The Madison coach was built by Fielding, of Philadelphia, at the modest price of $1,500. It was drawn by four horses.
Mrs. Latrobe and Dolly had soon become friends, as the following note[55] shows. It was written while James Madison was the Secretary of State:
To Mrs. Latrobe:
My dear friend: I have read your books with pleasure & return them with many thanks. I intended to have presented them myself yesterday, but could not get my carriage in time. I long to see you, & hope you will not fail to send for the ride when you wish it, as I expect Mr. Latrobe has left you for Phila & that you will indulge low spirits. How is Lidia & the little ones? I have been sick for several days, & on this we shall have Docr Wistar of Phila to dine with us. He is an old friend, & I shall be gratified in having some account of our mutual acquaintances.
We have nothing new in this quarter except Mrs. Fulton[56] the Bride, who arrived from New York 3 days ago. She was a Miss Livingston, & perhaps known to you. Even with this elegant addition to the City I feel melancholy without knowing wherefore.
Can I send you anything? Can I do anything for you? If yes, will you still think of me with confidence & affection? I desire it from you if a faithful & tender friendship has favor in your eyes.
Adieu for the moment,
D P Madison
8th July 1808.
At Madison's first inauguration Dolly wore buff-colored velvet and pearl ornaments, with a Paris turban with bird-of-Paradise plumes, and "looked and moved a queen." The inaugural ball was held at Long's Hotel, and about four hundred people were present. The first "four hundred."
At the request of her husband she had laid aside her Quaker dress on her marriage. However, she clung to the Quaker ways, to its soft "thee" and "thou" that fell so pleasantly from her tongue, and even, in a measure, to its dress. During the eight years when, as wife of the Secretary of State, she and her sisters, Lucy and Anna, were often called on by Jefferson[57] to do the honors of the White House, she wore her "pretty Quaker cap." Indeed it was not until she came there as its mistress that she reluctantly laid it aside as "no longer suitable to her surroundings."
She has sometimes been accused of adhering less strictly to some of the more essential beliefs of Quakerism, for which her father had suffered so much.
Dolly was perhaps never a great woman, but she was infinitely better, a loving one. Her days were filled with
"Little nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love."
Her manner was irresistibly charming. Her memory of faces, her ready sympathy, delicate tact and Irish wit made her many admirers and friends, and her memory to-day is held in a loving remembrance such as is felt for no other one of the mistresses of the White House.