sitely
lovely than this approach to the city. The magnificent boldness
of the Jersey shore on the one side, and the luxurious softness
of the shady lawns on the other, with the vast silvery stream
that flows between them, altogether form a picture which may well
excuse a traveller for saying, once and again, that the Hudson
river can be surpassed in beauty by none on the outside of
Paradise.

It was nearly dark when we reached the city, and it was with
great satisfaction that we found our comfortable apartments in
Hudson Street unoccupied; and our pretty, kind (Irish) hostess
willing to receive us again. We passed another fortnight there;
and again we enjoyed the elegant hospitality of New York, though
now it was offered from beneath the shade of their beautiful
villas. In truth, were all America like this fair city, and all,
no, only a small proportion of its population like the friends we
left there, I should say, that the land was the fairest in the
world.

But the time was come to bid it adieu! The important business of
securing our homeward passage was to be performed. One must know
what it is to cross the ocean before the immense importance of
all the little details of accommodation can be understood. The
anxious first look: into the face of the captain, to ascertain if
he be gentle or rough; another, scarcely less important, in that
of the steward, generally a sable one, but not the less
expressive; the accurate, but rapid glance of measurement thrown
round the little state-rooms; another at the good or bad
arrangement of the stair-case, by which you are to stumble up and
stumble down, from cabin to deck, and from deck to cabin; all
this, they only can understand who have felt it. At length,
however, this interesting affair was settled, and most happily.
The appearance promised well, and the performance bettered it.
We hastened to pack up our "trumpery," as Captain Mirven
unkindly calls the paraphernalia of the ladies, and among the
rest, my six hundred pages of griffonage. There is enough of it,
yet I must add a few more lines.

I suspect that what I have written will make it evident that I do
not like America. Now, as it happens that I met with individuals
there whom I love and admire, far beyond the love and admiration
of ordinary acquaintance, and as I declare the country to be fair
to the eye, and most richly teeming with the gifts of plenty, I
am led to ask myself why it is that I do not lik