n lodgings and met the
leading public characters of both parties. But when he took his seat in
the cabinet, he found it necessary to enter upon housekeeping and to
take a prominent part in society, for which his wife was admirably
suited, both by temperament and education. Washington Irving wrote of
her in November, 1812, that she was 'the most stylish woman in the
drawing-room that session, and that she dressed with more splendor than
any other of the noblesse;' and again the same year compared her with
the wife of the President, whose courtly manners and consummate tact
and grace are a tradition of the republican court. "Tell your good
lady," mother Irving wrote to James Renwick, "that Mrs. Madison has been
much indisposed, and at last Wednesday's evening drawing-room Mrs.
Gallatin presided in her place. I was not present, but those who were
assure me that she filled Mrs. Madison's chair to a miracle." This is in
the sense of dignity, for Mrs. Gallatin was of small stature.

Mr. Gallatin's house shared the fate of the public buildings and was
burned by the British when Washington was captured in 1814. He was then
abroad on the peace mission. On his return from France Mr. Gallatin made
one more attempt to realize his early idea of a country home, and with
his family went in the summer of 1823 to Friendship Hill. Here an Irish
carpenter built for him a house which he humorously described as being
in the 'Hyberno-teutonic style,--the outside, with its port-hole-looking
windows, having the appearance of Irish barracks, while the inside
ornaments were similar to those of a Dutch tavern, and in singular
contrast to the French marble chimney-pieces, paper, mirrors, and
billiard-table.' In the summer Friendship Hill was an agreeable
residence, but Mr. Gallatin found it in winter too isolated even for his
taste.

One exciting circumstance enlivened the spring of 1825. This was the
passage of Lafayette, the guest of the nation, through western
Pennsylvania on his famous tour. Mr. Gallatin welcomed him in an
address before the court-house of Uniontown, the capital of Fayette
County, on May 26. In his speech Mr. Gallatin reviewed the condition of
the liberal cause in Europe, and the emancipation of Greece, then
agitating both continents. In this all scholars as well as all liberals
were of one mind and heart. After the proceedings Lafayette drove with
Mr. Gallatin to Friendship Hill, where he passed the night; crowds of
people