lluded to as "Battenberg." Even worse,
I have an article (I care not to sully this page with even an
extract) about him, which was headed "Beatrice's Mash," the last
being a slang word used in the States for lover!

There are, of course, papers and papers in America, and many would
not be guilty of the solecisms above alluded to; still, such are the
exceptions. I do not care to name the two in which the above
appeared, but as they were the leading journals in the capital of a
western state, it is evident that this kind of thing goes down, for
they, and many like them, flourish.

But to other subjects. I went out to New York in that magnificent
Anchor Line steamer, the _City of Rome_, which, after the _Great
Eastern_, is the largest vessel afloat. The Atlantic was
exceptionally kind, like a mill-pond, all the way between Liverpool
and Sandy Hook, and the passage was nice in every way. We crossed in
something less than eight days. The society on board was extensive
and good--Americans, French, Germans, English, and others, there was
no lack of choice. I studied the Americans most, for they were to me
a new study, and I was very much pleased with the result. When I left
the ship, I did so with the impression that, nation for nation, as
regards intelligence, wide views, and general knowledge, the women
certainly, if not the men, were ahead of us English. I had not many
opportunities in America of mixing with the upper classes, but my
limited experience there strengthened the above belief. Of course,
all I met on the _City of Rome_ were more or less travelled Americans
(in no country, perhaps, does travel make a greater change than among
our transatlantic cousins), but I was particularly struck by the
intelligence, and the broad and charitable views of the ladies.
Speaking generally of both nations, the English woman who holds
matured and decided opinions on politics, theology, or social
questions, hesitates to give them vent. Not so the American. And, as
regards the failings of her own sex, commend me to the ladies over
the water, who are far more Christian-minded than we are in that way.

It was also a real pleasure to converse with many of the American
gentlemen on board. As I have nothing to say, except in his favour,
one of them will perhaps forgive my naming him. Mr. D'Almar is a
well-known man in the States. He is a great writer on political
economy and currency, and I believe an authority in the States on
those a