nified bow, while his
hands were so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was not to
be accompanied with shaking hands. This ceremony never occurred in these
visits, even with his most near friends, that no distinction might be
made. As visitors came in, they formed a circle round the room. At a
quarter past three, the door was closed, and the circle was formed for
that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each visitor, calling
him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When he had completed
his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the visitors approached
him in succession, bowed and retired. By four o'clock the ceremony was
over."

The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were
favorite impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before
they had better material, and Washington was charged with trying to
constitute a court, and with conducting himself like a king. Even his bow
was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little irritation in
regard to this, "that I have not been able to make bows to the taste of
poor Colonel Bland, (who, by the by, I believe, never saw one of them), is
to be regretted, especially too, as (upon those occasions), they were
indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I was master of, would it not have
been better to throw the veil of charity over them, ascribing their
stiffness to the effects of age, or to the unskillfulness of my teacher,
than to pride and dignity of office, which God knows has no charms for me?
For I can truly say, I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two
about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of
state, and the representatives of every power in Europe."

There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the
Democrats, and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the
opinions of those about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such
unnecessary form was used at the first levee by the master of ceremonies
as to make it ridiculous, and Washington, appreciating this, is quoted as
saying to the amateur chamberlain, "Well, you have taken me in once, but,
by God, you shall never take me in a second time." His secretary, in
writing to secure lodgings in Philadelphia, when the President and family
were on their way to Mount Vernon, said, "I must repeat, what I observed
in a former letter, that as little ceremony & parade may be made as