conducted me to his house, where I found the company still at table,
although the dinner had been long over. He presented me to the Generals
Knox, Waine, Howe, &c. and to his _family_, then composed of Colonels
Hamilton and Tilgman, his Secretaries and his Aides de Camp, and of Major
Gibbs, commander of his guards; for in England and America, the Aides de
Camp, Adjutants and other officers attached to the General, form what is
called his _family_. A fresh dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the
present was prolonged to keep me company." "At nine," he elsewhere writes,
"supper was served, and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the
chamber, to which the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak
of, wherein he had made them place a camp-bed." Of his hospitality
Washington himself wrote,--

"I have asked Mrs. Cochran & Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow;
but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is
needless to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of
this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered, is
rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my Letter.

"Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham, (sometimes a
shoulder) of Bacon, to grace the head of the Table; a piece of roast Beef
adorns the foot; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost imperceptible,)
decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, (which, I
presume will be the case to-morrow) we have two Beef-steak pyes, or dishes
of crabs, in addition, one on each side of the center dish, dividing
the space & reducing the distance between dish & dish to about 6 feet,
which without them would be near 12 feet apart. Of late he has had the
surprising sagacity to discover, that apples will make pyes; and its a
question, if, in the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of apples,
instead of having both of Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such
entertainment, and will submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but
now Iron--(not become so by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to
see them."

Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was
held on the anniversary of Washington's marriage, and at other times when
there was anything to celebrate,--the cap