in of
a steamboat at the Alexandria wharf. He was immediately seized
and thrust on shore, the President declaring that he was able to
punish him. He charged that Jackson dismissed him and sustained
Kendall's decision in order to save General Eaton, who was Timberlake's
bondsman, from having to make good the defalcation.

General Eaton, who had boarded with his friend, General Jackson,
at O'Neill's tavern, soon afterward married the Widow Timberlake,
who was then one of those examples of that Irish beauty, which,
marked by good blood, so suggests both the Greek and the Spaniard,
and yet at times presents a combination which transcends both.
Her form, of medium height, straight and delicate, was of perfect
proportions. Her skin was of that delicate white, tinged with red,
which one often sees among even the poorer inhabitants of the Green
Isle. Her dark hair, very abundant, clustered in curls about her
broad, expressive forehead. Her perfect nose, of almost Grecian
proportions, and finely curved mouth, with a firm, round chin,
completed a profile of faultless outlines. She was in Washington
City what Aspasia was in Athens--the cynosure by whose reflected
radiance

"Beauty lent her smile to wit,
And learning by her star was lit."

General Jackson had come to Washington with a sad heart, breathing
vengeance against those who had defamed his wife during the
Presidential canvass, thereby, as he thought, hastening her death.
This made him the sworn and unyielding foe of all slanderers of
women, and when some of the female tabbies of the Capital began to
drag the name of his old friend "Peg," then the wife of General
Eaton, through the mire, he was naturally indignant, and showed
his respect for her by having her a frequent guest at the White
House. Enchanting, ambitious, and unscrupulous, she soon held the
old hero completely under her influence, and carried her griefs to
him. Mr. Van Buren adroitly seconded her, and the gallant old
soldier swore "by the Eternal" that the scandalmongers who had
embittered the last years of his beloved wife, Rachel, should not
triumph over his "little friend Peg."

This was Van Buren's opportunity. He was a widower, keeping house
at Washington, and as Secretary of State he was able to form an
alliance with the bachelor Ministers of Great Britain and Russia,
each of whom had spacious residences. A series of dinners, balls,
and suppers was inaugurated at these three houses,