Others were less favorably impressed. After attending White House receptions, attorney Richard Henry Dana of Massachusetts described Mary Lincoln as a “short, fat,” “cross, suspicious, underbred” woman who “looks like the house keeper of the establishment, & a notable, prying, & not good tempered house keeper,” with “a snubby face & mealy complexion” and a “not good-tempered look.” A New York lawyer, Charles E. Strong, thought Mrs. Lincoln “a very vulgar old woman.” His cousin and partner, George Templeton Strong, shared that view, calling her “[u]nderbred, weak, and vain.” John Bigelow confided to his diary that Mary Lincoln did not converse easily in French. When asked if she spoke that language, she replied “tres poo” and later pronounced “J’entend” to rhyme with “pond.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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