Miss, 38, 42.
Auchmuty, Rev. Samuel, 56.
B.
Bache, Dr. Franklin, 174.
Bache, Mrs. Richard, 12, 17, 85.
Barclay, 200, 228.
Bard, 223.
Barton, Dr. Benjamin S., 132.
Bartram, John, 103, 104.
Bartram, William, 104.
Bayard, The Misses, 88.
Beasley, Dr. Frederick, 167.
Beckwith, Colonel, 168.
Beekman, Colonel Henry, 85.
Beekman, Mrs. James, 84.
Biddle, Clement C., 167.
Biddle, Nicholas, 117, 152.
Bingham, William, 211.
Bingham, William, United States Senator, 211 (note).
Bingham, Mrs. William, 89, 92, 224, 226.
Binney, Horace, 173.
Black, William, 199, 210.
Bleecker, 82.
Blended Rose, Ladies of the, 33, 42.
Bonaparte, Charles Lucien, 139.
Bonaparte, Joseph, 164.
Bond, Becky, 43, 218.
Bond, Dr. Phineas, 103.
Bond, Williamina, 42, 216.
Boudinot, Elias, 74.
Bowers, Mrs. John M., 8.
Breck, Samuel, 66, 152.
Bunker’s Hotel, 67.
Burd, 200, 216.
Burgoyne, General, 34.
Burning Mountain, Ladies of the, 43.
Burr, Aaron, 66, 131.
Bush Hill, 225.
Byrd, 229.
C.
Cadwalader, General John, 216.
Cadwalader, Margaret, 216.
Cadwalader, Polly, 216.
Cadwalader, Dr. Thomas, 111.
Calder, Sir Henry, 28, 49.
Callowhill, Hannah, 178. (Hannah Penn.)
Canino, Prince de, 164, 168.
Carey, Henry C., 123, 167.
Carey, Mathew, 167.
Carey Vespers, 123.
Carter, 229.
Cathcart, Lady, 18, 19, 205.
Cathcart, Lord, 42.
Chapman, Dr. Nathaniel, 117, 153.
Chastellux, Marquis de, 84, 148.
Cheston, 229.
Cheves, Langdon, 173.
Chew, Elizabeth, 214.
Chew, Mary, 214.
Chew, Peggy, 42, 49, 58.
Chew, Sally, 43.
Clarkson, 82.
Clifton, Eleanor, 28, 29.
Clinton, Governor George, 81.
Clinton, Mrs. George, 92.
Clinton, Sir Henry, 38, 61.
Clymer, George, 155.
Clymer, Mrs. Henry, 226.
Coffin, Eleanor, 20.
Colden, Dr. Cadwallader, 104, 105.
Collins, Zacheus, 162.
Conyngham, 200.
Coxe, Sally, 214.
Craig, Janet, 42, 56.
D.
Daschkof, Princess, 140, 142.
Deane, Silas, 148.
De Lancey, Mrs. Oliver, 212.
De Peyster, 82.
Dickinson, John, 103, 205, 216.
Digby, Admiral Robert, 73.
Draper, Sir William, 30.
Drayton, Colonel, of South Carolina, 125.
Drinker, Elizabeth, 18.
Duane, Mrs. James, 83, 88.
Duer, Colonel William, 70.
Duer, Lady Kitty, 69, 70, 83.
Dulany, Daniel, 103.
Du Ponceau, Peter S., 121-129, 155, 162.
E.
Elliot, Governor Andrew, 73, 204, 205.
Elliot, Elizabeth, 205.
Emlen, 200.
Evans, 216.
Evans, Governor John, 184.
Eve, Sarah, 18, 199.
F.
Fishbourne, 215.
Fisher, 200, 203.
Fisher, Joshua Francis, 173.
Foulke, Liddy, 10.
Francis, Anne, 134.
Francis, Dr. John W., 152.
Francis, Sir Philip, 134-136.
Francis’s Hotel, 207.
Franklin, Benjamin, 12, 17, 106, 112, 114, 120, 140; founder of Philosophical Society, 97-102.
Franklin, Samuel, 70.
Franklin, Sarah, 71. (Mrs. Richard Bache.)
Franklin, Walter, house of, New York residence of General Washington, 67-70.
Franks, Abigail, 212.
Franks, David, 212.
Franks, Phila, 212.
Franks, Polly, 214.
Franks, Rebecca, 14, 38, 43, 59-61, 213, 219.
Fraser, Caroline, 164.
Furness, Dr. William H., 124.
G.
Gallatin, Albert, 125.
Galloway, Mrs., 213.
Gerry, Elbridge, 91.
Gerry, Mrs. Elbridge, 86.
Gliddon, George Robins, 125.
Goldsborough, Charles, 57, 226.
Greene, General Nathaniel, 8, 226.
Griffin, Lady Christiana, 85.
Griffin, Cyrus, 85, 90.
Griffitts, Hannah, 54.
Griffitts, Dr. Samuel Powel, 154.
Grouchy, Marquis de, 164.
H.
Haines, Reuben, 162.
Hale, Captain Nathan, 84.
Hamilton, Alexander, 66, 91.
Hamilton, Mrs. Alexander, 85.
Hamilton, Andrew, 201.
Hamilton, Mrs. Andrew, 212.
Hamilton, Governor James, 200.
Hamilton’s Wharf, 206.
Hancock, John, 11.
Harrison, Anne, 217.
Hays, Dr. Isaac, 174.
Hazlehurst, 216.
Heckewelder, John, 129, 155.
Helm, Mary, 186, 190.
Helvetius, Madame, 16, 17.
Hildeburn, Charles Riché, 203.
Hopkinson, Francis, 103, 120, 220.
Hopkinson House, 21.
Hopkinson, Joseph, 152, 167.
Hopkinson, Thomas, 105, 198.
Hosack, Dr., 151.
Howard, Colonel John Eager, 59.
Howe, Admiral Lord Richard, 38, 48, 55, 71.
Howe, General Sir William, 24, 28, 41, 48, 55, 218.
Humboldt, Baron von, 133, 151.
Hunter, 229.
Huntington, Daniel, 91.
I.
Ingersoll, Bertha, 76.
Ingersoll, Charles J., 143, 166.
Ingersoll, Jared, 129.
Inglis, John, 203.
Inglis, Katharine, 214.
Izard, Mrs. Ralph, 85.
J.
Jackson, Major William, 225.
James, Dr. Thomas C., 162, 174.
Jauncey, Mrs., 19, 204, 205.
Jay, John, 90, 91.
Jay, Mrs. John, 13, 90, 92, 93.
Jefferson, Thomas, 18, 75, 111, 124, 128.
Jekyll, John, 206.
Johnson, Lady, 62. (Rebecca Franks.)
Johnson, Sir Henry, 60, 62.
Junto, 100, 101, 109.
K.
Kane, Judge, 173.
Keach, Rev. Elias, 186-191.
Keteletas, Jane, 84.
Keyes, Miss, 18.
King, Rufus, 91.
King, Mrs. Rufus, 92.
Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 106.
Kissam, 82.
Knight’s Wharf, 28, 38, 39.
Knox, General, 66, 222.
Knox, Mrs. General, 77, 92.
Knyphausen, General, 38.
Kuhn, Dr. Adam, 103, 153.
L.
Lafayette, Marquis de, 142, 144.
Lardner, Lynford, 203.
Lardner, Richard Penn, 203, 204.
Lawrence, Becky, 223.
Lawrence, Colonel Elisha, 58.
Lea, Dr. Isaac, 174.
Lea, Henry C., 174.
Leather Apron Society, 100.
Lee, General Charles, 61.
Leidy, Joseph, 145.
Levy, Hettie, 211.
Levy, Samson, 211.
Lewis, Lawrence, Jr., 44.
Lewis, Morgan, 83.
Lewis, William D., 172.
Livingston, Mrs. Robert R., 85.
Livingston, Mrs. Walter, 92.
Lloyd, 200.
Logan, Deborah, 9.
Logan, James, 183, 184.
Lynch, Mrs. Dominick, 83.
M.
Macomb’s House occupied by President Washington, 67.
Madison, James, 12, 75, 130, 165.
Marbois, Barbé-, 75.
Markoe, Miss, 94, 215.
Maxwell, Mrs. James Homer, 83.
M’Call, 200, 214, 228.
McIlvaine, 200, 228.
McKean, Henry Pratt, 111.
McKean, Sally, 77, 226, 228.
McLane, Captain Allan, 51.
McMaster, John Bach, 99.
McMichael, Morton, 172.
McMurtrie, 216.
McPherson, 216.
Meade, 216.
Meigs, Dr. Charles D., 174.
Meredith, Samuel, 216.
Meredith, William M., 173.
Meschianza, 23-64.
Michaux, André, 107, 115.
Mifflin, Elizabeth, 149.
Mifflin, John, 149.
Mitchell, Dr. John K., 174.
Mitchell, Maria, 139.
Montgomery, 82, 216.
More, Chief Justice Nicholas, 190.
Morgan, Dr. John, 19.
Morgan, Mrs. John, 18.
Morray, Humphrey, 154.
Morris, Robert, 91, 205.
Morris, Mrs. Robert, 13, 63, 91, 214.
Montrésor, Colonel, 49, 56.
Moustier, Comte de, 74, 75, 81.
N.
Neilson, 229.
New York Balls and Receptions, 65-96.
Nixon, 216.
Norris, Deborah, 10.
O.
Odell, 223.
O’Hara, Colonel, 49.
Ord, George, 117, 118, 119.
Osgood, Samuel, 69.
Oswald, 213, 223.
P.
Paca, Mrs. William, 217.
Page, 229.
Parton, James, 99, 106, 128.
Patterson, Dr. Robert, 129.
Patterson, Dr. Robert M., 100, 101, 162, 173.
Peale, Charles Willson, 111, 136-139.
Peale, Franklin, 129, 137.
Pegg’s Run, 29.
Pemberton, 200.
Penington, Edward, 60.
Penn, Governor John, 216.
Penn, Hannah, 183.
Penn, Letitia, 181, 184.
Penn, Thomas, 201.
Penn, William, 178, 181.
Penn, William, Jr., 180.
Penrose, Boies, 154.
Peter, William, 170.
Peters, Judge Richard, 11, 117, 129, 166.
Peters, Richard, 200-202.
Philadelphia Dancing Assemblies, 197-229.
Philipse, 82.
Philipse, Miss, 73.
Plumsted, 229.
Pool’s Bridge, 28, 39.
Powel, Mrs. Samuel, 225.
Priestley, Rev. Joseph, 116, 117.
Provoost, Mrs. Samuel, 83.
R.
Randolph, 229.
Rawdon, Lord, 38, 71, 72.
Rawle, William, 122, 155.
Read, Sarah, 185.
Redman, Dr. John, 57.
Redman, Nancy, 42.
Redman, Rebecca, 43, 57, 58.
Reed, William B., 170.
Riché, Polly, 210, 223.
Rittenhouse, David, 112, 131, 215.
Roberdeau, 18.
Robinson, Moncure, 174.
Robinson, Mrs. William T., 67-69.
Ross, 216, 227.
Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 129, 132, 153, 158.
Rutherfurd, 82.
S.
Saxe-Weimar, Duke of, 165, 167.
Schuyler, Madame Philip, 18.
Schweinitz, Rev. Lewis D. de, 130.
Sedgwick, Mrs. Theodore, 226.
Sergeant, John, 173.
Serra, Abbé Correa de, 117, 138, 152.
Shewell, Betty, 120. (Mrs. Benjamin West.)
Shippen, Chief Justice Edward, 44, 205.
Shippen, Joseph, 49, 214.
Shippen, Peggy, 33, 42, 63, 194, 223.
Shippen, William, 154.
Shipton, Betty, 19.
Short, William, 117, 165.
Simcoe, Major, 223.
Sims, 216.
Smith, Abigail, 191. (Mrs. John Adams.)
Smith, Williamina, 43, 56, 226.
Smythe, Hon. Lionel, 74.
Sneyd, Honora, 30.
Somerville, Mary, 139.
Southgate, Eliza, 14, 18, 20.
Sparks, Jared, 100.
Stamper, Mollie, 211.
State in Schuylkill, 11.
Steuben, Baron, 81.
Steward, Lieutenant-Colonel Jack, 61.
Stewart, Mrs. Walter, 226.
Stirling, Lady, 83.
Stoddert, Major, 9.
Stone, Colonel William Leet, 79.
Strickland, William, 117.
Swanwick, John M. P., 94, 215.
Swift, Charles, 223.
Swift, John, 203, 214.
T.
Tarleton, Major, 56.
Taylor, Mrs. Abraham, 201, 202.
Temple, Lady, 70, 84.
Temple, Sir John, 84.
Thackeray, William M., 170.
Tilghman, Chief Justice, 129, 134, 155, 162, 167.
Tilghman, Edward, 214, 217.
Tilghman, Richard, 135, 136.
Twisleton, Hon. Edward, 135.
Tyson, Job R., 161.
V.
Van Cortland, 82.
Van Horne, Kitty, 213.
Van Rensselaer, 82.
Van Zandt, Catharine, 83.
Vaughan, Benjamin, M. D., 126.
Vaughan, Mr. John, 117, 123, 125, 127, 160.
Vaughan, Samuel, 126.
Vaux, Roberts, 167.
Verplanck, 82.
Vining, Miss, 218.
W.
Wallace, John, 203, 204.
Walnut Grove, 31, 32. (Meschianza House.)
Walsh, Robert, LL. D., 117, 152, 173.
Ware, Rev. William, 125.
Washington, George, 8, 66, 87, 124.
Washington, Martha, 65, 86, 91, 224.
Watmough, 216.
Watson, Joseph, 35, 166, 199.
Watts, Lady Mary, 83.
Wayne, General Anthony, 63, 227.
West, Benjamin, 103, 120.
Wharton, Joseph, Sr., 30-32.
Wharton, Mayor Robert, 118.
Wharton, Thomas Isaac, 173.
White, Bishop, 119, 120, 214.
White, Nancy, 42.
Wilcocks, Alexander, 214.
Willing, Abby, 215.
Willing, Elizabeth, 225.
Willing, Mrs. Charles, 201.
Willing, Mrs. Thomas, 211.
Wistar, Dr. Caspar, 117, 129, 149, 157, 159, 161.
Wistar, Mrs. Caspar, 150.
Wistar, Kitty, 67.
Wistar Parties, 147-176.
Wister, Sally, 9, 14, 199.
Wolcott, Miss, 226.
Wood, Dr. George B., 174.
Wrottesley, John, 49.
Wüster, Katerina, 157.
Y.
Yates, Chief Justice, 83.
Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious errors in punctuation have been corrected.
Page 31: “entered the oom” corrected to “entered the room”
Page 42: “Miss Achmuty’s honor” changed to “Miss Auchmuty’s honor”
Page 47: “Major Gywnne rode in” changed to “Major Gwynne rode in”
Page 66: “removal of her household gods” changed to “removal of her household goods”
Page 81: In the footnote, “Diary of Ewala” changed to “Diary of Ewald”