[2] It is pleasant to learn that Mr. Joseph Wharton, the owner of Walnut Grove, if proud was also benevolent, as we find his name among liberal contributors to one of the first Philadelphia almshouses. [3] This sketch, by Major André, is in the possession of Mr. Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia. [4] “We all know of Burgoyne’s surrender, but hardly one knows Burgoyne’s comedies, and yet there are few cleverer or more brilliant, of a second order, than ‘The Heiress,’ and ‘Maid of Oaks.’ In a letter, dated New York, June 2, 1777, he says, ‘You cannot imagine anything half so beautiful as this country. It is impossible to conceive anything so delightful. Lady Holland, in spite of her politics, would, I am sure, feel for it, if she could see the ruin and desolation we have introduced into the most beautiful and, I verily believe, happiest part of the universe.’”--_World Essays_: William B. Reed, pp. 176, 177. [5] From a letter of the late Lawrence Lewis, Jr., written in 1879. [6] It appears that this knight with the shining name and emblem had not a reputation to match them. We learn that he entered the army only to get to America, was discharged, tried to join the Colonial army, and was seized and sent to England. (German Allied Troops, 1776-1783, p. 333.) [7] Fred. D. Stone. Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. iii. p. 336. [8] Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia, vol. ii. p. 297. [9] Biographical Sketch of General Anthony Wayne, Hazard’s Register, p. 389. [Illustration: NEW YORK BALLS & Receptions] Amid elaborate ceremonials attending the reception and inauguration of the first President of the Republic, we find some homely touches of nature, as when those two admirable housewives Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Adams were detained at home, in April and May, 1789, by domestic duties, and so missed all the joyful demonstrations along the route, as well as the brave welcome accorded their distinguished husbands in the city of New York. Mrs. Washington was busied in putting her household in order, and shipping china, cut glass, silver-ware, and linen from Mount Vernon to the capital, while from John Adams’s letters we gather that the wife, whom he so trusted that he permitted her to dispose of sheep, cows, and other live-stock, on her own responsibility, was attending to such matters at Braintree, Massachusetts, prior to the removal of her household goods to the fine country-place at Richmond Hill that Mr. Adams had rented for the season.[10]