.
On our arrival in London, Laughlin explained that he had taken quarters for me at the Coburg Hotel, whither we drove, after having fought my way through a mob of reporters at the station.

One fellow told me that since I left New York the papers had published a declaration by me that I meant to be very "democratic" and would under no conditions wear "knee breeches"; and he asked me about that report.

I was foolish enough to reply that the existence of an ass in the United States ought not necessarily to require the existence of a corresponding ass in London.
He printed that! I never knew the origin of this "knee breeches" story.
That residence at the Coburg Hotel for three months was a crowded and uncomfortable nightmare.

The indignity and inconvenience--even the humiliation--of an ambassador beginning his career in an hotel, especially during the Court season, and a green ambassador at that! I hope I may not die before our Government does the conventional duty to provide ambassadors' residences.
The next morning I went to the Chancery (123, Victoria Street) and my heart sank.

I had never in my life been in an American Embassy.