begged Mrs. Dolly Madison
to act as hostess; and a charming and gracious figure she was, casting
a certain extenuating veil over the President's gaucheries. Jefferson
held, with his many political heresies, certain theories of social
intercourse which ran rudely counter to the prevailing etiquette of
foreign courts. Among the rules which he devised for his republican
court, the precedence due to rank was conspicuously absent, because he
held that "all persons when brought together in society are perfectly
equal, whether foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out of
office." One of these rules to which the Cabinet gravely subscribed read
as follows:

"To maintain the principles of equality, or of pele mele, and prevent
the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the members of the Executive
will practise at their own houses, and recommend an adherence to the
ancient usage of the country, of gentlemen in mass giving precedence
to the ladies in mass, in passing from one apartment where they are
assembled into another."

The application of this rule on one occasion gave rise to an incident
which convulsed Washington society. President Jefferson had invited to
dinner the new British Minister Merry and his wife, the Spanish Minister
Yrujo and his wife, the French Minister Pichon and his wife, and Mr. and
Mrs. Madison. When dinner was announced, Mr. Jefferson gave his hand to
Mrs. Madison and seated her on his right, leaving the rest to straggle
in as they pleased. Merry, fresh from the Court of St. James, was aghast
and affronted; and when a few days later, at a dinner given by the
Secretary of State, he saw Mrs. Merry left without an escort, while Mr.
Madison took Mrs. Gallatin to the table, he believed that a deliberate
insult was intended. To appease this indignant Briton the President was
obliged to explain officially his rule of "pole mele"; but Mrs. Merry
was not appeased and positively refused to appear at the President's New
Year's Day reception. "Since then," wrote the amused Pichon, "Washington
society is turned upside down; all the women are to the last degree
exasperated against Mrs. Merry; the Federalist newspapers have taken
up the matter, and increased the irritations by sarcasms on the
administration and by making a burlesque of the facts." Then Merry
refused an invitation to dine again at the President's, saying that he
awaited instructions from his Government; and the Marquis Yrujo, who had
reasons