CHAPTER XXXIII.

MR. MADISON AND DOLLY PAYNE-THE WHITE HOUSE AND

MONTPELLIER.

URING Mr. Madison's first term in the old Continental Congress he fell in love with Catharine Floyd, daughter of William Floyd, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, from New York. Catharine had accepted Mr. Madison, but she was not very clear in her mind about the case, and while Madison gravely talked affairs of state to her father, who was more favorable to him than she was, a clergyman stole her affections, and the result was that she jilted the "statesman" and future President, and took the preacher.

About this matter Mr. Jefferson wrote to him in this way, says Mr. Rives :

"I sincerely lament the misadventure which has happened, from whatever cause it may have happened. Should it be final, however, the world still presents the same and many other resources of happiness, and you possess many within yourself. Firmness of mind and unintermitting occupation will not long leave you in pain. No event has been more contrary to my expectations, and these were founded on what I thought a good knowledge of the ground. But of all machines, ours is the most complicated and inexplicable."

A few others were in the secret of this case, besides Mr. Jefferson, who had had some experience of a similar character. In a purely worldly point of view, it

may be fairly said that Miss Floyd mistook her man. Although Mr. Madison was never a brilliant man, nor could he have had a modicum of Aaron Burr's attractiveness to the "fair sex," yet every thing in the chivalrous manners of the times was in his favor. But the real causes of his failure were behind all outward things. It was left for another, one of the most charming and sensible women who ever became distinguished at the Republican Capital, to bear the relation of wife to James Madison.

Dorothy (Dolly) Payne was a native of North Carolina, and was born May 20, 1772. Her father and mother, John and Mary Payne, were Virginians, and her mother was the daughter of William Coles.

Miss Dolly never appeared to take great pleasure in the fact of being a native of North Carolina, and preferred to give the credit of her origin to Virginia. But place of nativity was not an essential quality in a candidate for a President's wife. It was possible for a woman to be well born in any of these States. At all events neither Virginia nor North Carolina had much to do with the formation of her character, or the production of her good fortune, as her parents removed to Philadelphia when she was a child, and there she was reared according to the usages of the Quaker Church to which her family belonged. This last circumstance will account for the fact of her possessing few or none of the mere accomplishments, so called, of which the women of that day even could boast in this country. Her parents were not wealthy, a fact, which at that time, would have had some share in the education of any young woman in Philadelphia. In books she was uneducated, and never did display any

taste or inclination in a literary direction. If she had uncommon aspirations as a girl, of which there is not the shadow of probability, she was not given an opportunity to satisfy them. She was circumscribed to the plain narrow skirt and long bonnet, and careless, satisfied spirit of her family creed. She possessed some qualities that nothing could suppress, and a face, with many native charms of character, which went far toward compensating for any merely educational defects. She had a sunshiny disposition, and a wonderful faculty for making herself agreeable. This successful accomplishment was the key to her fortunate and happy life. She could talk. In her tongue there was a rare genius. That which is generally offensive and fatal loquacity, became to her an interminable source of attractiveness and advantage. What she lost in book culture, she more than made up in this way. Above most other good talkers she was able at all times to appear to the best advantage, or for more than she was worth. Native tact and observation made her "grammar" tolerable. She had a wonderful memory and hardly ever forgot any thing she heard or saw; and put herself at home and on good terms everywhere by knowing all about the people she met, which could be agreeable to them, even to the smallest circumstances. In this way, too, she absorbed all knowledge which was worth much in society, as well as a vast amount which was worse than worthless. In social manners she was naturally a teacher, and although sometimes severely criticised by English residents at the democratic court of President Madison, she was quite up to the highest standard of her age and country. So well were her better traits shown at

an early age that she was considered one of the most available young women of the Quaker City. At the age of nineteen she was married to Friend, John Todd, a young lawyer of Philadelphia, and went to keeping a quiet little house, for which she had been well trained. But her husband did not live long, and with an infant son she again took up her residence with her mother, now also a widow. Instead of losing by this experience Dorothea Todd had developed into a still more fascinating woman, and as a widow she now found herself to be a general favorite, and in the first year of her widowhood she met and was married to Congressman James Madison, the bachelor of Montpellier, who was twenty-one years her senior. Her sister, Lucy, was married to George Steptoe Washington, of Jefferson County, Virginia, and there she was visiting at the time of her marriage, in October, 1794.

She soon afterwards went to reside at Montpellier, and there remained until 1801, when her husband became Secretary of State in the Cabinet of the first Democratic President. Early in the spring of that year, she took up her residence on F Street, in Washington City.

After her marriage with the rich Virginia planter and politician, Mrs. Madison made a wonderful progress in utilizing the valuable traits of her own character. Her native kindness and geniality were now fostered by favorable circumstances. What had before necessarily been cramped or suppressed now came into full activity. Her opportunities were fully up to her inclinations. Her great vivacity, attractive manners, and frank, generous conduct soon made her house the center of Washington society. Through Mr. Jefferson's attach

ment to her husband, and the fact of his being a widower, she was called to preside at the White House, when there was occasion. While Mr. Jefferson took pride in doing away with the receptions and pompous ceremonies of the preceding Administrations, yet many women gathered at the Capital of winters, and in spite of the change in Presidential etiquette, social affairs were not without life.

When, at last, Mr. Madison took the place of Mr. Jefferson in the President's Chair, Mrs. Madison readily and gracefully glided into the important station of "Mistress of the White House." She had virtually occupied the position for some time, but she had now reached it in her own right, to which she had aspired. Probably no "Lady of the White House was ever more able to appreciate the station more fully, or turn it to better advantage than Mrs. Madison. She and her husband had reached the highest attainable position in the Republic, and she was determined to do all she could to render Mr. Madison's Administration brilliant, as well as successful and popular. Although not qualified by education for the position, she was eminently suited to it in other respects, possibly more desirable. Her natural capabilities were very great. She not only knew people always after a single introduction, but also, to a great extent, perceived their sentiments and wants. Her faculty for pleasing was universal. Although she was, perhaps, vain of her position. and beauty, she hardly exhibited this defect in dealing with people. It was her study to please all with whom she came in contact, whether friends, acquaintances, or strangers, persons of social influence and distinction, or those void of any and unknown, and her