while others, happier than these, might have greeted the unexpected return of their friends and relatives.

Is it not strange, thought I, before I had drunk the first glass of champaign, that in a country which more than any other convinces one of the vanity of human pursuits,—in which wealth, honour, and distinction are mere bubbles floating on the surface of society,men should be more eager after aristocratic distinctions, than where these are founded on an historical basis, and in accordance with the customs of the people? Such, however, is the irony of Fate, inseparable from nations as from individuals.

RETURN TO THE CITY.

49

CHAPTER II.

Return to the City. - Arrival of the London Packet.Reception of the Passengers.-American Speculations on an English Lord.-Introduction to a Fashionable Boarding-house.-A New England Minerva.-A Belle. -A Lady from Virginia.-Conduct of Fashionable young Ladies towards Gentlemen of an inferior standing.—Confusion produced by the Dinner-bell.

Duke Senior." What fool is this?"

Jaques." O worthy fool! One that has been a courtier, And says, if ladies be but young and fair,

They have the gift to know it."

As You Like It, Act. II. Scene 7.

On our return to the city, the steam-boat was quite animated. The packet-ship T*** had arrived from London, and, having reported a clean bill of health, was permitted to land her passengers. Our boat, therefore, went alongside of her, and was greeted by loud cheers from the steerage

VOL. I.

passengers, who,

D

50

PASSENGERS ON BOARD

dressed in their Sunday's best, were crowding the bow, gangway, and even the rigging of the vessel, eagerly awaiting their long-hoped-for delivery from imprisonment.

The company on board of our boat, which, besides ourselves, consisted of a dozen gentlemen and nearly as many ladies, returned the salute in a dignified manner by a wild stare of amazement; until, turning to the captain of the packet, who had jumped on the bulwarks of our boat to assist in landing his passengers, a fashionably dressed lady, accompanied by a gentleman, inquired what sort of cabin passengers he had brought with him?

"Mr. and Mrs. * * *,” replied the captain, who, from his attention to the inquirer, appeared to have the honour of her acquaintance.

"Don't know them," said the gentleman; then turning to the lady, whom I judged to be his wife, "do you know them ?"

"I am sure I never heard their names before," said the lady, tossing up her head.

“Mrs. *** and two children," continued the captain.

OF THE LONDON PACKET.

51

"The wife of that vulgar auctioneer," remarked the lady, "that wanted to outdo everybody. Well, she will find a sad change; her husband has failed since she was gone, and is said not to pay ten cents in a dollar."

"Mr. ***,” continued the captain.

"What sort of a person is he?" demanded the gentleman.

"La! don't you know him?” cried the lady: "it's that grocer who made fifty thousand dollars in a coffee speculation, and has ever since been trying to get into the first society; but did not succeed on account of that blubber-faced wife of his. They say that is the reason he went to Europe. Poor wretch! he probably thought people would, in the mean time, forget that he was a grocer."

"Mr. and Mrs. *** of Baltimore," added the captain.

"Ah! our old friends, Mr. and Mrs. ***. What a delightful creature that Mrs. *** is! I used to be quite intimate with her at New Port; she always used to have such a choice set around her."

52

"Lady

A LADY PASSENGER.

*** and her daughter from London,"

resumed the captain.

66

Lady

* from London!" exclaimed the

whole company,-" where is she?"

"It's that fine-looking woman there, standing by the side of that young lady dressed in black." (Here the gentlemen applied their glasses.)

"Both equally handsome," cried a young man. "Really English! excellent fall of the shoulders!"

"Only the bust a little too full," remarked the lady," which is generally the fault of the English women; and, besides, they have such enormously large feet."

"Who is with them ?" inquired one of the gentlemen.

66

Captain *** of the **th dragoons, who

I understand is brother to Sir * **.

"I presume they have brought their servants with them?" observed the lady.

"Two male servants, a lady's-maid, and the governess of the young lady."

"Then they must be rich."