hen he arrived on the scene,
showed that he was not then averse to gay raiment. Plain styles of dress
were among the many social changes ushered in by the French Revolution and
the war cycle that ensued from it.

Titles figured considerably in colonial society, and the Revolutionary War
did not destroy the continuity of usage. It was quite in accord with the
fashion of the times that the courtesy title of Lady Washington was
commonly employed in talk about the President's household. Mrs. Washington
arrived in New York from Mount Vernon on May 27, 1789. She was met by the
President with his barge on the Jersey shore, and as the barge passed the
Battery a salute of thirteen cannon was fired. At the landing-place a
large company was gathered, and the coach that took her to her home was
escorted with military parade. The questions of etiquette had been settled
by that time, and she performed her social duties with the ease of a
Virginia gentlewoman always used to good society. She found them irksome,
however, as such things had long since lost their novelty. Writing to a
friend she said, "I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything
else." She was then a grandmother through her children by her first
husband. Although she preferred plain attire, she is described on one
occasion as wearing a velvet gown over a white satin petticoat, her hair
smoothed back over a moderately high cushion. It was the fashion of the
times for the ladies to tent their hair up to a great height. At one of
Mrs. Washington's receptions, Miss McIvers, a New York belle, had such a
towering coiffure that the feathers which surmounted it brushed a lighted
chandelier and caught fire. The consequences might have been serious had
the fire spread to the pomatumed structure below, but one of the
President's aides sprang to the rescue and smothered the burning plumes
between the palms of his hands before any harm came to the young lady.

Every Tuesday while Congress was in session Washington received visitors
from three to four o'clock. These receptions were known as his levees. He
is described as clad in black velvet; his hair was powdered and gathered
behind in a silk bag; he wore knee and shoe buckles and yellow gloves; he
held a cocked hat with a cockade and a black feather edging; and he
carried a long sword in a scabbard of white polished leather. As visitors
were presented to him by an aide, Washington made a bow. To a candid
friend who reporte