dopted the plan of designating certain times for visits of
compliment, and he gave a public intimation that these would be on
Tuesday and Friday of each week, between the hours of two and three
o'clock. On these occasions there was no ostentatious display. On the
contrary, the president received his visitors in a simple manner;
conversed with them freely after introduction, if opportunities were
afforded; and in every respect, while maintaining perfect dignity, he
made all feel that he was their fellow-citizen.

"These visits are optional," he said in a letter to Dr. Stuart; "they
are made without invitation.... Gentlemen, often in great numbers, come
and go, chat with each other, and act as they please. A porter shows
them into the room, and they retire from it when they choose, without
ceremony. At their first entrance they salute me, and I them, and as
many as I can, I talk to. What 'pomp' there is in all this I am unable
to discover."

The last clause refers to a sentence in Dr. Stuart's letter, in which he
spoke of public clamors, in some places in Virginia, originating
generally with the opponents of the constitution and the government
organized under it, on account of alleged practices on the part of the
president and vice-president, which were regarded as monarchical in
their tendency. An untrue report was circulated that the vice-president
(who, it must be confessed, was quite high in his notions) never
appeared publicly except with a coach and six horses! It created much
excitement in Virginia, and the opponents of the government made much
use of it.

The _levees_ of the president were cited as examples of the rapid growth
of aristocracy. Among other stories, it was alleged that at the first
_levee_ an ante-chamber and presence-room were provided in the
presidential mansion; and that, when those who were to pay court were
assembled, the president, preceded by Colonel Humphreys as herald,
passed through the ante-chamber to the door of the inner room. This was
first entered, according to the untruthful account, by Humphreys, who
called out, with a loud voice, "The president of the United States!"

Another silly story went abroad, that at the ball given in honor of the
president, soon after his inauguration, he and Mrs. Washington were
seated in state upon a raised sofa at the head of the room; that each
gentleman, when going to dance, led his partner to the foot of the sofa
and made a low bow, and that when