There,
too, stood General Knox, then secretary of war, in all the sleek
rotundity of his low stature, with a bold and florid face, open,
firm, and manly, in its expression. But I recollect that my boyish
eye was caught by the appearance of De Yrujo, the Spanish
embassador. He stood in the rear of the chair, a little on one side,
covered with a splendid diplomatic dress, decorated with orders, and
carrying under his arm an immense _chapeau-bras_, edged with white
ostrich-feathers. He was a man totally different in his air and
manner from all around him, and the very antipode especially of the
man on whom all eyes but his seemed fixed as by a spell. I saw many
other very striking figures grouped about and behind the speaker's
chair, but I did not know their names, and had no one to ask:
besides, I dared not open my lips.

"The president, having seated himself, remained in silence, serenely
contemplating the legislature before him, whose members now resumed
their seats, waiting for the speech. No house of worship, in the
most solemn pauses of devotion, was ever more profoundly still than
that large and crowded chamber.

"Washington was dressed precisely as Stuart has painted him in Lord
Lansdowne's full-length portrait--in a full suit of the richest
black velvet, with diamond knee-buckles, and square silver buckles
set upon shoes japanned with the most scrupulous neatness, black
silk stockings, his shirt ruffled at the breast and wrists, a light
dress-sword, his hair profusely powdered, fully dressed, so as to
project at the sides, and gathered behind in a silk bag, ornamented
with a large rose of black ribbon. He held his cocked hat, which had
a large black cockade on one side of it, in his hand, as he advanced
toward the chair, and, when seated, laid it on the table.

"At length, thrusting his hand within the side of his coat, he drew
forth a roll of manuscript, which he opened, and rising, held it in
his hand, while in a rich, deep, full, sonorous voice, he read his
opening address to Congress. His enunciation was deliberate, justly
emphasized, very distinct, and accompanied with an air of deep
solemnity, as being the utterance of a mind profoundly impressed
with the dignity of the act in which it was occupied, conscious of
the whole respon