On his right sat Baron Steuben,
our royalist republican disciplinarian general. On his left was Mr.
Jefferson, who had just returned from France, conspicuous in his red
waistcoat and breeches, the fashion of Versailles. Opposite sat Mrs.
Adams, with her cheerful, intelligent face. She was placed between the
Count du Moustier, the French Ambassador, in his red-healed shoes and
earrings, and the grave, polite, and formally bowing Mr. Van Birket,
the learned and able envoy of Holland. There, too, was Chancellor
Livingston, then still in the prime of life, so deaf as to make
conversation with him difficult, yet so overflowing with wit,
eloquence and information that while listening to him the difficulty
was forgotten. The rest were members of Congress, and of our
Legislature, some of them no inconsiderable men. Being able to talk
French, a rare accomplishment in America at that time, a place was
assigned to me next the count."
Verplanck goes on to describe the dinner. He says that it was a very
grand affair, bountiful and elaborately served, but the French
Ambassador would taste nothing.
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