Either before or soon after Merry’s arrival the President wrote the rules, which he called “Canons of Etiquette to be observed by the Executive;”[263] and these canons ultimately received the approval of the Cabinet. Foreign ministers, he said, were to pay the first visit to the “ministers of the nation;” their wives were to receive the first visit from the wives of “national ministers.” No grades among diplomatic members were to give precedence; “all are perfectly equal, whether foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out of office.” Finally, “to maintain the principle of equality, or of _pêle-mêle_, and prevent the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the members of the Executive will practise at their own houses, and recommend an adherence to, the ancient usage of the country,--of gentlemen in mass giving precedence to the ladies in mass in passing from one apartment where they are assembled into another.” Such, according to Rufus King, whose aid was invoked on this occasion, was the usage in London. Merry duly arrived in Washington, and was told by Madison that the President would receive his letter of credence Nov. 29, according to the usual formality. At the appointed hour the British minister, in diplomatic uniform, as was required in the absence of any hint to the contrary, called upon Madison, and was taken to the White House, where he was received by the President. Jefferson’s manner of receiving guests was well known, although this was the first occasion on which he had given audience to a new foreign minister. Among several accounts of his appearance at such times, that of Senator Plumer was one of the best. “In a few moments after our arrival,” said the senator, writing two years before Merry’s mishap,[264] “a tall, high-boned man came into the room. He was dressed, or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old corduroy small-clothes much soiled, woollen hose, and slippers without heels. I thought him a servant, when General Varnum surprised me by announcing that it was the President.” The “Evening Post,” about a year later, described him as habitually appearing in public “dressed in long boots with tops turned down about the ankles like a Virginia buck; overalls of corduroy faded, by frequent immersions in soap suds, from yellow to a dull white; a red single-breasted waistcoat; a light brown coat with brass buttons, both coat and waistcoat quite threadbare; linen very considerably soiled; hair uncombed and beard unshaven.” In truth the Virginia republicans cared little for dress. “You know that the Virginians have some pride in appearing in simple habiliments,” wrote Joseph Story in regard to Jefferson, “and are willing to rest their claim to attention upon their force of mind and suavity of manners.” Indeed, “Virginia carelessness” was almost a proverb.[265]