to America, and we find it said in a memoir: "Her recent association with the brilliant circles of the French capital assisted her to fill with ease the place she was now to occupy and to perform its graceful duties in a manner becoming the dignity of the republic to whose fortunes she had been so devoted." Her husband was appointed Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet, and when Mr. Jay was appointed Chief Justice, which carried him into the New England Circuit, Mrs. Jay added fresh laurels to those won for herself and her country. One of her admirers has said of her that "she is entitled to regard on far better grounds than simply as a 'Queen of American Society,’ and her memory may be cherished as that of one who exhibited from her youth amid trial and hardship a steadfast devotion to her country."
In point of influence, we find Mercy Warren is conceded to be the most remarkable woman who lived in the days of the American Revolution. She was the daughter of James Otis, of Barnstable, in the old colony of Plymouth. The family of Otis came to this country about 1630, and Mercy was born in 1728, passing her youth in retirement and study. At the age of twenty-six she married James Warren, a merchant. Her interest in political affairs was so great that she maintained a correspondence with many of the leading spirits of the Revolutionary era—Adams, Jefferson, Knox and others. It is said that they not only wrote her, but consulted her in regard to important matters, and during the years preceding the war, Mrs. Warren's house was the resort of the principal figures in history at that time. Washington, Lee, Gates and other distinguished officers were frequently her guests, and this is found at the close of one of her biographies: "Seldom has a woman in any age acquired such ascendency by the mere force of a powerful intellect, and her influence continued to the close of life."
