handed in profusion. We sat with this company & stopped on the summit of the hill until the avenue was comparatively clear, tho' at any other time we should have thought it terribly crowded. Streams of people on foot & of carriages of all kinds, still pouring towards the President's house. We went Home, found your papa & sisters at the Bank, standing at the upper windows, where they had been seen by the President, who took off his hat to them, which they insisted was better than all we had seen. From the Bank to the President's house for a long while, the crowd rendered a passage for us impossible. Some went into the Cashier's parlour, where we found a number of ladies & gentlemen & had cake & wine in abundance. In about an hour, the pavement was clear enough for us to walk. Your father, Mr. Wood, Mr. Ward, Mr. Lyon, with us, we set off to the President's House, but on a nearer approach found an entrance impossible, the yard & avenue was compact with living matter. The day was delightful, the scene animating, so we walked backward & forward at every turn meeting some new acquaintance & stopping to talk & shake hands. Among others we met Zavr Dickinson with Mr. Frelinghuysen & Dr. Elmendorf, & Mr. Saml. Bradford. We continued promenading here, until near three, returned home unable to stand & threw ourselves on the sopha. Some one came & informed us the crowd before the President's house, was so far lessen'd, that they thought we might enter. This time we effected our purpose. But what a scene did we witness! The Majesty of the People had disappeared, & a rabble, a mob, of boys, negros, women, children, scrambling, fighting, romping. What a pity, what a pity! No arrangements had been made, no police officers placed on duty & the whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob. We came too late. The President, after having been literally nearly pressed to death & almost suffocated & torn to pieces by the people in their eagerness to shake hands with Old Hickory, had retreated through the back way or south front & had escaped to his lodgings at Gadsby's. Cut glass & china to the amount of several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get the refreshments, punch & other articles had Branch Bank of the United States, corner of Fifteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, of which Mr. Smith was President.

been carried out in tubs & buckets, but had it been in hogsheads it would have been insufficient, ice-creams, & cake & lemonade, for 20,000 people, for it is said that number were there, tho' I think the estimate exaggerated. Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses & such a scene of confusion took place as is impossible to describe,

those who got in could not get out by the door again, but had to scramble out of windows. At one time, the President who had retreated & retreated until he was pressed against the wall, could only be secured by a number of gentlemen forming round him & making a kind of barrier of their own bodies, & the pressure was so great that Col. Bomford who was one at one time, said he was afraid they should have been pushed down, or on the President. It was then the windows were thrown open, & the torrent found an outlet, which otherwise might have proved fatal.

This concourse had not been anticipated & therefore not provided against. Ladies & gentlemen, only had been expected at this Levee, not the people en masse. But it was the People's day, & the People's President & the People would rule. God grant that one day or other, the People, do not put down all rule & rulers. I fear, enlightened Freemen as they are, they will be found, as they have been found in all ages & countries where they get the Power in their hands, that of all tyrants, they are the most ferocious, cruel & despotic. The noisy & disorderly rabble in the President's House brought to my mind descriptions I had read, of the mobs in the Tuilleries & at Versailles. expect to hear the carpets & furniture are ruined; the streets were muddy, & these guests all went thither on foot.

The rest of the day, overcome with fatigue I lay upon the sopha. The girls went to see Mrs. Clay & Mrs. Southard. Mrs. Rush was at Mrs. C.'s-Mrs. Clay's furniture all sold, the entry full of hay, straw, & packages, & in her little back room, scarcely a chair to sit on & she worn out with fatigue. "This being turned out, is a sad, troublesome thing, is it not?" said Mrs. Rush. "Coming in, is troublesome enough, but then, one does not mind the trouble."

After tea, Mr. Ward, Mr. Wood, Mr. Lyon, & Warren Scott, came in & staid until past 11 oclock. Mr. S. & I talked of Brunswick friends & of old times. Col.

raised my head, when the door opened & two plain looking ladies (one of the ladies, was Miss Jeffries, her friend & companion) walked in. They had walked & I had not attended to the ringing of the door bell, not expecting visitors at this hour. "I have come early," said she, "to make sure of finding you at home, & because it is my only disengaged time. I yesterday planned a quiet sitting of two hours with you, but I found it impossible." She is a woman you would love, so plain, unaffected & quiet in her manners & appearance, yet animated in conversation. She brought me a letter of introduction from Mrs. Eckart, & sent it with her card, the day after her arrival, otherwise I do not know whether I should have called on her, under our present plan of domesticity, & the feelings thereby induced, for when one lives out of company one shrinks from it. Accompanied by the girls I called on her, sent in my name. There were three or four other ladies in the room, but her advancing to receive us, was a sufficient indication that she was Miss Martineau. She was sitting in a corner of the sopha, which supported the arm & hand, which held the speaking-tube to her ear, she handed it to me saying, "Do you know the use of this?" I answered affirmatively by an inclination of my head & putting the tube to my lips, soon forgot I held it, & conversed as easily as if not through this, it must be confessed, awkward medium. As I had always understood she was of the Liberal if not radical party, the advocate of the poor & of the working-class, I did not anticipate the reception she has met with from our dignitaries & fashionables. But the English minister was the first to wait on her, introduced her into the Senate, to the President, &c., &c., which at once made her Ton. She has literally been overwhelmed with company. I have been told that the day after her arrival near 600 persons called, (an exaggeration I suppose) but the number was immense. Poor I had been planning to show her the same kind of friendly, plain attentions I had done Mrs. Brenton & Miss Sedgwick, & offered to call with the carriage & accompany her to Congress, to make her calls of ceremony, &c., &c. When I found these calls had been dispensed with, & the President's family & Secretaries ladies had first called on her, I told her I did not give nor go to large parties, but should be glad

to see her in a social & domestic manner. This I repeated this morning & told her when the hurry of her gay engagements was over, I would ask a quiet day. "Name what day you please after this week, & it shall be reserved for you," replied she. Yesterday she dined at the President's, & in the evening went to a large party. Today she dines at Sir Charles Vaughan's * & in the evening a party at Mrs. Butler's† (the attorney general) two large evening parties to which she had promised to go, violent headaches, induced by the crowds of company during the whole day, obliged her to send an appology. Her health is very delicate. During the last year she has been laboriously employed, to such a degree as to impair her health. Absolute relaxation & change of scene were prescribed, & she thought she could obtain both these remedies by making the tour of U. S. But if followed by such crowds, her aim will be defeated. From her manners & appearance no one would believe it possible she could be so distinguished, celebrated, followed. The drollest part of the whole is, that these crowds, at least in Washington, go to see the lion & nothing else. I have not met with an individual, except Mrs. Seaton & her mother, who have read any of her works, or knew for what she is celebrated. Our most fashionable, exclusive Mrs. Tayloe, said she intended to call, & asked what were the novels she had written & if they were pretty? The gentlemen laugh at a woman's writing on political economy. Not one of them has the least idea of the nature of her works. I tried to explain them to Mr. Frelinghuysen, Clay, Southard & others. But enough of Miss Martineau for the present. If she interests you, tell me so & I will give you what further details. But perhaps like your Bayard you may think it all ridiculous.

To Mrs. Kirkpatrick

Febr. 4th, 1835.

Friday 5th. And now for Miss Martineau, since you desire to hear a little more about her, particularly of the day she passed here. But I really must give you a previous scene which amused me extremely & will not be without some diversion for

*The British minister.

† Benjamin F. Butler, of New York.

you. The day previous to our little dinner party, I sent for Henry Orr, whom I had always employed when I had company & who is the most experienced & fashionable waiter in the city. He is almost white, his manners gentle, serious & respectful, to an uncommon degree & his whole appearance quite gentlemanly. "Henry," said I, when he came, "I am going to have a small dinner party, but though small, I wish it to be peculiarly nice, everything of the best & most fashionable. I wish you to attend, & as it is many years since I have dined in company, you must tell me what dishes will be best. Boulli, I suppose, is not out of fashion?" "No, indeed, Ma'am! A Boulli at the foot of the table is indispensable, no dinner without it." "And at the head?" "After the soup, Ma'am, fish, boil'd fish, & after the Fish, canvas-backs, the Boulli to be removed, & Pheasants." 'Stop, stop Henry," cried I, "not so many removes if you please!" "Why, ma'am, you said your company was to be a dozen, & I am only telling you what is absolutely necessary. Yesterday at Mr. Woodbury's there was only 18 in company & there were 30 dishes of meat." "But Henry I am not a Secretary's lady. I want a small, genteel dinner." "Indeed, ma'am, that is all I am telling you, for side dishes you will have a very small ham, a small Turkey, on each side of them partridges, mutton chops, or sweetbreads, a macaroni pie, an oyster pie" —“That will do, that will do, Henry. Now for vegetables.' " "Well, ma'am, stew'd celery, spinage, salsify, cauliflower." "Indeed, Henry, you must substitute potatoes, beets, &c." "Why, ma'am, they will not be genteel, but to be sure if you say so, it must be so. Mrs. Forsyth the other day, would have a plum-pudding, she will keep to old fashions." "What, Henry, plum-pudding out of fashion?" "La, yes, Ma'am, all kinds of puddings & pies." "Why, what then must I have at the head & foot of the table?" "Forms of ice-cream at the head, & a pyramid of anything, grapes, oranges, or anything handsome at the foot." "And the other dishes?" "Jellies, custards, blancmange, cakes, sweetmeats, & sugar-plums." "No nuts, raisons, figs, &c., &c.?" "Oh no, no, ma'am, they are quite vulgar." "Well, well, Henry. My dessert is, I find, all right, & your dinner I suppose with the exception of one or two things. You may

order me the pies, partridges & pheasants from the French cook, & Priscilla can do the rest." "Indeed, ma'am, you had best "

"No more, Henry," interrupted I, "I am not Mrs. Woodbury." "Why to be sure, ma'am, her's was a particular dinner on account of that great English lady's dining with her." "Did Miss M. dine there?" "La, yes, ma'am, & I was quite delighted to see the attention Mr. Clay paid her, for indeed ma'am I consider Mr. Clay the greatest & best man now living, & sure I should know, for I served him long enough. Oh he is kindness through & through & it was but proper, ma'am, that the greatest man, should show attention to the greatest lady. He sat by her at dinner & talked all the time just to her, neither of them eat much. I took particular notice what she eat, so I might know another time what to hand her, for she dines everywhere, ma'am, & I see her taste was very simple. She eat nothing but a little Turkey & a mite of ham, nothing else, ma'am, & Mr. Clay hardly as much, they were so engaged in conversation. I listened whenever I was near & heard them talking about the national debt. Mr. Clay told her our debt was paid off & she told him she hoped their debt would soon be paid off too, & they consulted a great deal about it." "Why is Miss M. such a great woman, Henry?" "Why, they tells me, ma'am, she is the greatest writer in England & her books doing monstrous deal of good." "Well, Henry, it is for this Lady, my dinner is to be, but it is a family dinner, not a ceremonious one. She is to spend the day just in a social friendly way with me." "Why, ma'am, that is just as it should be, as you are a writer too. But indeed, ma'am, if not another besides her was invited, you ought to have a grand dinner. I should like you, ma'am, to do your best. It is a great respect ma'am she shows you & a great kindness you show her, & I dare say, ma'am she'll put you in one of her books, so you should do your very best." But I carried my point in only having 8 dishes of meat, tho' I could not convince Henry, it was more genteel than a grander dinner. He came the next day, & leaving him & the girls as his assistants (for Anna absolutely locked me out of the dining room) I sat as quietly in the front parlour, as if no company was expected. Mrs. Randolph, Mrs. Coolidge (Ellen Randolph that was) James Bayard