en
Decatur, David Porter, John Rodgers, Lewis Warrington, Charles Stewart,
Charles Morris and others, some of whom made their permanent home at the
Capital.

The ball given by the Secretary of State and Mrs. Adams was in honor of
General Andrew Jackson, and was not only an expression of the pleasant
personal relations existing between John Quincy Adams and Jackson only
shortly before the former defeated the latter for the Presidency, but
also a pleasing picture of Washington society at that time. General
Jackson was naturally the hero of the occasion, and there was a throng
of guests not only from Washington but also from Baltimore, Richmond and
other cities. A current newspaper of the day published a metrical
description of the event, written by John T. Agg:

MRS. ADAMS' BALL.

Wend you with the world to-night?
Brown and fair and wise and witty,
Eyes that float in seas of light,
Laughing mouths and dimples pretty,
Belles and matrons, maids and madams,
All are gone to Mrs. Adams';
There the mist of the future, the gloom of the past,
All melt into light at the warm glance of pleasure,
And the only regret is lest melting too fast,
Mammas should move off in the midst of a measure.

Wend you with the world to-night?
Sixty gray, and giddy twenty,
Flirts that court and prudes that slight,
State coquettes and spinsters plenty;
Mrs. Sullivan is there
With all the charm that nature lent her;
Gay McKim with city air,
And winning Gales and Vandeventer;
Forsyth, with her group of graces;
Both the Crowninshields in blue;
The Pierces, with their heavenly faces,
And eyes like suns that dazzle through;
Belles and matrons, maids and madams,
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'!

Wend you with the world to-night?
East and West and South and North,
Form a constellation bright,
And pour a splendid brilliance forth.
See the tide of fashion flowing,
'Tis the noon of beauty's reign,
Webster, Hamiltons are going,
Eastern Floyd and Southern Hayne;
Western Thomas, gayly smiling,
Borland, nature's protege,
Young De Wolfe, all hearts beguiling,
Morgan, Benton, Brown and Lee;
Belles and matrons, maids and madams,'
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'!

Wend you with the world to-night?
Where blue eyes are brightly glancing,
While to measures of