Who is this person?

[L Verge]

Thanks, Eva. I read in one of the links that Queen Victoria may have started the trend of accessorizing with huge feathers because she detested small feathers, especially on women's hats. Certainly the Victorians had a fascination with birds in general, hence the large collections of stuffed birds in fancy cabinets that were found in many middle- and upper-class homes into the 20th century. I still have a very large, mean-looking stuffed owl stored in my basement. It was given to my mother in 1924, when she was ten, by an ancient lady who had gotten it many years earlier.

Moving on to my small findings on the levees mentioned in connection with royal festivities during the 19th century: First, it was quite hard to find that word without the French accent keys on my computer. Without the "aigu" (correct spelling, Rogerm?) over the second "e" in the word, I kept being doused with water information. With our current drought on the east coast, I do not need instructions on how to build levees.

The root word here is French, "lever," meaning "to rise." The term levee, itself, dates to Charlemagne and is too lengthy and weird to adequately describe, but it dealt with a morning ritual of French monarchs to receive those who wanted to "rise up" in their aristocratic status during the monarch's morning ritual of getting dressed. There was something similar related to preparation for going to bed --"coucher." Each person received individual attention rather than the crush of office seekers that used to irritate Lincoln years later.

Anyhow, this was passed down through Louis XIV in France and then taken up by British kings (starting, I think) with Charles II. It was finally copied in America, but changed to lunch, afternoon, or evening receptions by early colonial governors and even our early presidents. It seemed to stop with Thomas Jefferson, but the receptions continued as levees in England, and President and Mrs. Lincoln held them in the White House. They seem to have involved more political and diplomatic corps personnel who wanted to be considered for movement up the ladder. It makes sense to me that Mary Lincoln, with her knowledge of the French language and culture would bring the practice into the White House.