picture, without giving him
any clue to the object, and he explained the matter at once, by saying
that it had once been oval, but the canvass getting an injury, he had
reduced it to its present form. Since then, an engraving has been
discovered that scarce leaves a doubt as to the originality of the
portrait.]

I passed the evening at the house of an English gentleman, where the
master of the last-named gallery was one of the company. A guest, a Sir
----, amused me by the peculiarly _British_ manner in which he conveyed
a few remarks on America. Speaking of a countrywoman of ours, who had
lately been at Brussels, he said that she called standing up to dance,
"taking the floor," and he was curious to know if it were a usual form
of expression with us. I had to tell him, we said a horse "took the
track," in racing, and as this lady came from a racing region, she might
have used it, _con amore_, especially in the gallopade. Capt. ----, of
the navy, once called out to the ladies of a quadrille to "shove off,"
when he thought the music had got the start of them; and it is lucky
that this Sir ---- did not hear him, or he would have set it down at
once as an Americanism. These people are constantly on the hunt for
something peculiar and ridiculous in Americans, and make no allowance
for difference in station, provincialisms, or traits of character.
Heaven knows that we are not so very original as to be thus ruthlessly
robbed of any little individuality we may happen to possess.

LETTER X.

School System in America.--American Maps.--Leave
Brussels.--Louvain.--Quarantine.--Liege.--The Soleil d'Or.--King Leopold
and Brother.--Royal Intermarriages.--Environs of Liege.--The Cathedral
and the Church of St. Jacques.--Ceremonies of Catholic
Worship.--Churches of Europe.--Taverns of America.--Prayer in the
Fields.--Scott's error as regards the Language spoken in Liege.--Women
of Liege.--Illumination in honour of the King.

Dear ----,

In the morning the Director-General of Public Instruction called to
obtain some information on the subject of the common school system in
America. I was a little surprised at this application, the Finance
controversy having quite thrown me into the shade at the Tuileries, and
this court being just now so dependent on that of France. You will smile
at this opinion, but even facts are subject to such circumstances, and
great men submit to very little influences occasionally.[20] The old
ground of