y dinner. No clergyman being present,
Washington himself asked a blessing before the company took their seat
at table. The dinner was simple, and no special etiquette was observed
on that occasion. A single glass of wine was offered to each guest, with
the toast which Washington invariably gave on such occasions--"To all
our friends;" and when it was drunk, the president arose, led the way to
the drawing-room, and each one departed when he pleased, without
ceremony. Such continued to be the simple hospitality of President
Washington's table.

On the evening of the twenty-eighth, two days after her arrival, Mrs.
Washington held her first _levee_, or drawing-room. It was attended by
nearly all of the leading characters in social and political life then
in the federal metropolis. "There was no place for the intrusion of the
rabble in crowds, or for the mere coarse and boisterous partisan," says
Colonel Stone in some remarks upon these receptions. "There was no place
for the vulgar electioneerer or impudent place-hunter. On the contrary,
they were select, and more courtly than have been given by any of
Washington's successors. Proud of her husband's exalted fame, and
jealous of the honors due, not only to his own lofty character, but to
the dignified station to which a grateful country had called him, Mrs.
Washington was careful, in her drawing-rooms, to exact those courtesies
to which she knew he was entitled, as well on account of personal merit
as of official consideration. None, therefore, were admitted to the
_levees_ but those who had either a right by official station to be
there, or were entitled to the privilege by established merit and
character."

Mrs. Washington's receptions were on Friday evenings, and were always
closed at precisely nine o'clock. Notwithstanding the entire absence of
all pomp or parade on these occasions, cavilers spoke of them sometimes
in ill-natured and offensive terms, as "court levees" and "queenly
drawing-rooms."[18]

Washington always held the Sabbath-day sacred to worship and repose, and
no visitors were received by him on that day. Sometimes an intimate
acquaintance would spend the evening with him. He usually attended
public worship with his family in the morning, and in the afternoon he
retired to study, to read, to meditate, or to write private letters.

In public as in private life, he was temperate in all things, and frugal
in his household expenses. He employed the celebrate