and
took him on that day to a house on the corner of Touro street and the
Park, where they found a serious and silent old gentleman, who received
them without compliment or raising his hat and answered their questions
in monosyllables. The lively Frenchmen would have made a short visit
had not the door opened and a young girl entered; and here De Broglie's
own raptures must speak: "It was Minerva herself who had exchanged her
warlike vestments for the charms of a simple shepherdess. She was the
daughter of a Shaking Quaker. Her headdress was a simple cap of fine
muslin plaited and passed round her head, which gave Polly the effect
of the Holy Virgin." Yes, this was Polly Lawton (or Leighton), the very
pearl of Newport beauties, of whom the prince says in continuation:
"She enchanted us all, and, though evidently a little conscious of it,
was not at all sorry to please those whom she graciously called her
friends. I confess that this seductive Lawton appeared to me a
_chef-d'oeuvre_ of Nature, and in recalling her image I am tempted to
write a book against the finery, the factitious graces and the coquetry
of many ladies whom the world admires." Segur says: "She was a nymph
rather than a woman, and had the most graceful figure and beautiful
form possible. Her eyes appeared to reflect as in a mirror the meekness
and purity of her mind and the goodness of her heart." Polly chides the
count, according to the rules of her faith, for coming in obedience to
the king, against the command of God, to make war. "What could I reply
to such an angel?" says the entranced Frenchman, "for she seemed to me
a celestial being. Certainly, had I not been married and happy in my
own country I should, while coming to defend the liberty of the
Americans, have lost my own at the feet of Polly Lawton." We fear the
comtesse de Segur would hardly have relished her lord's raptures over
the pretty Quakeress, and would have quite approved of Rochambeau's
order which sent him back to his post.

Among this bevy of Continental beauties, to whom we may add the names
of the lovely Miss Redwood--to whose charms sailors in the street would
doff their hats, holding them low till she had passed--the two Miss
Ellerys, Miss Sylven, Miss Brinley, Miss Robinson and others, it is not
wonderful that the French officers bore patiently the enforced
blockade. They indulged in constant festivities, to which they invited
their fair enslavers. A deputation of Indians, n