106 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA : 
Ibis day. As early as eleven o’clock in the 
morning he was prepared to receive them> 
and most intimately, say, that he is by nature a man of 
a fierce and irritable disposition, but that, like Socrates, his 
judgment and great self-command have always made him 
appear a man of a different cast in the eyes of the world. 
He speaks with great diffidence, and sometimes hesitates 
for a word} but. it is always to find one particularly well 
adapted to his meaning. His language is manly and ex¬ 
pressive. At levee,, his discourse with strangers turns prin¬ 
cipally upon the subject of America} and if they have been 
through any remarkable places, his conversation is free and 
particularly interesting, as he is intimately acquainted with 
every part of the country. He is much more open and free 
in his behaviour at levee than in private, and in the com? 
paoy of ladies still more so than when solely with men. 
General Washington gives no public dinners or other en¬ 
tertainments, except to those who are in diplomatic capa¬ 
cities, and to a few families on terms of intimacy with 
Mrs. Washington. Strangers, with whom he wishes to have 
some conversation about agriculture, or any such subject, 
axe sometimes invited to tea. This by many is attributed 
to his saving disposition } but it is more just to ascribe it to 
his prudence and foresight} for as the salary of the presi¬ 
dent, as I have before observed, is very small, and totally 
inadequate by itself to support an expensive style of life, 
were he to give numerous and splendid entertainments, the 
same might possibly be expected from subsequent presi¬ 
dents, who, if their private fortunes were not considerable, 
w 7 o«kl be unable to live in the same style, and might be 
exposed to many ill-natured observations, from the relin¬ 
quishment of what the people had been accustomed to } it 
is most likely also that General Washington has been actu¬ 
ated by these motives, because in his private capacity ait 
Mount Vernon every stranger meets with a hospitable recep¬ 
tion from him. 
General 
