lers leave Baltimore, without carrying away
grateful recollections of his pleasant house in Franklin street, and
without having received some kindness, social or substantial, from the
fair hands which dispense its hospitalities so gently and gracefully.

On that same evening my name was entered as an honorary member of the
Maryland Club. It would be absurd to compare this institution with the
palaces of our own metropolis; but, in all respects, it may fairly rank
with the best class of yacht clubs. You find there, besides the ordinary
writing and reading accommodation, a pleasant lounge from early
afternoon to early morning; a fair French cook, pitilessly monotonous in
his _carte_; a good steady rubber at limited points; and a perfect
billiard-room. In this last apartment it is well worth while to linger,
sometimes, for half an hour, to watch the play, if the "Chief" chances
to be there. I have never seen an amateur to compare with this great
artist, for certainty and power of cue. A short time before my arrival,
at the carom game, on a table without pockets, he scored 1,015 on _one
break_. I heard this from a dozen eye-witnesses.

I went through many introductions that evening; and, in the next
fortnight, received ample and daily proofs of the proverbial hospitality
of Baltimore. There are residents--praisers of the time gone by, who
cease not to lament the convivial decadence of the city; but such
deficiency is by no means apparent to a stranger.

If _gourmandize_ be the favorite failing in these parts, there is surely
some excuse for the sinners. Probably no one tract on earth, of the same
extent, can boast of so many delicacies peculiar to itself, as the
shores of the Chesapeake. Of these, the most remarkable is the
"terrapin": it is about the size of a common land tortoise, and haunts
the shallow waters of the bay and the salt marshes around. They say he
was a bold man who first ate an oyster; a much more undaunted
experimentalist was the first taster of the terrapin. I strongly advise
no one to look at the live animal, till he has thoroughly learnt to like
the savory meat; _then_ he will be enabled to laugh all qualms and
scruples to scorn. Comparisons have been drawn between the terrapin and
the turtle--very absurdly; for, beyond the fact of both being
testudines, there is not a point of resemblance. Individually, I
prefer the tiny "diamond-back" to his gigantic congener, as more
delicate and less cloying to th