"Rule Britannia" for our
sailor-king was also played and sung--I was going to say in good style,
but at all events with great loyalty and enthusiasm.

As soon as this ceremony was over, a pail of whiskey, with a tea-cup
floating on the surface, was handed round, followed by another pail
containing spring-water. Every person present drank his Majesty's
health; even the fair sex, on this propitious occasion, did not disdain
to moisten their pretty lips with the beverage.

The eating and drinking part of the festival now commenced in earnest.
We had seated ourselves on the grass, under the shade of four or five
immense button-wood trees, which effectually sheltered us from the
scorching rays of the sun. In the centre of the group, the union-jack
of Old-England waved gracefully above our heads--

"The flag that braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze."

As soon as we had eaten and drunk to our satisfaction, a dance was
proposed and acceded to by the party. The band struck up "The Wind
Shakes the Barley:" country dances, Scotch reels, and "French fours,"
were kept up with great spirit on the level turf--"All under the
greenwood tree."

"For all that day to the rebeck gay
They danced with frolicsome swains."

Those of our party who did not patronize the dance, amused themselves
with ball-playing and a variety of old English games.

The day was lovely; and the spot chosen for our sports is one of the
most beautiful natural meadows I ever beheld. We kept our fete in
honour of King William on a smooth green semi-circular meadow, of large
extent, ornamented here-and-there with clumps of magnificent button-
wood trees.* Towards the north, skirting the meadow, a steep bank rises
in the form of an amphitheatre, thickly-wooded--tree above tree, from
the base to the crown of the ridge. The rapid waters of the Maitland
form the southern and western boundary of this charming spot,--then not
a little enhanced by the merry groups which dotted the surface of the
meadow, and woke its lone echoes with music and song.

[* Both the wood and the growth of this tree greatly resemble the
sycamore.]

I was much amused by a Yankee mill-wright, who had contracted to build
a large grist-mill for the Company, both in Guelph and Goderich. He
appeared enchanted with the whole day's proceedings.

"I do declare," he said, "if this don't almost put me in mind of the
4th of July. Why, you Britishers make as much fuss proclaiming you