Such performances were probably given by strolling players who had few accessories in the way of scenery to assist them in creating their illusions.

In September, 1771, when at Annapolis to attend the races, he went to plays four times in five days, the fifth day being Sunday.  Two years later, being in New York City, he saw Hamlet and Cross Purposes.

On many occasions both in this period of his life and later he went to sleight of hand performances, wax works, puppet shows, animal shows, “to hear the Armonica,” concerts and other entertainments.

The “association” resolutions of frugality and self-denial by the Continental Congress put an end temporarily to plays in the colonies outside the British lines and put Washington into a greater play, “not, as he once wished, as a performer, but as a character.”  There were amateur performances at Valley Forge, but they aroused the hostility of the puritanical, and Congress forbade them.  Washington seems, however, to have disregarded the interdiction after Yorktown.

He had few opportunities to gratify his fondness for performances in the period of 1784-89, but during his presidency, while residing in New York and Philadelphia, he was a regular attendant.  He gave frequent theater parties, sending tickets to his friends.  Word that he would attend a play always insured a “full house,” and upon his entrance to his box the orchestra would play Hail Columbia and Washington’s March amid great enthusiasm.

The Federal Gazette described a performance of The Maid of the Mill, which he attended in 1792, as follows: 

“When Mr. Hodgkinson as Lord Ainsworth exhibited nobleness of mind in his generosity to the humble miller and his daughter, Patty; when he found her blessed with all the qualities that captivate and endear life, and knew she was capable of adorning a higher sphere; when he had interviews with her upon the subject in which was painted the amiableness of an honorable passion; and after his connection, when he bestowed his benefactions on the relatives, etc., of the old miller, the great and good Washington manifested his approbation of this interesting part of the opera by the tribute of a tear.”

Another amusement that both the Farmer and his wife enjoyed greatly was dancing.  In his youth he attended balls and “routs” whenever possible and when fighting French and Indians on the frontier he felt as one of his main deprivations his inability to attend the “Assemblies.”  After his marriage he and his wife went often to balls in Alexandria, attired no doubt in all the bravery of imported English clothes.  He describes a ball of 1760 in these terms: 

“Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and dancing was the chief entertainment, however, in a convenient room detached for the purpose abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot water sweet’ned—­Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs served the purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and that no apologies were made for either.  I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and title of the Bread & Butter Ball.”