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mon, though a little reflection may show its propriety. There is a passage, if I remember rightly, in Hurdis's Adriano illustrative of this.

Besides evenings like those I have described, where no formality is used, and no other restraint than that required by decorum, they have their dress and card parties. A gentleman in Philadelphia, from whom I had received various marks, of kindness, requested me to call on him one evening, as he wished to introduce me to some of his friends. Without letting me know beforehand what sort of a company I was to meet, he took me to one of these dress-parties. When I entered the room and perceived about a dozen ladies in full dress, I felt a little confused. My shoes were not very clean; and my face was not so smooth as usual, owing to the razor I had used in the morning, being out of order. And when my name was mentioned, with the addition of my being an Englishman, I was in worse condition, owing to the eyes of all being turned towards me. What was to be done? To retreat was impossible. To apologise, would cause some to notice me still more minutely. I therefore placed myself, as quickly as I decently could, in one corner of the room, where I thought I should escape attention, and began conversing

with a young lady near me.

However I was

soon obliged to change my seat, and considering that the appearance of embarrassment was unpleasant, I put a good face upon things, and enjoyed myself probably nearly as much, as if I had gone fully prepared for company. Formal visiting parties have never had charms for me; but in the present case, the great variety of the entertainment, and the smiles of the fair, served to pass the evening pleasantly. Lemonade, wine of different sorts, ice-creams, and spirituous compounds, were handed round, as well as strawberries, raspberries, preserved peaches, sweet cakes and other delicious articles. The party broke up about eleven o'clock. On two similar occasions at New York, I was nearly as awkwardly circumstanced; but I found that a cheerful spirit carried me through with little difficulty. Why should we suffer mortification to supersede pleasure, when all around are gay? Birds whose feathers are plain, sing not the less lively tunes, for being in company with others of beautiful plumage.

It is very common in a summer's evening af ter the heat has subsided, for persons to sit at their doors to enjoy the cool breezes. A walk at such a time through a village or small town

is quite enlivening. The ladies are often in their best dresses, generally in white, and seem to take pleasure in showing the utmost good humour and hilarity to the gentlemen who stop to chat with them. This custom has in it something of a patriarchal or oriental character, especially in Virginia, where a stranger who receives entertainment has to wait while the cakes are made and baked. Perhaps in no part of the domestic life of the Americans, is there any thing in which their sociability and amiability are more apparent than in their summer evening parties. How delightful it is to witness the general cheerfulness! To an Englishman it is very amusing to listen to the conversation of a party sitting outside of the door, and at the same time watch the motions of the fire-flies, whose phosphoric scintillations give the air a curious appearance.

CHAPTER VII.

SPIRIT OF CONVERSATION.

A STRANGER in America may soon perceive that conversation has not been much studied as an art. The Americans converse sensibly and rationally; but they appear to have no ambition to attract attention by clever, smart, or witty sayings, like the French, or by throwing a fictitious interest over common matters by sentimental refinement, like the Germans. Like a gently-flowing limpid brook, their conversation has no turbulence, but shows every thing at the bottom at a glance. That it is deficient in energy and animation, will from this at once be conceived. It produces a feeling akin to that experienced by every one who sits down to enjoy rest after fatigue. Now I am one of those, who admire in preference, a more spirit-stirring sensation. The vehemence of the Irish is more to my taste than the calmness of the Americans. During my stay amongst them, I met not with a single individual whose colloquial talents were such as I should denominate first-rate; though there were several whom I greatly admired for one or another good quality. A lawyer at Norfolk in Vir

ginia, to whom I had an introductory letter, showed an aptness of illustration very pleasing, and from a minute acquaintance with polite literature, was qualified to excel if he had been placed in the midst of a society of kindred minds. A clergyman in Philadelphia to whom also I had a letter, was more animated than most. He could keep the ball moving when once struck by another hand. A judge whom I met at Harrisburg was a good punster, and knew how to cause a smile by curious illustrations. He was attached to poetry, and could press allusions to it into his service so as to enliven discourse agreeably. But of all whom it was my fortune to hear, I give the first place to a man whom I met at a tavern at Providence in Rhode Island. He was neither learned nor witty, but had so great a share of pleasantry joined to so much ingenuity in argument, that he kept the whole company listening as if afraid to lose a syllable. I grappled with him once or twice, but he slipped from my grasp like an eel, instantly making two or three involutions in his own sophisms, before I could tell where he had escaped to. He was a Connecticut man, a circumstance which I mention, as the people of that state are regarded by the Virginians as deficient in fancy, and probably with considerable truth as compar

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