appear to have created a strong
interest in its author. It always seemed to me that there was a certain
severe strength and grandeur about it which approached to the heroic.
One or two said that they were glad such a man had retired from the
practice of such a system of law.

But there was scarce a moment for conversation amid the whirl and eddy
of so many presentations. Before the company had all assembled, the room
was a perfect jam of legal and literary notabilities. The dinner was
announced between nine and ten o'clock. We were conducted into a
splendid hall, where the tables were laid. Four long tables were set
parallel with the length of the hall, and one on a raised platform
across the upper end. In the midst of this sat the lord mayor and lady
mayoress, on their right hand the judges, on their left the American
minister, with other distinguished guests. I sat by a most agreeable and
interesting young lady, who seemed to take pleasure in enlightening me
on all those matters about which a stranger would naturally be
inquisitive.

Directly opposite me was Mr. Dickens, whom I now beheld for the first
time, and was surprised to see looking so young. Mr. Justice Talfourd,
known as the author of Ion, was also there with his lady. She had a
beautiful antique cast of head.

The lord mayor was simply dressed in black, without any other adornment
than a massive gold chain.

I asked the lady if he had not robes of state. She replied, yes; but
they were very heavy and cumbersome, and that he never wore them when he
could, with any propriety, avoid it. It seems to me that this matter of
outward parade and state is gradually losing its hold even here in
England. As society becomes enlightened, men care less and less for mere
shows, and are apt to neglect those outward forms which have neither
beauty nor convenience on their side, such as judges' wigs and lord
mayors' robes.

As a general thing the company were more plainly dressed than I had
expected. I am really glad that there is a movement being made to carry
the doctrine of plain dress into our diplomatic representation. Even
older nations are becoming tired of mere shows; and, certainly, the
representatives of a republic ought not to begin to put on the finery
which monarchies are beginning to cast off.

The present lord mayor is a member of the House of Commons--a most
liberal-minded man; very simple, but pleasing in his appearance and
address; one who seems to