My grandmother, the daughter of Benjamin Prescott of Salem,
was a woman of great intelligence and a great beauty in her
time. She was once taken out to dinner by General Washington
when he was President. Madam Hancock, whose husband had been
President of the Continental Congress and Governor of Massachusetts,
complained to General Washington's Secretary, Mr. Lear, that
that honor belonged to her. The Secretary told General Washington,
the next day, what she said. The General answered that it
was his privilege to give his arm to the handsomest woman
in the room. Whether the reply was communicated to Mrs. Hancock,
or whether she was comforted by it, does not appear. General
Washington had been a guest at my grandfather's house in my
mother's childhood, and she had sat on his knee. She was
then six years old. But she always remembered the occasion
very vividly.
My grandfather was a friend of Lafayette, who mentions him
in one of his letters, the original of which is in my possession.
One of my mother's brothers, Lt. Colonel Isaac Sherman, led
the advance at Princeton, and was himself intimate with Washington
and Lafayette.
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