"I was soon ushered into the blazing splendor of Mrs. Madison's drawing-room. Here I was most graciously received. I found a crowded collection of great and little men, of ugly old women and beautiful young ones, and in ten minutes was hand and glove with half the people in the assemblage. Mrs. Madison is a fine, portly, buxom dame, who has a smile and a pleasant word for everybody. Her sisters, Mrs. Cutts and Mrs. Washington, are like the two merry wives of Windsor, but as to Jemmy Madison--ah! poor Jemmy!--he is but a withered little apple-John." On March 11, 1812, Lucy Payne Washington was married to Judge Thomas Todd, of the Supreme Court, a widower with five children, and went to live at Lexington, Kentucky. Although Dolly missed her greatly, she wrote, "How wise Lucy is!" She had had many admirers, and these words were in recognition of the wisdom of her choice. This was the first wedding to take place in the White House, but we have searched in vain to find any record of it in the papers of the day or elsewhere. It was probably a comparatively quiet affair, and unlike our recent weddings there. Elizabeth Henry, sister of Patrick Henry, married General William Campbell. Her daughter, Sarah Campbell, married Francis Preston, and was the mother of the Hon. William Campbell Preston, of South Carolina, who in his journal describes a visit to the White House, when he was only eighteen. "I and my conductor proceeded in the hack in utter silence. The appearance of the house and grounds was very grand. There was a multitude of carriages at the door. Many persons were going in and coming out, and especially many in grand regimentals. Upon entering the room there were fifteen or twenty persons. Mr. Madison turned toward us, and the General said, presenting me. 'My young kinsman, Mr. President, who has come to pay his respects to you and Mrs. Madison.' The President was a little man, with a powdered head, having an abstracted air and a pale countenance. Around the room was a blaze of military men and naval officers in brilliant uniforms. The furniture of the room, with the brilliant mirrors, was very magnificent. While we stood Mrs. Madison entered, a tall, portly, elegant lady with a turban on her head and a book in her hand. She advanced straight to me, and extending her left hand said, 'Are you William Campbell Preston, son of my old friend and most beloved kinswoman, Sally Campbell?' I assented. She said, 'Sit down, my son; for you are my son, and I am the first person who ever saw you in this world.'" [Illustration: Montpellier. The ancestral estate inherited by James Madison, in Orange County, Va. Courtesy of Mrs. du Pont.] After such a greeting, little wonder that his awkwardness and terror disappeared, and a "romantic admiration for this magnificent woman took its place."