Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/301

and admiration more and more every time I see her; she is possessed of greater ease and politeness in her behavior than any person I have met." Two or three months afterward, describing a dinner of Lafyette's, Mrs. Bingham was again encountered: "She was, as ever, engaging; her dress was of black velvet, with pink satin sleeves and stomacher, a pink satin petticoat, and over it a skirt of white crape, spotted all over with gray fur — the sides of the gown open in front, and the bottom of the coat trimmed with paste. It was superb, and the gracefulness of the person made it appear to peculiar advantage."

Her next sojourn was at the Hague, which was still an important seat of diplomacy. From the Hague she passed into England, where her elegance and beauty attracted more admiration than perhaps was willingly expressed by the old court of George III.

That the American women surpass those of any other country in beauty has long been conceded. Nothing struck the gallant French noblemen, who came here during the war, so much as the charms of the fairer sex, in almost every class of society. Young John Quincy Adams, soon after his return from Russia, in 1785, wrote to his sister, "Since I came home I am grown more indifferent to beauty than I ever was; it is so common here that it loses half its value." His mother very nearly agreed with him on this subject. "Notwithstanding the English boast so much of their beauties," she says, "I do not think they have really so much of it as you will find amongst the same proportion of people in America. It is true that their complexions are undoubtedly fairer than the French, and in general their figures are good. Of this they make the best; but I have not seen a lady in England who can bear a comparison with Mrs. Bingham, Mrs. Platt, or a Miss Hamilton, who is a Philadelphia young lady. Among the most celebrated of their beauties stands the Duchess of Devonshire, who is mascu-