Red Lion Inn at North Second and Noble streets, a picturesque
gambrel-roof structure of brick with a lean-to porch along the front, is
an interesting survival of the inns and taverns of Colonial days, as was
also the old Mermaid Inn in Mount Airy, until torn down not long ago. At
such gatherings were represented the most brilliant minds this side of
the Atlantic, and scintillating wit and humor enlivened the festive
board, as contrasted with the bitter religious discussions which had
characterized American gatherings in the preceding century when
tolerance had not been so broad.

[Illustration: PLATE IV.--Stenton, Germantown Avenue, Germantown.
Erected by James Logan in 1727.]

[Illustration: PLATE V.--Hope Lodge, Whitemarsh Valley. Erected by
Samuel Morris in 1723; Home of Stephen Girard.]

But the brilliancy of social life in Philadelphia was by no means
confined to the entertainment of visitors. Despite its importance,
Philadelphia was a relatively small place in those days. Everybody knew
everybody else of consequence, and social exchanges were inevitable
among people of wealth and culture, prominent in public life and
successful in commerce, of whom there were a larger number than in any
other American city. While there were two separate and distinct social
sets, the staid and sober Quakers and the gay "World's People", they
were ever being drawn more closely together. The early severity of the
Quakers had been greatly tempered by the increasing worldly influences
about them. They were among the richest inhabitants and prominent in the
government, holding the majority in the House of Assembly. This
brought them into constant association with and under the influence of
men in public life elsewhere, demonstrating the fact that, like the
"World's People", they dearly loved eating and drinking. One has but to
peruse some of the old diaries of prominent Friends which are still in
existence to see that they occasionally "gormandized to the verge of
gluttony", and even got "decently drunk."

Toward the outbreak of the Revolution, life among most Quakers had
ceased to be as strict and monotonous as many have supposed. There were
fox hunting, horse racing, assembly dances, barbecues, cider frolics,
turtle and other dinners, tea parties and punch drinking, both under
private auspices and among the activities of such clubs as the Colony in
Schuylkill and the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, in which the First City
Troop orig